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Letterman's Bizzare Private World
An eccentric David Letterman has turned into a nervous recluse since he underwent successful mulitiple bypass surgery last year.
That's the word from sources behind the scenes of the 53 year old funnyman's bizzare and wacky world.
Staff and crew now secretly refer to Dave by the nickname "Howard Hughes," due to his eccentricities, said a source close to the show.
On the set of CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman," Dave constantly frets about his health, added an insider.
"Dave has a nurse come by everyday to check on him--and his personal physician pays him an on-set 'house call' every Tuesday," the insider disclosed.
Declared the source: "And lately, he's become a big baby. He eats sliced pineapple before every show. And if it's cubed or not sliced exactly the way he likes, he won't eat it!" and pouts like a little boy.
"He also insists on keeping his studio temperature at a freezing 50 degrees --and demands a 'union refrigeration engineer' be found if it isn't cool enough. He'll raise holy hell about it to producers."
Dave's become very temperamental at tapings added the insider.
"He throws fits in front of staffers and members of the studio audience. In the first five minutes of the show, Dave determines if it's a success or failure based on the audience's reaction to his monologue.
"TV viewers can tell how he feels if they watch for hidden signals. If Dave's about to go to a commercial break and throws his pencil at the camera--it isn't schtick! That means he's very upset."
And the insider added that despite Dave's concern about the show,"he no longer attends many rehearsals. Instead, he watches them on a monitor in a different part of the building."
In a surprise move, Dave axed lovable shop owners Mujiber and Sirajul, who used to appear regularly.
Divulged the insider: "They tried to get more camera time, and now they've been boxed out. Dave's a great guy--but if you get in his face, he won't take it."
Mysteriously, Dave cleared his office of nearly all personal effects.
"He's packed all his Emmy Awards in Styrofoam and they're stored in boxes he keeps in a different part of his office," said the insider.
"And his dressing room is just about empty. He's got a cup of sharpened pencils and a razor. That's it."
That's left puzzled staffers wondering if Dave's planning a move.
"It's possible since his heart surgery he realizes there's more to life than chewing the fat with celebrities," the insider speculated.
Sadly, Dave appears to have run off his longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko, according to the source.
"After his surgery, she drove him to work and escorted him everywhere for a month or two. But she's not around much anymore."
Dave does live up to his reputation as a withdrawn, coldhearted curmudgeon, said the insider.
Yet strangely, he has one close on-set friendship--"with the janitor who mops the studio!" divulged the insider.
"Dave has slipped the guy thousands of dollars on the side to help out his family.
"He's very generous with charities--very few organizations who approach him for donations are turned away."
Other than that, Dave doesn't even socialize with bandleader Paul Shaffer or his guests, either.
Concluded the source: "Unless he's interviewing race car drivers, who fascinate him, or Paul Newman, Dave doesn't give guests the time of day.
"You'd think he would chitchat with guests, but he could care less. He's off in his own world--or just plain bored."
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