Day: February 4, 2011

Last night's Late Show with David Letterman included some remarkable TV, and not just because it felt like it could have been 1994 again — what with Howard Stern bashing Jay Leno over three segments, and a musical medley from Naughty By Nature (that, yes, including both O.P.P. and Hip-Hop Hooray). Watching Stern and Letterman dance verbally around each other, watching Stern idolize Letterman while also mentioning his sex scandal multiple times, watching them talk about their history of telephone calls, watching Stern talk about therapy, watching Letterman watch Stern. All great stuff. Of course, CBS won't put this online for you kids who didn't watch it then to watch now. So I dug up something else for you to enjoy. Here are a series of clips from an episode of Letterman's short-lived run in the morning for NBC in 1980, when he had an hour after the Today show and before Wheel of Fortune and Card Sharks. Yes. Before we had Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford to mock in the mid-mornings, well before that, we had Dave. His earliest incarnation of his talk show career on network TV. The David Letterman Show included stage manager Biff Henderson, the set layout is remarkably similar from how it still is 31 years later on a different network, and even back then, Dave was doing "Small Town News."   This...

Stephen Colbert has gotten portraits of himself into galleries, restaurants and museums. How about in your home? Portrait 5, Stephen (s), the fifth in the series, could be yours for a price. Colbert and Comedy Central announced today that it'd be auctioned off on March 8 by The Phillips de Pury & Company to benefit DonorsChoose.org, an online charity connecting donors to classrooms in need. You can see the painting beforehand from Friday, Feb. 25 through Monday, March 7 at 450 West 15th St., in New York City. The auction itself will be taped for future broadcast on The Colbert Report. What makes this one special is its enhancements. Shepard Fairey spray-painted his iconic "OBEY" on it, followed by a horns-and-mustache Sharpie treatment from Andres Serrano, a glance askew by Frank Stella, and an autographed signature from Colbert himself. Colbert said: ‚ÄúTurns out I‚Äôm an artist. That finally explains why I cut off my ear. Many thanks to Phillips de Pury for including this portrait in their auction. I am honored to be sold in the prestigious manner usually reserved for foreclosed homes and champion hogs.‚Äù You can see how art became life became TV became life became art, in this clip from December in which Colbert showed off the piece and made it special for his guest Steve Martin. Related: The Stephen Colbert Portrait Gallery. Updated: The painting netted $32,500 in the...