by Jason Snell
David Letterman’s next act
This is a fun, wacky interview with David Letterman in Vulture, but I was particularly interested by his descriptions of how the media landscape has changed:
Years ago, I wanted Worldwide Pants to be an ongoing organism whereby we could continue to employ people and develop material. In the meantime, things changed out from under us. It was explained to me that that production model doesn’t hold up anymore. So Worldwide Pants ran out of steam for lack of opportunity. But we are trying to put it back together. It would be fun not to be involved in traditional ABC, NBC, CBS television. There’s a billion different places to put something now.
And about Jerry Seinfeld:
Oh, yeah. I am platform-agnostic. What Jerry Seinfeld has done is brilliant. Because he had his little TV show that did quite well and he loves being on the road. He pursued two interests of his, and now he’s got other people watching it and paying him huge sums of money.
I’ve been thinking all along that one of these days Letterman would come up with a project that he wants to do, that pursues his own interests, and he’ll find a willing partner in a streaming service.
Also, I’m amused that David Letterman’s son is even more embarrassed by his dad than mine (they’re the same age) is of his.