Ryan Craven And So Can You // Rise of Citizen Dave

Rise of Citizen Dave

by Steve Johnson | Tribune Internet critic
February 5, 2009
David Letterman, these days, isn’t exactly Howard Beale, the cranky anchor from “Network” urging viewers to howl out their windows in protest at the way things are.

But he’s getting close, having completed in this, his third decade on national television, a remarkable transformation from Goofy Dave, the young guy deconstructing the late-night talk-show format, to Citizen Dave, the older guy using that format as a forum to express his concerns about the world…

This, for instance, was Letterman disposing of O’Reilly when Fox News Channel’s prime-time bully insisted that Letterman answer an “easy” question about whether he wanted the U.S. to “win” the war in Iraq: “It’s not easy for me because I’m thoughtful.”

The most recent example came Tuesday night, when the “Late Show” hosted Rod Blagojevich in the midst of the deposed Illinois governor’s pursuit of every last ounce of available attention. Or perhaps Letterman, to phrase it better, deposed the deposed governor; there were hints of the prosecutorial in his approach.

“I saw you on—I think every other show that is in production currently,” Letterman said to Blagojevich, “and the more you talked and the more you repeated your innocence, the more I said to myself, ‘Oh, this guy’s guilty.’ “

Posted on February 5th, 2009