David Letterman's Wilson Mizner reference shocks his audience

David Letterman was warming up his crowd on Monday before the taping of the LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN when one person asked him if he had any advice from a college student .. Letterman responded: "Treat a lady like a whore and a whore like a lady."

PAGE SIX at the NEW YORK POST was one of the first media sources to pummel Letterman after audience members tweeted and Facebooked posts about Letterman's joke gone wrong.. Other media organizations joined in, with the UK DAILY MAIL being the most recent site to publish the quote along with a long memory-laden history of David Letterman's sordid history with women and the scandal that hit in 2009.

The POST story reported that Letterman got a lukewarm reception to the joke. Some in the audience even said to the POST that it exemplified the notion that David Letterman does not respect women.  The POST even said that when the joke fell flat, Letterman sensed it and continued with "eat a salad" and other not to witty attempts to draw laughter..

Wilson Mizner, however, was a playright who is attributed to the "whore" comment years back.  The fuller quotation known to have been made by Mizner and made famous included the words, "Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet'em on your way down," and "Working for Warner Brothers is like fucking a porcupine: it’s a hundred pricks against one."

Perhaps Letterman was paying some sort of homage to the old quotation and our politically correct and constantly worried nervousness about comedy just didn't pick up on the reference. Or it plays into this longstanding notion that Letterman doesn't like women--at least those he's not in a sexual relationship with..

As someone who has been to the David Letterman show as an audience member about a decade ago, I can say this: The day itself is dull. You need to be at the Ed Sullivan theater very early in the day. Stand in line.. For a long time. Get into the theater that looks great on TV but not so great in real life.. and then sit in a very cold 50 degree or below studio waiting for Letterman to show his face. When he finally does, it's for a meager minute or so. I assume even less now that Letterman has ceased much of any concern about his program..

The show itself isn't funny. They attempt top REV up the crowd by showing old 1990s clips of Letterman's best moments.. that way when the band brings in the show back from a commercial, the audience is happy and ready to laugh again. The applause signs are used too much. And the laughter isn't as loud as it seems on TV.

In this moment of Letterman's "WHORE" comment, it would seem the studio was void of laughter altogether..

I get a sense that some missed the point on the Mizner angle. But it doesn't matter.. New York media loves a good feeding frenzy.. and the old and tired David Letterman of recent years isn't helping with his lack of comedy and freshness..