Dave Letterman-- Tense Moment with Brian Williams

Watched the Late Show with David Letterman a few nights ago. Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchorman, was his lone guest. Brian knows television performance but jumped in almost too eagerly. He wanted to be funny and you cannot rush funny. And never try to compete mano a mano with Dave Letterman or even exchange volleys with David right from the get-go. But Dave stayed cool and  brought Brian back down to earth and guided him closer to his sweet spot. They got to talking in a comfortable way and Brian's humor came across.

On odd moment came about when Brian Williams brought up his actress daughter Allison, a star on Girls, the HBO series written, directed and acted in by Lena Dunham. Williams spoke highly of the talent of Lena Dunham in the manner of a true gentleman. He did not brag on his daughter or even speak much about his daughter until he mentioned she had an upcoming appearance on the Tonight Show. Whoops! Brian corrected himself, she actually had an upcoming appearance on Dave Letterman's show. This seemed like a genuine slip of the lip by the seasoned anchor pro. The plot thickens...

Most interesting was David's toxic reaction to Brian's mention of the Tonight Show. Dave slipped from his confident self to a bitter David. You could feel the the tension, the tears of a clown began rising from the normally unflappable Letterman. Williams tried to calm things and mentioned he was doing a documentary-style story on the promotion of Jimmy Fallon to the Tonight Show chair as a special for NBC. David mentioned that he too should be interviewed for the story. David insisted he should be part of the documentary, and referred several times to "little Jimmy Fallon" in a snide way. A bit of strained comedy ensued within the tense exchange. Jimmy is a kid-sounding name  (and coincidentally also Jimmy Kimmel's name, the other new kid on the late night schedule).  Jimmy Fallon, certainly not diminutive in a physical sense, can seem like a well-meaning child compared to the comic brilliance of Letterman. Never forget... Letterman brought the late night talk show genre back from the somnambulism of the latter part of Johnny Carson's tenure. And he worked to keep Carson relevant.

Letterman's reaction to Williams' faux pas revealed the deep pain still being felt long after he lost the Tonight Show gig to Leno. He again referred to little Jimmy Fallon. David always has had an edge, an maybe that's why the network chose Jay Leno over David Letterman.

I remember watching Beavis and Butthead once and they referred to Dave as "Letter-dude." That cracked me up. Dave's stodginess needs to be punctured from time to time. "Letter-dude" helps bring Letterman down to earth. I've always had an immense fondness for Letter-dude. For large portions of the audience he will always be a bit too acerbic...But the good news for fans is we can keep watching and enjoying Letterman, the maestro of late night.

Doesn't take a weather man...

From ABC news... Jan. 5, It hasn't been this cold for almost two decades in many parts of the country. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in quickly at 15 to 30 below zero.

Mind boggling cold weather in the Midwestern United States. Cold that threatens lives. Cold beyond the wildest imagination of men. What weather does Mother Nature have in store for us-- in the days weeks, months and years to come? 

Mankind makes a silly presumption; we presume Nature will operate according to the patterns of the past, simply because we like those patterns, we expect them and understand them. Nature owes us nothing and cares even less about our expectations. Climate is a reality of physics, indifferent to human emotion but very much connected to human behavior. If you put horrendous amounts of garbage, spew carbon into the atmosphere with unrelenting fury, as industrial man has done with nary a care about poor old Mother Nature... well then. 

Don't tread on me states the motto on the yellow flag from the American Revolution-- just below a coiled rattlesnake. We tread on Mother Nature to our own detriment.