What happened to David Letterman?

I don't mean the endlessly publicized sex scandal or the Sarah Palin controversy. I don't mean the ham-fisted and unfunny political commentary -- or even the strange tales of stalkers around every corner. I mean what happened to the guy from the mid-late 1980s who seemed so above and beyond any such tired showbiz cliches?

When Letterman followed Carson during the Golden Age of NBC late night TV, his show was admittedly quirky. But it was one of the best examples of post-modern comedy in the medium's history. Late Night with David Letterman not only mocked TV entertainment while being a part of it, but the show made fun of the very idea that people get paid to gab or act silly in front of millions of people.

When you make a living online and a big part of your job is to spend the entire day surfing around a hundred web sites, you begin to think that you've seen everything there is to see on the web. At least the good stuff. But sometimes you come across a site that makes you smile and say to yourself, "this is great!"

That's what I thought when I found the Sound of Young America podcast.

Remember back in those heady days of the early- to mid-eighties, when David Letterman was considered to be the young, hip alternative to Johnny Carson? You remember... while Johnny was doing his 4,132nd Carnac sketch and putting on daring musical acts like Paul Anka, Dave was conducting elevator races, tossing watermelons off roofs, showing Jerry Lawler slap Andy Kaufman, and putting on bands like the Talking Heads.

Well, hold on to your bongs, Baby Boomers, and grab on to that flannel, Gen Xers: Letterman turns 60 today.

Yikes.