Late Show with David Letterman (Part 2)

A top CBS News producer was busted Thursday for trying to shake down late night TV host David Letterman - threatening to expose the funnyman's affairs with several female staffers in a movie and book.

The "Late Show" host revealed the stunning plot on last night's broadcast in an extraordinary confession to viewers - and admitted he had indeed slept with several women who work at the show.

"I'm glad you folks are here tonight, and I'm glad you folks are in such a pleasant mood, because I have a story I'd like to tell you and the home viewers as well," he said, appearing to set up a comedy bit.

He went on to explain that a man identified by police as Robert Halderman, a 51-year-old Emmy Award-winning producer, found out that he was sleeping with several staff members.

Halderman allegedly threatened to expose the 62-year-old Letterman, who married his girlfriend, Regina Lasko, of 23 years in March, unless he forked over a staggering $2 million.

"This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," Letterman told viewers. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury.

"This whole thing has been quite scary," he said. "I had to tell them how I was disturbed by this. I was scared for my family. I felt menaced by this man."

Then, Letterman added, "I had to tell them all the creepy things I had done."

The audience roared with laughter.

"Now why is that funny?" Letterman asked.

"Now of course we get to what was it was - we get to all the creepy stuff," Letterman said, taking a more serious tone.

"I have had sex with women who work for me on this show."

The audience was silent.

Letterman said the grand jury asked if the accusations were true.

"Yes, I have," was his answer.

"Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would - especially for the women," he joked.

"But that's a decision for them, if they want to go public and talk.

"It's been a very bizarre experience," Letterman added. "I feel like I need to protect my family. I need to protect myself and I hope to protect my job."

CBS said in a statement that it was "made aware of" an ongoing police investigation involving David Letterman and an employee at '48 Hours'," one of the network's news magazine shows.

"Mr. Letterman addressed the issue during the show's broadcast this evening, and we believe his comments speak for themselves," the CBS statement read.

Halderman, who was being held on attempted grand larceny charges, has directed dozens of "48 Hours" documentaries, from the Winter Olympics to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

A "Late Show" staffer, 31-year-old Stephanie Birkitt, once lived with Halderman, according to public recorRAB.

Letterman said the shakedown started three weeks ago - when he found a package in his car.

"I don't usually receive packages at 6 in the morning in the backseat of my car," he joked.

"So I get to looking through it, and there's letters in the package and it says, 'I know that you do some terrible, terrible things, and I can prove that you do those terrible things.'

"And sure enough, there was some stuff in the pages that proved I did those terrible things," he said.

The audience continued to laugh, not knowing the shocking secrets Letterman was about to reveal.

"What this is, is a guy is going to write a screenplay about me ... and he's going to take all the terrible stuff he knows about my life, and there seems to be quite a lot of terrible stuff he knows about, and he's going to put it in a movie unless I give him some money.

"That's a little hinky," Letterman said was his first reaction - followed by a rush of fear. "I just want to reiterate how terrifying this moment is."

Letterman called his lawyer, and the two men set up a meeting with Halderman, who told them he was dead serious.

Letterman and his lawyer called the Manhattan district attorney's office, "And we say, 'Can we run a couple of things by you guys?'

"So we took the stuff down there and they said, 'Well, hello, this is blackmail,'" he said. The lawyer set up two subsequent meetings and gave Halderman a phony check for $2 million.

What followed was a "bizarre" and "terrifying few weeks," Letterman said, culminating in a grand jury appearance Thursday morning, followed by Halderman's arrest.

An insider at the "Late Show" told the Daily News last night that Letterman "did talk with Regina before he went on the air, and every indication is that they're still together."

All the women Letterman bedded "were consenting adults." The insider didn't know how many affairs Letterman had or when they took place.

Most of Letterman's staff was unaware that he was going to make an announcement until the last minute, the source said.

"This is consistent with how he has handled every major moment in his life," the source said. "He's rarely had a press conference. He feels he has this show and he uses it to tell what matters to him."

Letterman married Lasko, his longtime girlfriend, in March - and announced it on-air. "I had avoided getting married pretty good for, like, 23 years," he said. "I secretly felt that men who were married admired me - like I was the last of the real gunslingers."

Letterman was married once before - to his college sweetheart, Michele Cook, from 1969 to 1977. He dated comedienne Merrill Markoe after that, and started dating Lasko in 1986.

"I knew he was being blackmailed and that someone was arrested today," Letterman's beloved mother and semiregular guest, Dorothy Mengering, told The News last night from her home in Indiana hours before the show aired.

"So far, that's all I know," said Mengering, who said she heard the news from Letterman's wife, with whom he has a son, 5-year-old Harry.

"I have not talked to him. I heard it from Regina. I'm looking forward to seeing the show to see what he has to say. I really just found out today."


