A collection of all of the giant doorknob appearances and mentions on Late Night, bookended by non-giant doorknob clips. The prop was introduced on April 20, 1982, and then revisited three months later. It was left dormant for the rest of the year but rose again in 1983, when it took on a life of its own.
From Jason Zinoman's Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night, pp. 104-07:
Credit for the original bit goes to [Late Night writer] George Meyer, who found a giant doorknob in a catalogue of joke props. He then sketched a pencil drawing of a man approaching a giant doorknob with the phrase “It’s just plain big,” and handed it to Merrill Markoe who showed it to Letterman. They both laughed about it for weeks. …
“What I was trying to do was reduce a joke to its essence,” Meyer said. “What is the least tweak you can do to something and have it still be a comedy piece? I was influenced by Steve Martin when he did giant stuff in his act." …
Like [Martin's] arrow through the head, the doorknob was dumb. But it was also a joke about dumbness, just like Stupid Pet Tricks. After Late Night kept bringing it back again and again, it took on a third meaning: A meta joke, a joke about the fact they were using the joke. The giant doorknob lost any trace of satirical purpose and become something weirder, more surreal and at the same time, a familiar part of the landscape of the show. “It started as one thing,” said Markoe, “and evolved into something else."
Zinoman further expounds on this in his book. Buy it.
www.amazon.com/Letterman-Last...
1. February 24, 1982: Doorknob Day
2. April 20, 1982: New Practical Jokes
3. July 26, 1982: Larry "Bud" Melman guest-hosts New Gift Items
4. February 4, 1983: 1st Anniversary -- New Gift Items
5. March 23, 1983: Museum of Made-for-TV Movies
6. March 24, 1983: guest Edward Kennedy, nose-balancer
7. April 1, 1983: Crushing Things with a Steamroller, 1*
8. April 4, 1983: Dave explains
9. April 5, 1983: guest Norris McWhirter, co-founder and editor of Guiness World Records
10. April 21, 1983: Viewer Mail
11. May 4, 1983: Dave by the elevator banks lobby
12. May 5, 1983: By the elevator banks lobby again -- Viewer mail (mentioned only)
13. May 19, 1983: Crushing Things with a Steamroller, 2*
14. October 12, 1983: vs. giant Russian doorknob
15. October 9, 1985: Museum of the Hard-to-Believe -- The Wall of Doorknobs
*Full Crushing Things with a Steamroller Collection here: • Crushing Things w/Stea...
1 авг 2024
