4/16/17

Is David Letterman Jewish?

No, former CBS Late Show host comedian David Letterman is not a Jew, although with his current beard (in 2017) he does look a bit rabbinic

On May 20, 2015 he finished 33 years of performing on late night TV.

He celebrated his 70th birthday last week (April 12, 2017) and also eulogized his mom who passed away the day before.

When he was young his mother, who is of German descent, worked as a church secretary for the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis.

Letterman is not a particularly religious man. He was married in March 2009 in a civil courthouse ceremony in Choteau, Montana.

In August 2011, Letterman was threatened by Islamic extremists on a jihadist website for a joke that he made on his show. One frequent contributor to the website referred to him as a "lowly Jew." Letterman is not a Jew, and he is not lowly.

In June 2009, Sarah Palin was offended by Letterman's jokes about her visit to New York City. The ensuing feud helped raise Letterman's viewership numbers.

The Times reported that, "David Letterman said on his show in October 2009 that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt over charges of sexual affairs with staff members, claims that he conceded were true." [8/2011]

Previous Updates

There was one noteworthy Jewish related item in the scandal. Gawker reported that, "The scuttlebutt on the set had it that current assistant-in-question, Stephanie Birkitt, received extra compensation for duties as his First Assistant, in the form of Letterman picking up the tab for her graduate law studies at the Yeshiva University Law School."

Robert Halderman, the man who plead guilty to trying to extort $2 million from Letterman, as far as we can tell, is not Jewish.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

This evening 5.4.2010, David Letterman was doing a monologue on various subjects including Mahmoud Amadinejahd and commented on Amadinejahd anti-Semitism. Letterman's band leader, Paul Schaeffer stated openly that he was a Jew, and Letterman said, "Me too.".

Letterman has openly stated he is Jewish on his talk show on the CBS television network.

Anonymous said...

I'm just curious to know if he is Jewish or not. For me it is only an information about its origin. Never mind whether someone is Jewish or not. I have nothing against anyone. But I'm very curious about it.
A big kiss for Natalie Portman!

Preta said...

EXCUSE ME BUT JUST BECAUSE LETTERMAN'S MOM IS OF 'GERMAN DESCENT', AND WORKED IN A 'CHURCH, "DOES NOT" MEAN HE'S NOT A JEW, AS WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE JEWS FROM 'VARIOUS' BACKGROUNDS, WHO'VE WORKED IN CHURCHES WHEN THEY WERE YOUNGER (AND SO ON), BUT THIS DOESN'T NOT MEAN THEY'RE NOT JEWISH.

Anonymous said...

Letterman has definite Jewish features. What about his father? He has never been mentioned that I recall. I know Letterman isn't religious, but I'm sure someone in his family has passed on some jewishness to David.

Anonymous said...

If Letterman were not Jewish then people of Jewish faith would not work for him nor with him.

Check out the Torah.

Anonymous said...

There is some obvious facts about Letteman. One is, he is very rich. Which is not uncommon among high profile Jews. And the other is, he is not religious. He does not care if there is a God or Not. Babara Walters is non-religious, very rich, and so on, and so on. I can't think of a single, very high profile Jew, who is religious, or thinks about a Hell.

Anonymous said...

Yeah he is definetly jewish. He looks allot like Bill Maher and they would fight over bird seed if they were in the room alone. They'll both claim aetheism or agnostic beliefs but they"ll stnd by jewish as a culture.

Anonymous said...


In Letterman's monologue on 12/8/2012 he made a joke about his mother lighting a menorah but telling her that "we're not jewish".

Anonymous said...

My guess is YES he is a Jew. Left-wing Hollywood, last name ends in MAN, first name David ...probably Jewish.

Anonymous said...

Wow, this site gets some really ugly, stereotypical comments.

I asked because I heard that he had been the subject of one of the genealogy shows and that he had stood in the place in Holland from which his parents were put on a train to a concentration camp. Of course, that doesn't mean that he was Jewish because other people were taken but it seemed most likely that his mother was Jewish.