Letterman is recycling his own jokes

He's on the side that you, apparently, agree with Jimmy; which is why he still sounds neutral to your ears.

Dave could read the phonebook and the audience would still laugh. Because he's funnier? No. Because of loyalty, I guess.

I grew up with Carson and everyone says Carson quit when he was at the top. You can believe that too, because it's kind to think that about Carson. Looking at it coldly, Carson wasn't _as_ funny for the final three or so years, and in spots for years before that. Carson was still entertaining, however.

Letterman is no longer funny. On my personal scale, he quit being funny for me a long time before he quit being funny for other people. Letterman _can_ however, be entertaining. Most nights he's not. Well, I take that back. I pretty much quit watching him, so I can't talk about _most_ nights. Just every night I happen to land on CBS.

How to get me to watch The Late Show with David Letterman? Simple. Have Dave retire and have Craig Ferguson take his place. Ferguson against Leno? Craig wins.

This comes from someone who had been a fan since Dave first came on the scene after doing stand up in the seventies. I watched him, religiously after the first time I saw him on Carson. When he got his own daytime show, I stayed home to watch because I didn't have a VCR in those days. When VCRs' got affordable, I never missed a show and then he became was a nightly staple on my DVR. I watched him evolve from a cutting edge, anti-establishment young troublemaker to a network suit, but stuck with him till he violated Johnnys' most basic rule about not letting the audience now your personal politics. Johnny could poke fun at both sides and everybody laughed. When Dave took sides, I felt like every night was a diatribe against the side he hates and it wasn't funny anymore. I stopped watching last year.

I'm with Bob on this... seems to me that this is one of his "meta" jokes that he's been doing for over 25 years now. Do a lousy monologue, repeat jokes, and see if anyone notices or cares. I think it's one of the ways Dave amuses himself.

Dave has actually been doing this for quite some time. Defamer just happened to catch it last week. I see nothing wrong with it. It's all part of Dave's persona, his "world," his rhythm. He not only repeats bits week after week, but he'll often recycle the same jokes on different days of the same week. Hey, different audiences.

Leno has repeated the same thing every single night since he took over for Carson. It's called "being awful."

No. Jay hasn't been funny in years. Dave is still the best.

Leno always has the better monologue. Dave comes across cranky and old.

Time to retire Dave instead of Leno.

Conan recycles stuff just as much. Not in the monologue per se but he does bits where the intro to them is the same every time and he does it as no-one has ever seen it before. He also does continuing bits where he does a massive long recap of everything that happened previously. With Conan (who I really like by the way) it really seems like they're filling sometimes.

And yet, Dave is still funnier than Jay. Go figure.

He has recycled monologue jokes for quite some time, and well before the strike. Several jokes might get repeated 3 or 4 times throughout a week. The McCain things don't count, because they are always different.

The repeating bits Derek mentions are all hilarious. Every time one of them happens, its like seeing an old friend. Len Easton of the California Highway Patrol is hysterical. I also Tivo it every night (as I have for 5 years or so). The repeating bits/segments are the best part of the show.