(image via RollingStone)
Is Rolling Stone becoming culturally relevant again? For years now the magazine has been laughable, relevant only to college kids who don't know any better, sequestered on campuses. Lately, though -- and we mean historian Sean Willentz's kick ass essays and Taibbi's dissonant rants -- the magazine has shown signs of cool. This month Jason Gay interviews David Letterman (via Stelter via Gawker). It is a fucking amazing interview, we cannot deny.
On interviewing Howard Stern and Bill Clinton:
"Early on, I always had some trepidation about Howard. He seemed like he was without the capability of empathy. And then, when I realized he's just kind of a goofball like everyone else, that leveled the court. We have an expression . . . he can take a punch. And when you realize that neither of you are gonna get hurt too bad, then it's a lot of fun. People like Bill Clinton . . . intelligence just leaks out of him, it forms a cloud around him. You can't penetrate it. I'm thinking about cartoons and he's talking about how to save the planet, so I always feel in over my head there."
On "The Business":
"Then the other fact is that it's all artificial. We're all pretending. We're putting on a show and trying to be cute and trying to say funny things, and we don't really mean much of it."
On The Oprah-Letterman Feud:
"I think that she, like anyone would, got tired of me making jokes about her. Also, years ago, we were doing the old show in Chicago —she came out and somebody in the audience heckled her, and I think she resented the fact that I didn't rise to the occasion and, you know, beat up on the guy. Which I probably should have, but I was completely out of control and didn't know what I was doing.
"... I saw Oprah when she interviewed Tom Cruise recently at his home in Colorado, and, wow, that was just bizarre. I kinda felt bad for Oprah, because it looked like she went into that with her hands tied, but it was reassuring to me because I thought, 'Oh, I'm not the only one who gets myself into things you can't get out of.'"
Two more striking things about the interview: 1) Dave admits finally that he got beaten by Leno. That is a first. He had a running feud with Moonves about bad lead-ins.
2) CBS -- according to Dave -- has decided on a successor. Who is that? Jon Stewart? Howard Stern? Bill Maher? Who?!
As amazing as it sounds, there is more in this interview. Read it here.
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