The 81-year-old singer retired from performing in the middle of his 50th anniversary tour in 2018 after a Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis. Audiences expected all the hits for the opening night of “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical” on Broadway, but during the encore the audience and cast were stunned when Neil appeared in a balcony with his wife to lead everyone in the building in his most famous song.
Diamond still sounds amazing, even after a half-decade of no singing. Clearly everyone is thrilled with the appearance, paying tribute to the man whose life story they just watched.
Letterman Throws Random Stuff Off a Roof (Various Dates)
A classic early bit from Letterman’s NBC tenure involved throwing random stuff — turkeys, massive bags of peat moss, bowling balls, human dummies, watermelon — off a five-story tower. Wasteful? Sure. Pointless? Essentially. But this sort of anti-comedy absurdity became Letterman’s calling card — and the host’s juvenile delight at watching stuff get crushed to bits was enough reason to warrant a recurring segment.
Andy Kaufman Gets Slapped by Pro Wrestler (July 29, 1982)
By 1982, Andy Kaufman was already notorious for his on-air pranks and button-pushing, but his classic ‘Late Night’ appearance still stunned a good chunk of the TV-viewing public. The avant-garde comedian had recently developed an act where he wrestled women, claiming the title of “Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion.” He eventually took on wrestler Jerry “The King” Lawler, leading to a supposed broken neck — and the duo took their showdown onto Letterman’s show, hashing out the feud on-air.
Kaufman, decked out in a neck brace, insulted Lawler in the segment, leading to an enormous slap from the wrestler that knocked Kaufman out of his chair. After a commercial break, Kaufman returned onstage, hurled expletives at Lawler and threw the contents of a coffee cup in anger. Letterman, as usual, stayed calm and snarky through the craziness.
