It was Thursday evening, somewhere in America. A couple was watching The Late Show With David Letterman … and, after Dave’s extraordinary confession, a commercial break came on.
—-
Jill: “Was that for real?”
Jack: “You betcha. You’ve seen him like that before.”
Jill: “No. I haven’t. That’s why I asked if it was for real. He seemed … weird … about it.”
Jack: “You mean … he seemed serious while injecting bits and pieces of jibes and sarcasm here and there?”
Jill: “Yeah! That’s why I asked if it was for real.”
Jack: “Funny thing about Dave: He does that when he’s serious about a subject.”
Jill: “But … I don’t understand. Why did he use ‘scary’ the way he did? Why did he keep saying ‘creepy’ so … so … creepily?”
Jack: “I’m not certain, but I probably would have done the same thing in playing it out as he did. I kind of figure he was genuinely scared … scared for his family, scared for himself, scared for the women who were involved. I mean, he said he was worried several times over. The guy does have feelings.”
Jill: “It’s just odd the way he did it.”
Jack: “He did more or less the same thing when the Sarah Palin hullabaloo went viral. He had the same mannerisms then. And it wasn’t even his fault outside of telling a poor joke. He was cracking wise about one thing, a few boneheads blew it out of proportion and they convinced gaggles more he had said something he really hadn’t. But still, the dude stood up and apologized for instigating the entire thing. Now, he’s standing up and apologizing again.”
Jill: “… just odd …”
Jack: “Maybe so … but how many times do you see someone getting the jump on a situation of his or her own making like this — and in this way — and apologizing to millions and millions of people? Not often. And not often enough.”
Jill: “Well … I’ve lost respect for him, I can tell you that.”
Jack: “Not me. I’m tipping my hat to him for nipping this thing in the bud this quickly and not letting it become a circus side show act like that Palin incident. The dude may be a big goober, but he’s got some class.”
Jill: “Class? He’s got class when he fools around like he did behind someone’s back?”
Jack: “Let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet. The truth will come. Give it time to shake out.”
Jill: “And when did this happen, anyway? While he was married? He hasn’t been married that long! Did he do it while he was with Regina the entire time?”
Jack: “Again. No clue. Let it shake out and we’ll see eventually.”
Jill: “Well … I don’t know if I can watch him anymore. Not after this.”
Jack: “If dirt like this was spilled out on all the actors and actresses the same way this is going down, people would be hard pressed to watch any of their “favorites”, be it on television or in the movies. They’re people too, you know … and they have lives. And they have foibles. And they have skeletons. And some of them are even boring. Boil it down and many of them are just like you and me. Their mistakes are just amplified by their very public positions.”
———-
After the break ….
David Letterman: “During the commercial I thought it was a good idea to take some questions from the audience. So we turned up the house lights and I took a couple questions and one guy raised his hand.
“He said: ‘Uh, Dave?’
“I said ‘Yeah?’
“‘Uh … I’d kinda like to see that movie ….'”
Deep down, there are a lot of people out there who would, Dave.