David Letterman is an american TV show host, comedian and producer.
His estimated net worth is around 400$ million with an annual salary of almost 20$ million a year.
Early life
David Michael Letterman was born on April 12, 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Joseph his biggest role model and his mother Dorothy worked in a church administration. He has German, English, Scots-Irish ancestry.
His hobby in childhood was collecting model cars. He often says that his father had a good sense of humor. His father suffered a heart-attack when he was 36 and died from second heart-attack at the age of 57.
David went to Broad Ripple High School and Ball State University. His career started on the radio as a radio announcer and was soon fired because he disliked classical music.
TV career
After his failed radio career, Letterman started working as a weatherman on WLWI TV station. He was noticed for his interesting on-air behavior. He often used his humor to bring weather announcement to a new level. He also appeared in the kids show “Freeze-Dried movies” and hosted a talk show called Clover Power.
David appeared in 1971 as a pit road reporter for the ABC Sport’s tape delayed coverage of the Indianapolis 500.
In mid seventies he moved to L.A. to try his luck in the showbusiness. His dream was to become a comedy writer.
Comedy career
Letterman first started performing at The Comedy Store. Letterman was then noticed by George Miller and was asked to join the writers who wrote for Jay Leno, Robert Schimmel and many others. In two years he wrote for the six-week summer series The Starland Vocal Band Show. He was the host of the show The Riddlers and co-starred in comedy special Peeping times.
He also appeared on the variety show Mary, Mork & Mindy, the 20,000$ Pyramid, The Gong Show, Password plus and many others.
In 1980, Letterman started working for NBC as the host of morning comedy show called The David Letterman Show. Critics loved the show but the public not so much, so the show got cancelled in 1980.
Late night with David Letterman
NBC loved Letterman’s work and gave him another chance by offering him his own late night show. Late night with David Letterman debuted in 1982 and in 2012 the show celebrated 30 years of existence. Show offered a great variety of celebrity guests and rich comedy writing that soon got many fans.
Late night with David Letterman showed another kind of humor that was not yet seen and it was often controversial in a fun way.
In 1992 Johnny Carson retired and the position for The Tonight show was empty. NBC decided to give this position to Jay Leno instead to Letterman, which caused Letterman to leave NBC and go to CBS. The show was called the same (The late night with David Letterman) but it was on the CBS. For his hosting CBS offered Letterman a 14$ million year contract.
Letterman also hosted the 67th Academy Awards ceremony. Because of his jokes that fell flat and weren’t received by the audience, this hosting remained as one of the failed Letterman performances.
David Letterman announced that he was retiring from his TV hosting. His last episode aired on May 20, 2015 and Stephen Colbert replaced this comedy veteran.
David Letterman started his production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated which produced many popular comedy shows. He also started a record company called Clear Entertainment / C.E. Music.
Personal life
Letterman had one marriage behind him and a long term relationship before he finally settled down with Regina Lasko. Together with Regina he has one son Harry Joseph Letterman, named after his father.
The couple made their relationship official in 2009. Letterman suffers from tinnitus, which is a symptom of hearing loss. He doesn’t drink alcohol because, as he says, he as a terrible drinker. He also suffered from severe anxiety and hypochondria, which he treats with the combination of low dosage drugs and transcendental meditation.
Quick summary:
Full Name: David Michael Letterman
Date of Birth: April 12, 1947
Birth Place: Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Age: 69 years
Profession: Television talk show host, producer and comedian
Height: 1.87 m
Weight: 83 kg
Net worth: 400$ million