David Letterman and The Comedian's Code of Ethics

I don’t much like David Letterman’s comedy act, but I certainly don’t have anything against the guy personally. He is a performing artist, not a public official or even a businessperson, and he is not required to adhere to any professional code of ethics.

Now, there’s a concept for you – a code of ethics for comedians! Here are my proposals for:

“A Comedian’s Code of Ethics”

1. Don’t Step on Your Own Lines
2. Don’t Be Boring
3. Don’t Turn Off the Audience With Mean-Spirited or Nasty Diatribes
4. Don’t Use Your Comedy Act to Resolve Personal Issues
5. Don’t Moralize
6. It’s OK To Have Fun At Another Person’s Expense As Long As It’s Funny
7. No Jokes About Other People’s Religion. It’s OK to make fun of your own people
8. Don’t Piss Off the Club Owner
9. Never Apologize
10. Ignore Any Idiotic Ethics Codes For Comedians

Basically, the only rule of ethics Letterman violated is No. 2, “Don’t Be Boring”. Otherwise, he’s doing a fine job, depending who you talk to.

Letterman hasn’t done anything wrong. He had a consensual relationship with an adult woman. That ain’t a hanging offense. He got shaken down by a nasty prick, whom he had arrested. He went on TV and let the audience know what to expect. But he is still getting dragged down.

The other comedians, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, went easy on him. I probably would have gone a lot farther, not out of malice but to try to wring out more laughs. When it comes to making fun of people, I adhere to the Take No Prisoners school of comedy. Basically, I would have brought in rubber sex dolls, Roman Polanski, Michelle Phillips, whatever…

Letterman should have let it go after his first announcement. After that he should have gone forward and let the tabloids do whatever they wanted. By continually referring to it on his own show and turning it into a soap opera, he is continually breathing new life into it. One Letterman Show reaches more people than all the newspapers combined.

Going forward, he should ignore it and let the criminal justice system grind the guy up. Pretty soon people will get tired of reading about it and it will die under the weight of its own tediousness. But if he keeps referring to it on his own show, he will destroy his own career.

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