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The Last Giant of Late Night
Harper
April 2017
On Sale: April 11, 2017
368 pages ISBN: 0062377213 EAN: 9780062377210 Kindle: B01IMY8T1M Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Biography
New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman delivers the
definitive story of the life and artistic legacy of David
Letterman, the greatest television talk show host of all
time and the signature comedic voice of a generation. In a career spanning more than thirty years, David Letterman
redefined the modern talk show with an ironic comic style
that transcended traditional television. While he remains
one of the most famous stars in America, he is a remote,
even reclusive, figure whose career is widely misunderstood.
In Letterman, Jason Zinoman, the first comedy critic in the
history of the New York Times, mixes groundbreaking
reporting with unprecedented access and probing critical
analysis to explain the unique entertainer’s titanic legacy.
Moving from his early days in Indiana to his retirement,
Zinoman goes behind the scenes of Letterman’s television
career to illuminate the origins of his revolutionary
comedy, its overlooked influences, and how his work
intersects with and reveals his famously eccentric personality. Zinoman argues that Letterman had three great artistic
periods, each distinct and part of his evolution. As he
examines key broadcasting moments—"Stupid Pet Tricks" and
other captivating segments that defined Late Night with
David Letterman—he illuminates Letterman’s relationship to
his writers, and in particular, the show’s co-creator,
Merrill Markoe, with whom Letterman shared a long
professional and personal connection. To understand popular culture today, it’s necessary to
understand David Letterman. With this revealing biography,
Zinoman offers a perceptive analysis of the man and the
artist whose ironic voice and caustic meta-humor was
critical to an entire generation of comedians and
viewers—and whose singular style ushered in new tropes that
have become clichés in comedy today.
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