Seeing Dave & Paul here, you'll grok how much they're missed. Here's Jeff ALTMAN (who?!1)

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Hang on till the end for the dessert of a Rush LIMBOsevic joke.

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http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a37155/letterman-seinfeld-on-comedian-jeff-altman/?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_222574803

[font size=5]David Letterman and Jerry Seinfeld on the Comic Genius of Jeff Altman[/font]

Altman's career, along with Letterman's, seemed to catch a break in 1980 when NBC gave both comics deals. Letterman's was The David Letterman Show, which ultimately won two Emmy Awards and led to Late Night. Altman's was Pink Lady and Jeff, the brainchild of NBC CEO Fred Silverman. It took Japan's hottest disco duo, Pink Lady, and brought them to a primetime variety program that included visits from Sid Caesar, Donnie Osmond, Jerry Lewis, Blondie, Roy Orbison, and Hugh Hefner. In Jeff's words, it was a disaster. In the words of critics, it was one of the worst shows to ever grace the airwaves. Pink Lady and Jeff was canceled in five weeks. "You're a kid and you take jobs," Letterman says in reference to the show. "I don't think it was his fault [Pink Lady] didn't go anywhere. And I don't think it was necessarily a black mark on his record." But Altman is less forgiving, to this day questioning his decision to take a show that, in his words, "if you had any common sense, you knew would fail."

That was not the end of Jeff Altman. Throughout the '80s, he continued his TV career on The Dukes of Hazzard, Showtime comedy specials, NBC's Nurses, Fox's The Sunday Comics, and of course, appearances on Late Night. But in 1991, in the midst of doing two network shows, Jeff suffered from major depression. "He was debilitated," says Ackerman, who is currently working on a documentary, Depression Ain't So Funny, starring Altman. "I would walk into the house and he would be hysterically crying." It's a story that plagues many great comics, from Sid Caesar to Robin Williams—a ruthless reminder from the comedy gods that the gift comes at a price. "A lot of my creative winds were taken out of me when I went through that," Altman says now.

Altman is still a working comic. You can find him in Vegas from time to time, splitting the bill with another comic whose name sounds familiar. Until recently, Altman would pay frequent visits to The Late Show, sitting on the couch with his friend Dave, being led into the host's favorite bits and stories from the old days. It might not be the career a guy as talented as Altman deserves, but he of course remains funny.

If you listen to Altman reminisce about the last 40 years, you reach that inevitable point where he reflects on what he could have done differently. "I blame myself for a lack of new material," he says, after doing a spot-on Rodney Dangerfield impression. "Lack of being able to sort of, and I hate the word, 'recreate' myself." But when he says it, it almost feels obligatory. He knows it's the obvious answer, but there might be another, deeper truth about Jeff Altman. The success enjoyed by a contemporaries—Letterman, Seinfeld, Leno—was the product of an arduous and relentless commitment to a kind of career that is different from Altman's commitment to making people laugh, wherever he goes. ....

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