Dave Letterman's show is a live stage comedic performance, which entertains studio and home audiences. Studio audiences watch the live performance as the camera operators are filming, and are also incorporated into the show. Home audiences also watch the live performance, but get close-up shots that make them feel intimate with Letterman, the band, and the camera operators. Both camera operator and audience understand that they are in each other's presence. According to Jack Gould, "The critical feature of live television is that both the player in the studios and the audience at home have an intrinsic awareness of being in each other's presence" (qtd. in Boddy 81). Late Night with Dave Letter is made for a mass live audience, but he performs to a small audience, which makes the viewer feel they have an intimate connection with him. Bernard Timberg suggests that the host is the control of the show and establishes a balance between how much "fresh talk" as opposed to scripted talk takes place (357). Letterman also talks to the audience and makes them feel that they are the center focus of who is he talking to. He invites us personally to join him and lets us feel included since we can trust him because he let us "in on the joke" every night. Through vaudeo address, Letterman uniquely addresses the essential characteristics of television (liveness, immediacy, intimacy, and mobile privatization) aesthetically and aurally to let us in on the joke. He is doing the same vaudeo style that has done been done before, but he includes apart of him into the show. Letterman does this uniquely by pointing out he is putting on a show, interacting with the band and camera men, and laughing with the audience at his or someone else's jokes.
          

     Vaudeo style of Live TV incorporates television from previous forms of entertainment such as radio and the stage. The key feature in vaudeo style is the star element. Late Night with Dave Letterman would not be the same without Dave Letterman. He always laughs and jokes with the audience, band members, and camera operators, but still know when to be serious during interviews. His personal stories are always funny, and they give the viewers a chance to get to know Letterman more. A vaudeo address characterizes a direct address with its audience and the audience has a participating role. According to Fiske, television programs are set up to be real because whatever is already real is encoded in society to be real (4). Essentially, television seems real because it is part of everyday life and it is a cultural agent. A television speaks a language the viewers understand, and live by in comfort. Letterman makes his show even more real by not hiding the fact that he is putting on a show. He jokes around saying things like lets put on a show, and he also talks to the camera operators from onstage. His type of show is extremely different from Hart to Hart, which does not include the audience and actually tries to make the audience forget they are watching a show. Dave performs through vaudeo address, a live comedic show that entertains home and studio audiences.
          

     Livenesss is an essential characteristic of Letterman's show because the audience has an opportunity to see Letterman live, an unedited version with plenty room for mistakes. Liveness gives a sense of truthfulness about what is going on. So the show seems like reality instead of a fantasy world like Classical Hollywood Films. Like Letterman, George Burns in the fifties put on a similar show called Burns and Allen. George Burns would tell us what is going on onstage while he appears off to the side. He incorporates the audience into the show and keeps no secrets between on stage and the audience members. In Letterman's show on October 24, 2001 one way the audience experiences liveness is seeing Letterman reacting to Paul's continuous drum roll. Paul did a drum roll to introduce Letterman's first couple of remarks. He began to continuously do the drum role every time Letterman tried to speak. The audience could see on Letterman's face an expression of frustration. Letterman did not have to say anything, his expressions told the audience that he did not have patience for Paul to be playing around when he was trying to talk. That also goes back to Paul taking away the spotlight from Letterman when he does his drum role. The star element is an important part of the vaudeo address and something Letterman does not want to stray from. Letterman knows the rules of television and likes to play with them. He plays with the idea that he is the star and everyone should focus on him. It keeps the show interesting and appearing more real whenever we actually see him getting frustrated because Paul is trying to get into Letterman's spotlight. Watching Letterman live gives the audience a sense of truthfulness and gives Letterman a chance to play around with the rules of television to emphasize the actual liveness of the show.
          

     Letterman also gives the audience a sense of            immediacy. Gilbert Seldes in Fifties Television describes:
          

