David Letterman Late Show Shockers: The Top Ten List

by Glynnis MacNicol | 1:11 pm, October 2nd, 2009

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david-letterman The media world – and just about everyone else for that matter – is all abuzz this morning over David Letterman’s revelation last night that he was being extorted for $2 million over the fact he’d had sex with women who’d worked for him. It is perhaps a measure of how well his viewers felt they knew him, and how successfully he portrays himself as an everyman that people were apparently shocked at this disclosure. Since at the end of the day (so far) all the story is is that Letterman — who was only married last March…to a woman who had worked for him at one time — had sex with women who worked for him. This is vastly different than, say, if Letterman was married and/or facing sexual harassment charges. As Donny Deutsch so aptly put it on Morning Joe this morning: “Do you think as you go around this newsroom there aren’t people having productive personal relationships?” On the scale of the sex scandals that have been recently dominating the headlines — Polanski, Ensign, Sanford — this is pretty tame.

Anyway, what Letterman’s disclosure did make for was some serious must-see TV. Also, hello ratings! But it’s certainly not the first time Letterman has grabbed the morning after spotlight due to shocking behavior. Here’s a look at our Top Ten Most Shocking Late Night Moments.

The Swearers

Back in the mid-nineties (and before!) it was enough to drop a few f-bombs on (pre-recorded) TV to get yourself in the next day’s top news (and the day after that, and the day after that). Madonna managed to drop so many during her infamous 1994 appearance there’s an entire wikipedia page devoted to the event. That said, Letterman’s introduction of her as someone “who had slept with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry” was sort of begging for a comeback, and boy did he get one!

Andy Kaufman’s explosion on Letterman in 1982 has by now reached iconic television moment status. And for good reason, it is hysterical.

>>>NEXT: Women who strip for Letterman!

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911, Andy Kaufman, David Letterman, Extortion, Farrah Fawcett, Joaquin Phoenix, John McCain, Madonna, Regina Lasko, Sarah Palin

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Letterman was pretty proud of himself when he made that crude sexual joke about Sarah Palin’s daughter now he will have the chance to see how it feels to be on the receiving end. I am sure he and his wife will get plenty of laughs when those jokes start rolling out.

Are we really surprised at this revelation? Letterman is not exactly the poster boy for morality. He didn’t even marry his “girlfriend” who he has been dating, from what I understand, since the 1980s (how stupid is she?) until years after his kid was born and you know any unmarried guy in his 40s and 50s has sown more than his share of wild oats, especially a rich guy like Letterman.

I’ll bet Obama can’t wait to make another appearance on Letterman’s Show!
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BTW, I wonder if John Stewart or Stephen Colbert will make jokes about Letterman getting caught with his “Worldwide Pants” down?
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Correction: “Jon” Stewart.