Here's The Thing - 3. David Letterman/Michael Douglas

HERE'S THE THING - 3. DAVID LETTERMAN/MICHAEL DOUGLAS (320kbs-m4a/122mb/53mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 20th February 2020

More in depth interviews from WNYC Radio in New York hosted by Alec Baldwin.

Alec gives the listener a unique insight into the lives of artists, policy makers and performers, sidestepping the predictable by taking listeners inside the dressing rooms, apartments, and offices.

Specially curated for BBC Radio 4 Extra, the series continues with Alec talking to a legendary US TV interviewer, and a member of a Hollywood dynasty.

David Letterman began his Late Night gig as a self-described “gap-toothed, unknown smart ass.” He began his television career as a weatherman, but moved rapidly up to anchorman and talk show host. He left for L.A. and, after only three years on the comedy scene there, he found himself guest-hosting the Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. He got his own show in 1982, where he developed his off the cuff comedy style, often featuring ludicrous live challenges to the studio audience and members of the public, his “10 Ten Lists”, as well as interviewing the famous and not so famous. In 2012 he spoke to Alec about how a quintuple by-pass and the birth of a child have dramatically shifted his priorities.

David Letterman retired from his TV show in 2015.

In 2011 Alec spoke with a Hollywood star who’d lived in the same apartment overlooking New York’s Central Park for decades. Michael Douglas talks about what makes a great director and why playing the villain is so wonderful. Douglas reveals how competition with his father, legendary actor Kirk Douglas (103 in December 2019), shaped both his career and his life as a parent. He talks about his marriage to another acting star, Catherine Zeta Jones, and being much more honest with his young daughter than he ever thought he’d be. Douglas explains how his father’s early brush with death, and his own cancer diagnosis affected them each in different ways.

Produced by WNYC in the USA

Acquired for BBC Radio 4 Extra. First heard on the Here’s The Thing podcast in 2013.