There’s no question David Letterman left a major mark on the late night landscape, particularly during his time on The Late Show over at CBS. Celebrities over the course of decades interacted with the famously curmudgeonly man, who often kept people on their toes with acerbic observations and pointed questions. Letterman would later say he “had it coming” when it came to any “criticism” lobbed his way, but did you know the late night host was so eccentric that major stars were told not to compliment him?
It’s not the only example of eccentric behavior by late night hosts, but Amy Poehler and Mindy Kaling both got candid about their experiences with Dave recently.
Mindy Kaling And Amy Poehler Revealed They Were Advised Not To Be Too Nice To Letterman
Kaling recently gave Amy Poehler a compliment of the highest order when she said she loved the positive vibes the other NBC comedian brings to her now-famous “Good Hang” podcast. You can feel the love in the room, but amusingly Kaling set up this compliment by pointing out she and Poehler used to get told “it’s like an insult” to say something nice about David Letterman.
Remember when we used to do David Letterman and the producers would be like, 'Do not compliment him. He doesn't know what to do with it’? And you were like, 'Oh, so it's like an insult to compliment a host.'
The warning from her agents really stuck with her for years. In fact, it led her to go on shows over and over again where she spent time worrying about it not being “cool” to say something nice. She’s been working on it, and she wanted to tell Poehler she was a fan of the way "Good Hang" works in light of that.
And then now, I felt like for other shows too I was like, ‘Don't do that,’ and then it feeds into the whole thing of, like, it's not cool to compliment. It was very formative when that producer was like, ‘Don't compliment him,’ and it's a hostile act. And yet I love compliments as a performer and, if someone came on my show and was like, ‘I love the show.’
Amy Poehler was also very familiar with the Letterman advice. Interestingly, when Kaling complimented her, Poehler in her typical way also did deflect the former Mindy Project star’s compliment, joking:
Literally, what are we doing? What are we going to do, be mean to each other?
So, maybe not taking a compliment is an epidemic among hosts? Though, I will say Poehler was good-natured about the whole conversation, and it’s always fun when totally unrelated factoids about other people get brought up by celebrities. In this case, David Letterman is famously known for hating compliments, and this specific topic has come up again and again over the years.
Letterman Himself Has Admitted He Hates Compliments
Probably the most specific incident came in 2017, just two years after David Letterman had retired from The Late Show. That year, the former host was given an award: The Mark Twain Prize For American Humor. This meant there was an event and a bunch of celebrities attended. It also meant there were a lot of nice things said about Letterman, who even the Washington Post noted at the time, “hates compliments.” In fact, when asked about people fawning over him, he admitted the whole thing was cringy to him.
It’s uncomfortable. So far I’m having a very nice time, but I’m afraid that will all diminish when people are on stage telling lies about me and then I’ll start to wither and become uncomfortable and sweat through my shirt.
David Letterman’s entire comedic persona lives on that edge between funny and uncomfortable. He’s often at his most engaging and amusing when there’s just a sliver of awkwardness between himself and whomever he is talking with, whether that be a celebrity, a journalist, or just someone random he happens to be chatting with. He's always willing to ask the uncomfortable thing, and that sometimes made him the less popular late night host during his run.
No one is perfect, of course, and that means sometimes he doesn't tow that line correctly. Other times he does things like compare The Late Show ending to an adult bookstore coming in, and it works perfectly. No matter what, though, you never really know exactly what’s going to come out of Dave’s mouth. I’m sure that can be very difficult, particularly when you are early in your celebrity career, wearing uncomfortable celebrity fashion, and trying to make a positive impression on late night – without literally saying anything positive to said host.
