On Monday, I happened to be watching when David Letterman made his public admission that he’s had sex with women who worked for him on his talk show, and that somebody was trying to use this information to blackmail him for two million dollars.
It was a strange piece of theatre in that the audience wasn’t entirely sure if it was a sincere confession, or merely another comedic bit. Obviously, when people are expecting to laugh, they do, regardless of whether what they’re hearing actually warrants it. And so it was with the audience at the Late Show.
As Letterman repeated the word “creepy” in describing his own behaviour, establishing it as a motif throughout his monologue, people in the audience laughed and applauded. In doing this, Letterman, being rather manipulative of a good will that was just waiting to be realized, was playing both sides of the fence. This is understandable, considering the circumstance. It’s natural that he’d use the expectation of humour as a protective shield in the midst of such a crisis.
In spite of the fact that Letterman was quite obviously, and quite consciously, seducing the audience over to his side, I was impressed. He was even-handed and adult, managing to appear as a victim, while still fully accepting responsibility for what had happened. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming response to his mea culpa was positive.
Riding this wave of this goodwill, Letterman used the scandal as the cornerstone of his monologue the next night, before launching into another apology, this one issued to the female members of his staff, who were now being hounded by the media, and his wife, Regina. Once again, he did not skirt responsibility, nor did he come across as somebody who was whiny or seeking pity, but still, it didn’t feel quite right.
It felt self-gratifying, I think.
Whip-smart, funny and self-aware, Letterman is a tremendously persuasive man, one who can likely bend people to his will.
He does it with huge audiences every night.
Imagine being married to that.
And now, in the midst of one of the greatest personal crises that you’ve ever faced, he’s feeding off of the accolades he’s been receiving for his bravery and maturity in confronting the hurt that he’s caused you. This compulsion to seduce, unfolding before millions of people, would make me nervous, as he makes it easy to imagine some point in the future, when once again, receiving the admiring looks and open receptivity of an audience—be it a young staff member or a TV camera– that he simply would not be able to stop himself from once again, turning on the charm.