Madonna on Late Show with David Letterman in 1994


made an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman on March 31, 1994. The appearance was noted for an extremely controversial series of statements and antics by Madonna, which included many expletives. In particular, Madonna said the word "fuck" fourteen times during the course of the interview. This made the episode the most censored in American network television talk-show history while at the same time garnering Letterman some of the best ratings he ever received.
Madonna's language and behavior—which was provocative, seemingly spontaneous at times, full of double entendres, and ended with a playful refusal to leave the set—caused a large public controversy. The Federal Communications Commission received numerous complaints about the language used on the show, echoing Letterman's remark that she had to stop using the bad language "because people don't want that in their own homes at 11:30 at night".

Details

This was not Madonna's first or last appearance with Letterman. She was a guest on Late Night with David Letterman in 1988 with comedian Sandra Bernhard. This was, however, her first appearance since Letterman moved from NBC to CBS in 1993. When Madonna was a guest on the edition of the show on March 31, 1994, it marked her first appearance on American television that year following controversy with her previous releases Sex and Erotica, which had been poorly received by critics. Letterman introduced Madonna right before she entered the set with the following phrase:
Paul Shaffer responded "she's your guest!... Come on, she's your guest!" to which Letterman responded, "everything's fine, just relax, will ya?" Madonna then entered the stage to the sound of her 1983 hit "Holiday", clutching a pair of her underwear, which she asked Letterman to smell during the interview. "Wait a minute, aren't you gonna smell them?" she said, to which Letterman replied "I'll take care of that later," and Madonna complained to the audience "I gave him my underpants and he won't smell them!" This sketch made the headlines of the tabloids. The sketch was satirized in 2001 in the Italian late night show Satyricon, where guest Anna Falchi actually took off her red panties on stage, and the host went all the way to smell them, which caused scandal in Italy.
Letterman, following up from events earlier in the program, asked her to kiss a man in the audience; Madonna refused. Letterman expressed admiration for her not succumbing to the pressure. Madonna began smoking a cigar, and as he moved to another topic, Madonna interrupted him, in an opening salvo soon to be indicative of the random provocations to come: "Incidentally, you are a sick fuck. I don't know why I get so much shit."
Letterman steered his questioning toward her private life and, in particular, the singer's reported relationships with several NBA players. Madonna replied with a series of sexual innuendos, commenting "that microphone is really long"; Letterman responded by talking about her friendship with Charles Barkley. When Letterman abruptly changed topic and asked about her nose ring in an ambiguous way, Madonna laughed and said "I thought you were going to ask me if it hurt something else..." which spurred a collective series of nervous laughter from the studio audience.
Prior to the first commercial break, the star asked Letterman if he was wearing a "rug"; never missing the opportunity for a joke, the host, referring to Madonna's short slicked-down hairstyle, replied by asking Madonna if she was wearing a swim cap.
After the commercial break, Madonna told Letterman that he had changed since her last visit, that he was no longer "cool" or challenging to his guests, that "Money's made you soft." Letterman asked her what was really bothering her; the star told the audience that she was angry that the comedian always made references to her sex life on the show.
When Madonna continued to swear, the director cut to an elderly couple from Appleton, Wisconsin in the audience, visibly shocked by Madonna's language; this was followed by a video montage featuring Madonna-related comedy monologues.
After a second commercial break, Madonna asked Letterman whether he had ever urinated in the shower, claiming it was an antiseptic to fight athlete's foot.
During the interview, Letterman asked Madonna if she had a boyfriend. She responded that she did, and when asked what his name was, she replied, "Dave." Letterman then attempted to deflect the obvious implication by asking her if she was talking about David Dinkins, the former mayor of New York.
Towards the end of the interview, she also asked whether he had ever smoked "endo," a slang reference to marijuana. Looking uncomfortable, the host told the singer that he had no idea what she was talking about; Madonna called him a liar which led Letterman to make light of the embarrassing question by acting like Johnny Carson.

Refusal to leave the stage

When Madonna refused to leave the set, there was jeering from members of the audience, including heckling to "get off". The home audience never saw Madonna leave her chair; instead, the show cut to a third commercial break, after which the singer was gone. Letterman said, "Coming up in the next half hour, Mother Teresa is going to drop by." He then looked at an index card and joked, "Oh, I see we've been canceled, there is no show tomorrow night."
Another guest, who was the United States Grocery Bagging Champion at the time, was scheduled to appear on the show that evening, but his segment was cut, due to Madonna refusing to leave the stage when her interview was over. Counting Crows concluded the show with a performance of "Round Here".

Aftermath

Madonna later explained her behavior as a failed attempt to make a stand against television censorship, and made up with Letterman by having him escort her onstage at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards. In an interview with Bob Guccione, Jr. in Spin magazine in the fall of 1995, Madonna further defended herself:
In a subsequent interview with USA Today, Letterman noted how Madonna sent him a fax on his birthday, shortly after the episode aired. "It was more of the same," he revealed. "'Happy fucking birthday. Have a nice fucking day.' I know she was trying to be funny about it." The fax sent on April 12, 1994 reads:
The incident was widely referenced in popular culture. For example, in an episode of The Critic titled "Sherman, Woman and Child", Madonna is featured as a profane guest of Humphrey the Hippo, a parody of Barney & Friends. In the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "Bobcat", comedian Bobcat Goldthwait sarcastically comments to the character Moltar that Space Ghost's interview with The Ramones "is going as well as the Letterman-Madonna interview."
Letterman referred to the incident frequently in the short term afterward, usually as a disaster, even though it was a ratings bonanza. In one example, while raising the topic of Madonna's appearance, he added the subordinate clause: "... or as I call it, Black Thursday..."

Subsequent appearances

Following the incident, Madonna's appearances on Letterman did not end. Madonna briefly appeared in a 1995 episode when she brought Letterman candy and flowers for Valentine's Day. She then proclaimed that, "I'm a changed woman since I met you," to which Letterman excitedly exclaimed, "Yes!" Madonna then went on to add, "And I'm not going to say 'fuck' anymore." In 1998, Madonna appeared briefly to announce number three on Letterman's top ten list that night – "Ten Things Beautiful Women Love About Dave."
On November 3, 2000, Madonna returned for her first sit-down interview with Letterman since the 1994 incident to promote her new album Music. The two of them discussed the previous interview, with a deal of humor and objectivity. Madonna chalked it up as a part of her "rebellious period", while Letterman admitted that he now understood how beaten up Madonna must have felt by the press during that time and that he contributed to that. Madonna then concluded that they were both having a "weak moment", which was met by laughter from both the audience and Letterman. Before the singer took stage to perform her latest single "Don't Tell Me", Letterman jokingly admitted that, "I still have the panties. We had to put them in the vault upstairs, because people were trying to swipe them from me." An uncomfortable Madonna declared that, "I won't rise to that bait."
On November 11, 2003, Madonna guested again to promote her children's book Mr. Peabody's Apples. Before she entered, Letterman stated he "just didn't want any awkward moments."
On January 11, 2007, Madonna appeared on Letterman to promote her latest film Arthur and the Invisibles. The two joked about the 1994 episode. When David asked Madonna, "What do you think about all these celebrities such as Britney Spears, not wearing their underwear?", Madonna replied, "It's freezing outside. Maybe you can give them to Britney."
On September 30, 2009, Madonna appeared for the last time to promote the greatest hits compilation Celebration. During this episode, Letterman and Madonna again made light of her appearance on the show in 1994. The episode concluded with Letterman and Madonna going down the street and sharing a vegetarian pizza and martinis together.