One thing that has struck me about David Letterman's last shows is that Dave's kind of lost in them. He has this parade of guests who have always been a source of reliable entertainment in his guest chair…but with one exception, they're there to talk about Dave instead of themselves. Dave isn't that good on the subject of Dave, at least as a positive and competent force — so he doesn't know what to say. He seems a little overwhelmed by it.
Friday night was interesting because of that one exception. Oprah Winfrey was the lead guest and she artfully steered the narrative away from the awesomeness of Dave and to the more important topic of the awesomeness that is Oprah. I usually like that lady but the self-importance was a little much to take. Fortunately, the second guest was Norm MacDonald, performing what I guess will be the last stand-up spot on that program. He was genuinely emotional about being a part of Letterman's finale…I think. Maybe he was really choked-up to think of the fine work Oprah is doing to arrange college educations for "her girls."
My favorite guest of the week was George Clooney, who came out Thursday night and handcuffed himself to Dave to prevent him from leaving. I like that they carried the joke through the entire show…and then when Dave came out Friday night, there was George Clooney right alongside him, the two of the still handcuffed together until Paul Shaffer came over with a bolt cutter. If that was all Mr. Clooney's idea, good for him. He said "We don't want you to go" with a clever bit in the Letterman tradition as opposed to mere words.
Monday night, Dave has on Tom Hanks, who since the passing of Robin Williams has inherited the mantle of Most Reliably Funny Talk Show Guest. Tuesday night, there's Bill Murray, who I'm sure will delight the audience though his appeal has generally escaped me. For the latter half of both episodes, I will be fast-forwarding through more important musical guests than usual.