The Letterman Jacket
Over the years, a lot of talk shows have sent "correspondents" to the Olympics as a running comedy bit. But for my taste, the absolute best, the most charming, and the funniest have been when David Letterman sent his mom to cover them. (Okay, in fairness, I feel that way about pretty much any of the segments the show would do with his mother. But the Olympic one do stand out, if only because they're on a much bigger platform.) This is a collection from the Don Giller archive of Dave’s mom at Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994. And best of all, when I say it's a "collection," I don't mean a few minutes strung together, but she was on every night during the Games, so this is joyful hour's-worth.
(Actually, it's not a full-hour of Dave's mom. The show did a bit of set up during the week before the pieces started to air, particularly since CBS was carrying the Olympics and this includes that, notably a bunch of Olympic-related Top Ten Lists. Dorothy Letterman first shows up around the 14-minute mark, for those who want to jump forward.)
Maybe the Summer Games have been postponed, but this will have to fill in for the moment.
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