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LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS

Mo 3/15: Jennifer Aniston, Charles Moore
Tu 3/16: Jimmy Kimmel, Kirstie Alley, a Top Ten List presented by Snoop Dogg
We 3/17: Gerard Butler, Mindy Kaling, Free Energy
Th 3/18: Tracy Morgan, Jamie McMurray, Fanfarlo (R 2/15/10)
Fr 3/19: Jennifer Garner, Brooklyn Decker, Sade (R 2/9/10)

Mo 3/22: Greg Kinnear, the latest "American Idol" castoff, Michael Buble
Tu 3/23: Ben Stiller, Jamie Oliver, Justin Bieber
We 3/24: Tina Fey, Bryan Cranston, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Th 3/25: Jessica Biel, Christoph Waltz, Josh Turner (R 2/10/10)
Fr 3/26: Scarlet Johansson, Keith Olbermann, Daniel Merriweather (R 2/18/10)

Mo 3/29: Robin Williams, the latest "American Idol" castoff
 
I think Dave has the upper hand on guests there. Interesting that Mitt Romney is scheduled directly opposite Sarah Palin. Jay will probably win that particular battle - but at the same time, Palin is so thick that she'll end up giving Dave a load of material!
 
Mo 5/3: Mickey Rourke, Jim Parsons, the latest "American Idol" castoff
Tu 5/4: Russell Crowe, Kerry Washington, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
We 5/5: Jack Hanna, Willie Nelson
Th 5/6: Beth Ostrosky Stern, Court Yard HounRAB
 
Apparently half of the Larry Sanders writing staff used to work on Letterman's show. It's been pretty much common knowledge that they based an awful lot of Larry on Letterman.

Absolutely loved that show, to wander off-topic for a while. They repeated the entire series on ITV2 a few years ago and it's not dated at all (apart from featuring a scarily young looking Jon Stewart towarRAB the end!).
 
Although it might be shown again in the next batch of re-runs, but that isn't guaranteed, and the
cappers don't generally cap the re-runs, usually only the new ones after their first transmissions.
 
On the http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/ web site it says this about the new CBS Reality Channel:

CBS will delve into the archives to bring programming including remastered episodes of Star Trek and Jag on CBS Action, whilst CBS Reality will bring you hit US programmes such as Dr Phil and Late Show; Dynasty and many others will be on CBS Drama.

Perhaps we will see Dave again!:D
 
Hi - thanks. :) It's quite a new feature - think it's been around a few months now though.

You just need to add ?t=00m00s (whatever you want it to start at) after the URL manually.
 
We shouldn't have to do that. There's absolutely no need for the files to be split n RAR'd in the
first place ... especially with the more common XViD/DiVX avi caps of around 350MB each.

If we were all stuck on broadband connections no higher than 512Kbps, with ridiculously low
monthly usage allowances, then fair do's, but we're not. That's something those idiots that
needlessly split n RAR for no good reason that shows need to realise. It's 2010, not 2001!

The cappers only need to encode as an XViD/DiVX avi (or MKV for HD caps) and upload one
single video file for each episode to the various torrent sites or direct link download sites.

Splitting them up into bite-size chunks is a pointless waste of time!
 
Hmmm, I think it may be time to consider getting my old Sky mini-dish re-aligned back in line of
sight of the Astra 2 satellites. Since I ditched Sky about 4 years ago, the dish has been blown
out of alignment slightly overtime, resulting in the "No satellite signal..." on-screen message.

I have to catch up on the downloaded Late Shows first though ... still a few weeks behind!
 
""What we don't know, of course, is whether Letterman simply had consensual relations with a fellow grownup at a time when both were free agents or whether other factors were at play, like age or job description. We may never know, and frankly, it would be none of our business except that sometimes this stuff slips out and, okay, we love it when that happens. In any case, Dave's performance last night ensured extortion will not be the main story here. ""

The New York Daily News's David Hinckley thinks Letterman's sex life has become the chief focus of interest.
 
I find Letterman completely over rated - I'm amazed he has the audience and followiing he has - it can only be the guest list - I've seen quite a few clips of monologues and interviews and when he isn't makiing unfunny wisecracks where the sycophantic audience laugh and cheer at every cough but treats this actress like she is a 12 year old and he is obviously bored or out of his depth and uninterested -
Maybe she didn't really help but I've seen better job interviews and they weren't paid as much as him!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKda79RABQH0

Can anyone actually link to a decent interview he has done?
 
Monday, September 13
(Original Air Date: 8/31/10)
Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps)
Bill McKibben (Book, "Earth: Making A Life On A Tough New Planet")


Tuesday, September 14
(Original Air Date: 8/24/10)
Drew Barrymore (Going The Distance)
Katy Perry (CD, "Teenage Dream")


Wednesday, September 15
(Original Air Date: 8/2/10)
Will Ferrell (The Other Guys)
Nas and Damian Marley (CD, "Distant Relatives")


Thursday, September 16
(Original Air Date: 2/11/09)
Joaquin Phoenix
Swimsuit Model Bar Rafaeli (Sports Illustrated)
Anthony Hamilton


Friday, September 17
(Original Air Date: 8/5/10)
Mark Wahlberg (The Other Guys)
Dock Diving Dogs
Comedian Cory Kahaney
VV Brown (CD, "Traveling Like The Light
 
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