Interview · moment 2 of 16
Letterman Nostalgia and Is Podcasting Art?
from An Exotic Beast · #131
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
3 minGuest
They discuss Zinoman's Letterman biography and 90s late night nostalgia, then pivot into a debate about whether modern late night (Muppets, Taylor Swift) is any good, before arguing over whether comedy podcasts qualify as an art form the way stand-up specials do.
- 1:06Tim mentions reading Letterman: The Last Great Giant of Late Night and growing up sneaking downstairs to watch Letterman and Arsenio Hall in the mid to late 90s.
- 1:40Tim acknowledges the Letterman-versus-Leno divide and admits he held the belief that liking Leno made you useless, though he's softened on it now.
- 2:02Current late-night TV with Muppets, celebrity games, and Taylor Swift appearances—asked whether this excites a comedy critic.
- 2:33Jason agrees there isn't much exciting or interesting comedy on shows like Saturday Night Live and late night, with a lot of sameness across the board.
- 3:02Tim points out that Jason never writes about podcasting, which is never the subject of a whole article.
- 3:20Tim gets more audience attention from his podcast than from his Netflix special, raising the question of what critics should prioritize covering.
- 3:39Jason argues that podcasting—two comedians talking about issues for an hour and a half—is not an art form the way stand-up comedy is.
David LettermanpodcastingSaturday Night Livelate night televisionThe TimesJason