Last Friday, Conan O’Brien was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and he told a long story about a how David Letterman gave him a horse as a thank you gift a few years ago. Then on Tuesday, David Letterman was on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the first Late Night host told him that he gave the horse to the second Late Night host as a gag and was expecting him to return it to sender. Something Conan did not know until that interview.
Therefore, now after 3 and a half years, he is finally returning the horse to its rightful owner. No word how much it cost to ship the gift that keeps on giving across the country, but probably almost as much as the gorgeous animal is worth. Which is sad because Letterman is taping his Netflix show in Los Angeles and Conan could have saved a pretty penny and gave Dave Dave the Horse here.
I am sure this will not be the last time we hear about Dave the Horse and I cannot wait to see it all unfold in a late night battle. This is Letterman and Conan’s second late night war, they each had one before and it was against another horse or at least Jay Leno kind of looks like one…
Last Friday, Conan O’Brien was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and he told a story about how David Letterman got him a horse, yes a real horse, as a thank you gift for writing a nice letter to the semi-retired talk show host about all he did for late night television.
The story goes, when the TBS late night host heard that Letterman sent him a gift, he got overly excited. He got even more excited when he heard that the truck the present was in was too big to fit through the gates of the Warner Bros lot in Burbank. Therefore, he skipped, I am assuming, to get his gift that also skips. That is because it was a horse. What does a Harvard Man from Boston in LA via NYC know about horses? Nothing that is what.
Therefore, he found a place to take care of the unridable horse, and it was not cheap. On topic but off track, there are several equestrian centers in Burbank that are within a mile of where Conan tapes his nightly show. He could literally walk there, that is how close they are close to him. Anyways, after two years, he found a new home for Dave, so they donated Dave the Horse that was given to him by Dave the Letterman. A place so nice that is why we say that hoses go to greener pastures.
You would think that is where the story ends. It does not. David Letterman was on Jimmy Kimmel Live yesterday, since the ABC host is taping the show in Brooklyn this week, and Dave told his side of the story. Letterman likes to give gag gifts and thought he would send Conan the horse with two cowboys while O’Brien’s show was taping and the stallion would take a big dump on the stage like when Ben Stiller brought a camel onto JKL many years ago. Then after the horse took a big sh!t on Conan’s stage, the giftee would sent the gift back to the gifter. That did not happen and Letterman had to pay for the thoroughbred that was returned to sender.
What did we get out of it? Two late night talk shows telling their stories on two other late night shows that are not their own. I cannot wait for Letterman to be Conan or Conan to be on Letterman’s Netflix show, so we can get the next chapter on their story.
And how did you like that in both cases the guests, who are also late night show hosts, totally dominated their interview segments on the other person’s late night show. The men behind their desks knew that they had met people who are better at their jobs than they are.
On that note, I think that Conan should spend a block of his show telling an unscripted tale because he is a great storyteller. I could watch him talk for 4 hours every week just talking about whatever. Don’t you just love the way he tells stories?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRb_3hCa72Y
One of the most memorable interviews ever to happen on late night television was when Joaquin Phoenix went on The Late Show as his rap star alter ego and gave David Letterman his most awkward sit downs. Yesterday, when the TV host was on Howard Stern’s radio show the Shock Jock wanted to know if he knew that was going to happen. Letterman told him, “I knew what he was doing ahead of time.” Did he enjoy it? He said, “I did enjoy it because it was like getting your work in on the heavy bag. It was easy. It was batting practice.” And with that that whole moment was ruined.
But it does not stop there, Letterman also admitted that he knew Jerry Lawler was going to punch Andy Kaufman during that shocking confrontation. He revealed that the late brilliant comic always let him know what he was going to do on the show beforehand.
Just like wrestling, late night TV is fake and my bubble has been busted. I am so sad.
But what makes me happy is listening to the full interview where Letterman held nothing back about his life in late night television like how crazy the publicists are and so much more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGPZnU-BLqQ
Before David Letterman lost The Tonight Show to Jay Leno, he made his debut on the late night talk show. It is easy to see why Johnny Carson wanted him to replace him because he was hilarious even when he was just 31 in that 1978 episode.
Back in 1978, David Letterman was on CBS’s Mary, Mary Tyler Moore’s variety show, and Billy Crystal was on ABC’s Soap. They were on two different networks and because of that that made them eligible to compete against each other on Battle of the Network Stars. The two men battled it out in obstacle course challenge and Crystal won the race as you can see in the clip that was shown on Jimmy Kimmel Live yesterday.
Now that Battle of the Network Stars is back on ABC, Crystal challenged his old friend to a rematch. Considering a lot of people who were on the original series are on the new one now, it is totally possible. Although they could be in the same team as Oscar hosts since they also both did that. How awesome would it be to see the two of them take it to the course again? I am Team Billy, what about you?
