Nell Scovell, a successful television writer with over twenty years of experience in the industry, has opened up about her time as a staff writer for David Letterman in a piece for Vanity Fair (where she’s also written for two decades). And while the entire essay is a well-balanced critique of the lack of female writers in late-night television, here’s the quote that makes Letterman look like a dick:
Did Dave hit on me? No. Did he pay me enough extra attention that it was noted by another writer? Yes. Was I aware of rumors that Dave was having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Was I aware that other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Did these female staffers have access to information and wield power disproportionate to their job titles? Yes. Did that create a hostile work environment? Yes. Did I believe these female staffers were benefiting professionally from their personal relationships? Yes. Did that make me feel demeaned? Completely. Did I say anything at the time? Sadly, no.
Scovell uses her experience with Letterman to call for more female writers across the spectrum of late-night television, and I think she has a good point — up to a point. I don’t want to play the “women aren’t funny” card, because I know some women who are very funny. But at the same time… c’mon. Calling for more women comedy writers is like calling for more white wide receivers in the NFL.
I would sexually harass that SO HARD.
There are some new developments in the ongoing David Letterman saga, and you hungry little gossip piranha should start churning the water into a frenzy now, because it looks like there’s some salacious chum on the way. In an enlightening New York Times article, we learn that (a) Letterman’s assistant/side-piece Stephanie Birkitt is on paid administrative leave, would-be blackmailer Joe Halderman is so well-respected at CBS News that two of his colleagues posted his bail, and (c) Halderman’s attorney, Gerald Shargel, is prepared to F Letterman up:
“I’m looking to level the playing field,” Mr. Shargel said. He said that the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, “seemed to embrace Letterman’s story” in a news conference last week and made it appear that “this was an open and shut case” against his client. And he said that Mr. Letterman had a national television show on which to make his points.
“All I’m saying is, there is more to the story,” Mr. Shargel said. Asked about the accusation that he seemed to be trying to muddy Mr. Letterman’s reputation, Mr. Shargel said: “This is not a parlor game. My client is facing 15 years in jail. If Letterman gets muddied up, so be it.”
Mr. Shargel said that no one from the prosecution had approached him to discuss a plea arrangement. “We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it,” he said.
Oh yeah. That’s the stuff. Man, I love me some scorched-earth warfare. I’m gonna cook up some popcorn and make sure my splatterguard is set up. This is about to get bloodier than 300 remade as a period piece.
David Letterman took time out of his show again last night to address the whole “blackmailed for sleeping with my female staffers” story, and this time it was an apology to the women he slept with — particularly his wife. Naturally, it got huge ratings. Sorry, Conan.
The Nielsen Co.’s overnight measurement of the nation’s 56 biggest markets netted Letterman’s “Late Show” on CBS a 4.2 rating – higher than anything rival NBC had in prime-time…
As Letterman mixed wisecracks with contrition, he said his wife, Regina Lasko, had been “horribly hurt by my behavior” and stated flat-out that those affairs “are in the past.” … “Let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me,” he said ruefully.
As Letterman faces future shows, how he deals with his messy situation could prove significant and, ironically, it could clinch his recent ratings victory in late-night TV.
Oddly, Craig Ferguson — who also appears on CBS — has made any reference to Letterman’s extracurricular pussy-mongering. I kinda wish Conan O’Brien would fight back and go after him a little. I know he’s probably “too classy” or “above” that, but hey, a guy can dream. I like to imagine a world where my late-night hero climbs to the top of the ratings by ruthlessly gutting his competitor. And if Jay Leno drove one of his old-timey vintage cars off a cliff along the way because Conan cut the brakes, all the better.
“Hang on, I’m getting an urgent call from myself twenty years from now.”
All right kids, it’s time to put away your orangutan-and-hound videos, because things are about to get serious around here again. We’ve got more gossip sausage to make, so get your meat grinders ready for new details about David Letterman’s relationship with Stephanie Birkitt (and his harem of “assistants”). Gawker says…
• Letterman had a cadre of female assistants who fell heavily on the young and attractive side of the ledger. He was said to employ as not less than three of these Special Assistants to the Host last year. The assistant tally however, was said to have climbed as high as five at moments.
• The scuttlebutt on the set had it that current assistant-in-question, Stephanie Birkitt, received extra compensation for duties as his First Assistant, in the form of Letterman picking up the tab for her graduate law studies at the Yeshiva University Law School.
This should work out well. I get the feeling Letterman may need legal advice in the coming weeks.
What about that one over there? Her too? Wow.
If you thought David Letterman’s ten-minute story about how he got blackmailed for sleeping with “Late Show” staffers would be sufficient grist for the gossip mill, you were woefully incorrect. TMZ is all over this story like flies on an African child’s face, and we’re already learning how the extortionist — *sigh*, alleged extortionist (stupid lawyers) — was in a relationship with Letterman’s former assistant. The details:
One of the women at the center of the David Letterman alleged extortion case is Stephanie Birkitt, his former assistant — according to the search warrant obtained by FOX 5 New York. And, the warrant says, Birkitt was the suspect’s girlfriend and we’ve learned she was living with him until recently.
According to the warrant, the suspect, “48 Hours” producer Robert “Joe” Halderman, sent Letterman a package which allegedly included treatments for a screenplay with supporting materials. The warrant goes on to say the “supporting materials” included copies of parts of a diary and correspondence belonging to Birkitt.
TMZ also has a nice little story about how Halderman’s 2004 divorce settlement required him to pay $6000 a month, a a slice of information that was no doubt uncovered 3.67 seconds after they learned his name. How do they find out all this stuff so fast? Who are these people? I swear to God, in another generation TMZ is going to run our country with totalitarian authority. They know everything.
Oh no, I’ve said too much! Now they’re going to dig up my time in juvie! I swear, it was only once! And those cats were already dead!
During last night’s “Late Show,” David Letterman addressed the audience with a ten-minute monologue that detailed how a CBS News employee tried to extort him for $2 million with threats to reveal that Letterman had sex with female employees of “The Late Show.” I recommend reading the AP news story for details, but amazingly, because Letterman sprinkled the speech with jokes, his story of blackmail and illicit sex was received warmly by the audience. At the 7:45 mark of the video above, Letterman finally gets around to what he was being extorted for:
“The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. Now, my response to that is: Yes, I have.” [APPLAUSE]
I absolute love the audience cheering that. “WOOO SEX WITH EMPLOYEES! Way to stick it to ‘em Dave!” I’d kind of like to see what kind of admissions you can win people over with just because you’re the victim of blackmail. “So, after I went through this horrible ordeal, I feel I should tell you that, yes, I did kill those hookers and leave their bodies in wet cement when I got my driveway re-paved. But they were already dead on the inside, amirite?”
