the displaced texan

Reputation is a funny thing.  It takes years to build up and in David Letterman’s case  only three minutes and thirty-four seconds to destroy.  It started awkwardly and without warning.  His audience giggling unaware that Letterman was unraveling a plot of blackmail by a fellow CBS employee regarding his inappropriate relations at work.  He starts out serious, then jokes when the topic turned to sex and ends his personal confession in a mockingly way towards his accuser.

The interwebs were buzzing today with personal opinion of Letterman, but I wanted to take a look at this move from a reputation management perspective.

Why I Think Letterman Confessed

Letterman has built a career of inviting celebrity guests on his show and asking them difficult questions about their personal lives.  He, along with Jay Leno and Jon Stewart, made careers off of the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. His product is taking a humor(less) approach to other people’s misfortune.

So, if Dave Letterman doesn’t go on air first and talk about the allegations being made of him and discloses the pending extortion investigation, than it becomes almost impossible for him to ask any other celebrity about the decisions they’ve made.

Even though his jokes were strange and seem odd now, he needed to be the first to make fun of himself.  I could even imagine Biff Henderson hitting the “Applause” sign to urge the audience to laugh, even though they’re confused.

I remember watching the Joaquin Phoenix disaster that was an interview and thinking, “why is Letterman being such a jerk to him. This has to be a bit. He has to see this.”

But Letterman didn’t relent. And now, it seems America isn’t relenting on him.  Letterman is in the business of making fun of others. He points out the obvious and makes jokes no one else thought of, or makes the joke everyone was thinking.  He’s even made jokes that he’s had to take back, showing the fine line of funny he walks every night.

For Letterman he can be relived that he’s shed the reputation of being the guy Leno screwed over to replace Carson at the Tonight Show desk.  However, in this new spotlight, the reputation may be replaced with: Well, he got what he deserved.