     The essence of television techniques is their contribution to the sense of immediacy . . . The tension that suffuses the atmosphere of a live production is a special thing to which audiences respond; they feel that what they see and hear is happening in the present and therefore more real than anything taken and cut and dried which has the feel of the past (qtd. in Boddy 81).
The material on his show focuses on current events and when something in the world occurs you know about and then appears on his show, it gives you a chance to reflect and feel included. On October 24, Letterman mentions to his audience, even though he felt most of the New Yorkers probably already knew, a man had flown his "kite" into the Statue of Liberty. He showed a clip of the man and his kite on top of the Statue of Liberty and started making fun of it and laughing at the joke with us saying, "I bet things like this don't happen in your home town." Amazingly this show was a re-run, and even though the current events were not so current, I still felt the sense of liveness and immediacy. The fact the show was a re-run did not effect the sense of liveness and that is the characteristic of the Letterman show. Audiences feel liveness when they watch the show at 11:00 PM and the show is actually taped 5:00 PM, and they still feel liveness when they are watching a re-run from three weeks ago. Aesthetically the camera takes the viewers at home through the studio doors, viewing the band in the studio, then through the audience. We visually feel the liveness and presence of the show. Aurally we hear Letterman talking to us spontaneously. Some lines he says are not scripted and that allows the viewing audience to feel more livenss. The liveness never dies if the show appears to be a re-run or a pre-recorded tape filmed a few hours ago because it is an essential characteristic of Letterman's show to have the sense of liveness.
          

     Audiences also enjoy the sense of intimacy that Letterman gives them. Just like on the Continental the star talks to us, gives us a cigarette and a glass of champagne. The audience is the camera, which is part of the show. Aesthetically, we feel included, close, connected with Letterman when the show opens up with a medium shot of him and he greets us, but actually he greets the camera and members in the studio audience. Kaufman and Colodzin explained that "Emphasis must be on quick character development, on revealing close-ups which make the lift of an eyebrow or the flash of a smile more important than the sweep of an army" (Boddy 82). Revealing close-up shots lets the viewers become familiar with the star of show. For example, Letterman has a big smile with a gap between his two front teeth as a trademark. By the audience seeing personal characteristics, the closeness grows stronger.
          

     Intimately, Letterman tells the viewers what went on in his day. The audience also has a chance to experience intimately aurally. On October 25, 2001, episode Letterman tells us about a trip to the supermarket. He explains that a cashier, "Jimmy", was a nice guy in his early twenties and he felt like they connected because he uses to be a cashier at a grocery store. He said that Jimmy had to get a price check on an object that he could not figure out what it was. In his hand in a clear plastic container he looked puzzled and called a price check on baby red tomatoes, when they were really baby red potatoes. Letterman just laughed with us and told us "Jimmy" has a long road ahead of him if he does not know what potatoes are. The stories that Letterman tells his viewers let them in on another part of his life outside of his show. It is a way to share his experiences and we intimately were part of our friend, David Letterman's day.
          

     Another essential characteristic is mobile privatization that Letterman uniquely uses in his show. He brings New York to us, while we, the viewers, stay in the comfort of our home. Jack Gould explains, "Live television bridges the gap instantly and unites the individual at home with the event afar. The viewer has a chance to be in two places at once" (Boddy 81). The background picture behind Letterman's desk is a fake night scene of New York. The camera shows shots of the audience, the other cameramen, the band, and of course Letterman on stage. The viewers at home get every aspect including the up close and personal shots of Letterman's face. Whenever the show is being introduced there are shots of New York including the Statue of Liberty, and in between commercials we see the streets in New York depending on the show. Aesthetically it is important for the viewers to see New York so they will feel they are really there, but they are actually in their living room. It is hard for people to travel to New York because of work and the crises of September 11, 2001. Through mobile privatization, Letterman brings New York to us.
          

     When Letterman had John McEnroe on his show October 24, 2001 we saw McEnroe on a building in New York trying to serve a Dunlop ball into an apartment window which is a way of bringing us to New York. Aurally the audience hears a conversation between McEnroe on top of a New York building and Letterman in his studio. We have a chance to see outside the studio and a famous tennis player trying to serve the ball into a window across the street. Momentarily we are on top of buildings in New York with McEnroe. Then when the show cut to a commercial break they showed a close up shot of a Dunlop tennis ball in street of New York. Aurally and aesthetically, through our television, we can travel to New York and never leave our home.
          

     Through television fans of Letterman can visit him every night without leaving home. We can visit New York and hear Letterman tells us about his day which build intimacy and he will tell us about current events going on in the world. The sense of liveness Letterman gives us makes the show more exciting. The television is set up to be real because we see the real side of Dave Letterman and the fact that the show is really a show. When the audience realizes their "real show" is over, Letterman is really not their friend, but appeared to be. Through the essential characteristics of liveness, immediacy, intimacy, and moblie privatization, Letterman lets us in on the joke. In the end the joke is on us in a way because Letterman really is not our personal friend, but feels like it when we watch him nightly.

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