Top Ten Embarrassing Moments for "Comedian" David Letterman

"The Late Show" Host David Letterman has
waded then drowned in political waters, attacking conservatives in many cases,
and rarely rescinding vile comments volleyed against others. Letterman has lost
his cool at times on the air,
demonstrating an incapacity to take a joke. He also set himself or his guests
for embarrassing or disconcerting moments, often at his own peril.

Here is a list of David Letterman's Top Ten
Humiliating Moments/Comments, from the insensitive and incendiary and
invidious.

10. Letterman mocked
US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas: "Senator Cruz voted 'No!' on gun control
reform. He recently received $14,000 in contributions from the Gun Owners of
America and the National Association for Gun Rights. [Silence] Senator Ted
Cruz. There he is."

There is little respect for a media personality
who brazenly mocks a Hispanic-American, one who rose from poverty to honors at
Princeton, then Harvard Law School, then solicitor general of Texas, to the US
Senate seat.

David Letterman

9. "Aren't you
supposed to be in rehab?" Letterman insisted on hosting troubled actress
Lindsay Lohan, and asked her about her drug issues. She referred to their
pre-interview: "We talked about this. . ." yet Letterman insisted on
skewering her live. Honestly, the fact that he had to bring Lohan on the show,
and then try to embarrass her, shows neither class nor originality on
Letterman's part.

8. Bill O'Reilly
said: "Saddam Hussein slaughtered three hundred, four hundred thousand
people, so knock it off!" In 2006, David Letterman lost his cool with
Conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly when they were discussing the legacy of
the Iraq War. For the first time in a long time, the guest pushed Letterman to
the wall. While the host wanted to condemn President Bush, O'Reilly cut through
the noise. The audience cheered for O'Reilly. Letterman didn't like getting
owned, and he got loud, louder, then "loud-mouth".

7. O'Reilly again:
"You wanna bet on it?" O'Reilly did another dance on Letterman in a
later episode. Their discussion about welfare, the welfare state, and the
proper role of government in the life of the citizen led to O'Reilly schooling
Letterman on the generosity of the American People. When the "No Spin
Zone" Host willingly offered to bet Letterman on the stats for addicted
dependents, he pushed Letterman to donate his salary to charity.

More inflammatory comments on Letterman's show
have set him up for humiliation:

6. Cher was a guest
alone one time. She admitted her reservations about coming on the show. "I
thought I would never want to do this show with you." Letterman set
himself up when he asked "Why? Because you thought I was. . ." Cher
pounced: "an a–hole!" Loud laughter and shock followed.

5. Heavy metal
rocker Marilyn Manson refused to play along with David Letterman. In one of his
worst interviews, Letterman was pushed from one side to the other, and could do
very little to rile his guest. "My mom's name is Barbara, Barbara
Wire." Letterman laughed through half the interview.

4. "I have a very low threshold for
embarrassment." Letterman candidly admitted this to Oprah in an exclusive
interview: Of course, how can anyone forget his gaffe-prone, laugh-lone Oscar
hosting gig in 1995 — "Uma! Oprah!" — OMG! Yet he then shared: "For a long time, I
thought I was a decent guy." His frank confession then becomes frankly
unconvincing, especially in light of these last three "humiliating
moments."

For all of David Letterman's incriminating and
reproachful comments, nothing can beat the times when he had to face or come
clean about his own perverse past:

3. Kirstie Allie
read some of Letterman's jokes about her weight. Letterman's most awkward
moments include guests reading him his own jokes, and making him squirm in his
seat. Allie had the last laugh, tricking out all the insensitive jokes that he
had laid on Allie. The guest got the best of Letterman that evening.

His outrageous joke about former Alaska Governor
Sarah Palin's daughter received a firestorm of protest:

2.
"One awkward moment during the game, maybe you heard about it. One awkward
moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game. During the seventh inning, her
daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez. You can see how that would be
awkward."

Shameful. Letterman's crude remark about Palin's
daughter Bristol, at the time fourteen years old, was just plain bad. Of
course, Letterman has very little respect for woman in general, apparently.

And the Number One humiliating moment from
"The Late Show with David Letterman" — incendiary, insensitive, and
invidious — is. . .

1. "I have had
sex with women who work for me on this show. Would it be embarrassing if it
were made public? Perhaps it would, especially for the women."

Following an extortion attempt from a CBS news
executive, Letterman came clean about affairs on the workplace. Yet he was not
embarrassed, and his lack of embarrassment in itself is quite embarrassing, yet
not surprising. Letterman's shamelessness makes his work ultimately worthless,
and network viewers share the sentiment. Perhaps it's time for Letterman to
give up the comedy routine. He's just embarrassing!

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