Describing Letterman's return from a five week sick leave as a full on Lazarus act might seem like an exaggeration. But this was a guy who hadn't missed a show in 20 years, who'd weathered all his public crises -- losing ''The Tonight Show'' to Jay Leno, getting dissed by Madonna, being the victim of countless geeky haircuts -- while keeping his imperturbable gap toothed grin intact. And it truly seemed that on Feb. 21, after weeks of national nail biting, the 53 year old host and his show experienced a blast of new life.
''It really made you realize just what Dave's place in the world is,'' says then executive producer Rob Burnett. ''When he wasn't there behind his desk, everything in the world felt like it wasn't quite right.''
True to form, Letterman restored order with a minimum of sap. Much of the show was typical Dave -- a Seinfeld cameo, Robin Williams prancing around in surgeon's scrubs, the Foo Fighters playing along with Paul Shaffer -- but the highlight came early, during a 21 minute opening in which Letterman introduced the doctors and nurses who had tended to his ticker. ''It was incredibly moving,'' says Burnett. ''You look over, and you see the hardened teamster guys holding back tears -- and some of them not holding back tears.''
Even Letterman, for all his ironic posturing, got caught up in the moment. ''It almost seemed like he got choked up a little bit,'' says Tony Pavao, who watched with his wife from the second row. ''I'd never seen Letterman do that.'' Neither had we. And frankly, before that night, we didn't know how much we cared.
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