Madonna on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1994
American singer Madonna made an appearance on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman on March 31, 1994.
This made the episode the most censored in American network television talk-show history while at the same time garnering host David Letterman some of the highest ratings he ever received.
[2] Madonna's language and behavior—which was provocative, seemingly spontaneous at times, and full of double entendres, and ended with a playful refusal to leave the set—sparked a large public controversy.
Madonna's 1994 appearance marked her first on U.S. television that year following controversy with her book Sex her album Erotica and her two movies Body Of Evidence and Dangerous Game, both of which had been poorly received by critics upon releases in 1992 and 1993 respectively.
[4] Daniel Kellison, who had been Letterman's talent coordinator at the time, wrote for Grantland that he had booked Madonna for the show with the pre-arranged premise that she would scold the host for his mocking of her personal life.
Kellison wrote the intro Letterman used to welcome Madonna to the stage:[5] Our first guest tonight is one of the biggest stars in the world, and in the past ten years she has sold over 80 million albums, starred in countless films and slept with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.Letterman's band leader, Paul Shaffer, responded, "She's your guest!
Madonna then entered the set to the sound of her 1983 hit song "Holiday", clutching a pair of her underwear, which she asked Letterman to smell during the interview.
Madonna began smoking a cigar, and as he moved to another topic, she interrupted him, in an opening salvo soon to be indicative of the random provocations to come: "Incidentally, you are a sick fuck.
She replied with a series of sexual innuendos, commenting "that [overhead] microphone is really long"; Letterman responded by talking about her friendship with Charles Barkley.
"), Madonna laughed and said, "I thought you were going to ask me if it hurt something else ..." which spurred a collective series of nervous laughter from the studio audience.
After the commercial break, Madonna told Letterman that he had changed since her last visit, that he was no longer "cool" or challenging to his guests, that, "Money's made you soft.
After a second commercial break, Madonna asked Letterman whether he had ever urinated in the shower, claiming it was an antiseptic to fight athlete's foot.
Letterman then attempted to deflect the obvious implication by asking her if she was talking about David Dinkins, the former mayor of New York City.
Looking uncomfortable, the host told the singer that he had no idea what she was talking about; she called him a liar, which led Letterman to make light of the embarrassing question by acting like Johnny Carson.
Another guest, who was the United States Grocery Bagging Champion at the time, was scheduled to appear on the show that evening, but his segment was cancelled due to Madonna refusing to leave the stage when her interview was over.
Madonna later explained her behavior as a failed attempt to make a stand against television censorship, and made up with Letterman by having him escort her onstage at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards.
In an interview with Bob Guccione Jr. in Spin magazine in the fall of 1995, Madonna further defended herself:You can show a person getting blown up, and you can't say fuck?
[9] In a subsequent interview with USA Today, Letterman noted how Madonna sent him a fax on his birthday, shortly after the episode aired.
For example, in an episode of The Critic titled "Sherman, Woman and Child", Madonna is featured as a profane guest of Humphrey the Hippo, a parody of Barney & Friends.
In one example, while raising the topic of Madonna's appearance, he added the subordinate clause: "... or as I call it, Black Thursday ..." According to Daniel Kellison, Letterman was privately displeased by what had happened.
