When David Letterman Met His Match! Guest Stephen Yan Made Him Mad!

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Not one of David Letterman's proudest days for sure.

To see the full segment uninterrupted, check it out here:
   • David Letterman Stephen Yan 1988  

He was already the King of the Late Show and had been on air for 8 years by 1988. Stephen Yan was a Chinese Canadian Cook who had his own Cooking Show "Wok with Yan" which aired 500 episodes by the time it ended. But for a small-time Canadian cooking show to get noticed and invited onto the Late Show was a huge opportunity for both Stephen Yan, Canadian TV, and even Asians. It signified you made it to the big leagues. But unfortunately the segment turned out somewhat awkward and both forgettable and unforgettable. Stephen Yan used his trademark jokes which utilized pun on words. He was famous for that and had a different joke on his apron every episode!

He used it on David so many times and so quickly and early on that he wasn't used to being outwitted, outsmarted, and frankly, outclassed by his guest who wasn't even a star or known star in the USA and of course being an Asian (very few Asian stars even existed back then).

David did show some restraint and patience but he also decided to sabotage the guest appearance by ruining the cooking the process and it was sort symbolic of the way their interaction went. Stephen used puns to walk all over David's comedic territory so David ruined Stephen's cooking by disobeying the instructions that Stephen told him, same way Stephen disobeyed David's requests to stop it with the pun jokes or he is outta here.

They are both comedians and professional so overall, I don't think it was malicious. David was just being himself which was somewhat of a prick and condescending personality, while Stephen was also being annoying by pulling fast ones on David with his puns. In the end, the food was rushed and it turned out to be somewhat dismissed and brushed off as they ran out of time. The purpose of the guest appearance was to highlight and showcase his cooking and food, but instead, it became secondary of importance and took a backseat to the back and forth duel of jokes and comebacks between David and Stephen.

What did you think about this segment? Was David being rude or disrespectful? Was Stephen annoying or refreshingly funny? Stephen definitely put David in a position he's not used to and that is, getting outdone at his own game.

Let me know what you think in the comments!
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Until next time.