Do Not Go Gentle Into That Late Night

Tonight is David Letterman's last Late Show, so I thought I'd dredge up the one cartoon I ever drew of him.

This was in May of 1997. Ellen DeGeneres's "Yep, I'm Gay" Time magazine cover story was still making waves when Bruce Willis came on Dave's show promising to make a groundbreaking personal announcement. "Yep," he proclaimed at length, "I'm straight!"

I've been watching Letterman since his very first Late Night with David Letterman on NBC in 1982 -- well, not every show; I had a job where I sometimes worked third shift at one point, and some nights I even had a social life. Then he moved to an earlier time slot on CBS and there were some nights there was a reason to watch Leno instead. And then Stephen Colbert's show spun off of The Daily Show and the choice had to be made between Letterman and Colbert.

Well, now that choice has been made for us. (Coming soon: What will it be this evening: Colbert or Wilmore?)

Letterman's comedic style brought back to television the inventive zanyness of Steve Allen and Ernie Kovacs. Who can forget Larry "Bud" Melman, the Library Lady, the Guy Under the Stairs, Stupid Pet Tricks, dropping things off a five-story-tower, the Top Ten List, Oprah transcripts, or the sneezing monkey that made you laugh no matter how many times they ran that clip? And how great was it for all those kids who got their moment in the late-night sun bringing their classroom science experiments onto the show -- or performing their award-winning bird calls -- year after year after year?

There have been one or two changes in the world since 1997. I should commend Letterman for sticking up for LGBT Hoosiers earlier this year when Indiana passed its "Religious Liberty Protection Act" into law. And he did have Wisconsin's Senior Senator pegged a couple years ago.

And as for Bruce Willis, some time after this appearance on Letterman's show, he did eventually come out of the closet as a proud member of the balding community.