Last night at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, a bevy of talented kids took the stage to perform at SeriousFun’s celebration of Paul Newman’s legacy. While attendees like Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Danny DeVito, and Carole King bopped to the music, presenter David Letterman turned inward, wondering if his own kid had any talent to speak of. He came to a positive conclusion:
I saw George Clooney backstage, and he’s not that handsome … If any of you happened to drive through the snowstorm last night — not good. And then I was here rehearsing today, and whenever I’m around talented kids — and maybe every parent is like this — I begin to wonder, Is my kid talented? I did some soul-searching, and I will share with you now what I consider to be a moment of pride. We were commuting last night in the storm. It’s usually about an hour and ten minutes. Last night it was three and a half hours. My son was doing what 11-year-olds do, or at least what mine does: whine and argue. He kept announcing over and over that he needed to go to the bathroom. Fair enough. We’re in nonstop traffic on the Hutch. I mean, do you turn him loose? Maybe he gets clipped by a plow? But here’s why I’m proud of my son today: Having to go to the bathroom at that level we’ve all experienced, he did so while we were inching along in traffic in a blinding blizzard — in my coffee thermos. I said, “Son, you don’t need a bar mitzvah. Today, you are a man.â€