Audience conceptualizations of<i>late night with David Letterman</i>

Abstract

Audience conceptualizations of Late Night with David Letterman were examined through a two‐step process that included a mail survey and focus group interviews. Letterman fans associated the program with a wide range of activities and viewer interactions that occurred during and after viewing. Focus group participants indicated that competent viewers interpret the program as a sophisticated parody of conventional television talk. These results reinforce the notion of an active audience that interprets television texts according to genre‐derived meanings.