Oprah, Dave: Together Again

[kurth]

Oprah, Dave: Together Again
By Joal Ryan, E! Online

Oprah Winfrey didn't get to become "one of the most recognized and admired public figures" without being one of the savviest. And so with a new Broadway show to promote, Winfrey has agreed to go where she hasn't gone in 16 years: David Letterman's place. The media mogul is scheduled to appear Dec. 1 on Letterman's Late Show, it was announced Monday. The booking is to coincide with opening night of The Color Purple, a Winfrey-produced musical version of the Alice Walker novel.

The daytime talk queen hasn't done a late-night show with Letterman since May 2, 1989, back when she was merely a daytime talk queen (as opposed to a magazine publisher, Broadway producer, movie producer, book-club booster, all-around humanitarian and Forbes-certified billionaire), and he was an NBC employee of Late Night. Winfrey's Letterman appearance was just her second (she'd first done his NBC show in 1986), and for a long while seemed destined to be her last. "I felt completely uncomfortable sitting in that chair," Winfrey told Time magazine in 2003 of her Letterman experiences, "and I vowed I would not ever put myself in that position again." Letterman, meanwhile, never gave up. He never let up, either. His most famous gag from his critically assailed 1995 turn as Oscar host was the "Oprah, Uma...Uma, Oprah" line.

On the site, DDY's Late Show Fan Page (www.ddy.com/dl3.html), Letterman's fixation on Winfrey has warranted its own page. Most of the 67 entries recount Letterman's "Oprah's Log" of 2001-02, in which the late-night host recounted his (unsuccessful) attempts to be invited to Winfrey's show. Not a real feud--Letterman kids because he loves, which would explain the dearth of Jay Leno jokes on Late Show--the Letterman-Winfrey standoff thawed in November 2003, when Winfrey sent Letterman children's books to mark the birth of his first son, Harry.

One month later, about the same time Time was quoting Winfrey as saying she didn't ever again want be a guest of Letterman, she asked Letterman to be a guest of her show. The dream come true of the "Oprah Log" or no, Letterman turned down the offer, saying he was afraid he would "break down and sob like a little girl." On Monday's show, however, Letterman couldn't have been more effusive about Winfrey finally responding to his overtures. "Put bygones behind us, the water under the bridge, over the dam, wherever water goes--standing in your basement," Letterman said, "she's going to be here on this show, and it's going to be fantastic." ....