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List of (almost) all of Harvey Pekar's appearances on Letterman


Harvey Pekar's IMDb page shows three appearances with David Letterman:

"Late Show with David Letterman" .... Himself (1 episode, 1994)
- Episode dated 16 May 1994 (1994) TV episode .... Himself

"Late Night with David Letterman" .... Himself (2 episodes, 1987-1988)
- Episode dated 31 August 1988 (1988) TV episode .... Himself
- Episode dated 31 July 1987 (1987) TV episode .... Himself

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0670688/reference#self

But I've seen six appearances on YouTube, and that's not counting the one in the biopic where Harvey's wearing an orange shirt and Dave says that Harvey looks "like a lot of guys you see sleeping on buses" - I can't find that one. So there are at least seven appearances.

For those of you who care, both of you, here are the six appearances on Letterman that I've seen (year-month-date):

1986-10-15 This one's in the biopic. It's his first appearance where Harvey asks, "What people?" and says that he's "no showbiz phony."

1986-11-?? This one's also in the biopic - Dave observes that Harvey looks "like every police artist sketch I've ever seen." Dave also mentions that "a year ago, last month, you made your first appearance on the show."

1987-0?-?? Dave and Harvey gatecrash the news show Live at Five. It's a long interview. At the end Harvey tells Dave, "I don't even know you, man."

1987-07-31 This is the re-enactment in the biopic. Harvey wears a shirt saying that he's on strike against NBC. Dave starts by playing the "I don't even know you, man" part of Harvey's last appearance. Harvey talks about GE selling nuclear reactors; Dave responds that "this is very bad manners" and "very, very inappropriate." Dave later says, "I just feel that this is not the forum for this kind of discussion." They cut to a commercial but, unlike in the biopic, they come back and Harvey's still there.

1988-08-31 Now this one's even more uncomfortable. Harvey, referring to the last show, asks Dave why he defended GE, because it made Dave "look like a shill for GE" - Dave is furious at this accusation. They talk over each other. Dave says Harvey is "not coming back at all" and refers to Harvey's comic books as, among other things, "your little Mickey Mouse magazine."

Harvey says that he was a file clerk before Dave and he'll be a file clerk after Dave - this was also in the re-enactment, so it looks like they combined these two interviews for the re-enactment.

1994-05-16 Dave says in the intro for Harvey that "for some reason we haven't had him on the brand new show just yet." Near the end Dave says, "Now Harvey, if you ever come back and I'm not saying you will."

Hope this helps anyone wondering about Harvey's appearances on Letterman.

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