The Clip Letterman Might Want to Forget About

I saw the terrific American Splendor (2003) the other night, the story about the groundbreaking comic book artist Harvey Pekar. In the late 80s, he was frequently invited to appear on Late Night with David Letterman. He was certainly not the perfect guest, never willing to just play along and let the host have his fun. At least not in this clip, his final appearance on the show for a while. I don’t know if he ever came back as a guest (he probably did, not least when the movie opened in 2003), but this is pretty awkward stuff. Going through a period when he was battling lymphoma, Pekar decided to be very difficult this time round. He understood that his previous appearances had little to do with his comic books; after all, very few people read them. No, his Late Night visits had everything to do with letting Letterman have fun at his expense.

This time there would be no more of that, Pekar decided. He comes out swinging, accuses the host of being a GE shill (GE owns NBC) and refuses to let him get away with it. Letterman tries to defuse the situation, but loses his temper and starts arguing with his guest… and then goes on to insult him and his comic books in every way he can think of. It’s pretty ugly. NBC refused to let the clip be shown in the movie, so that particular sequence had to be recreated with actors.

tv tv harvey pekar david letterman