Letterman Body Language: What Signals Was David Sending?

By Jo Piazza Posted Oct 6th 2009 11:49AM

David Letterman seems to be handling his recent sex scandal with his characteristic coolness and grace. But if you watched closely during Monday night's monologue apology to his staff members and his wife Regina Lasko, there was a strong sense of rage at the media boiling below the surface in addition to the very honest remorse for what he is putting his family through.

After the jump, PopEater's body language experts break down Dave's first show back since he admitted to having sexual relationships with multiple female members of his staff to tell us what's really going down with the late night host.

First, watch highlights from Monday's show (if you haven't already) and analyze it yourself.

Your Turn To Play Body Language Expert

"In the beginning of the monologue when Dave was making a lot of jokes about the weekend flying by, hiking on the Appalachian trail and his GPS not talking to him, he started doing several of what we in the business call 'tongue erasers,'" says body language expert Patti Wood.

" A tongue eraser is where the tongue visibly moves from one side of the mouth to the other and it signifies that this person does not like that he is saying. It shows that Dave doesn't like that he has to take a comic's stance on what is happening and it is leaving a bad taste in his mouth," says Wood.

When Dave told the audience, "Ladies and gentleman I need to tell you this entire exchange is being videotaped," he folded his hands over his lower pelvis. Wood, the author of "Success Signals," called this 'the fig leaf'. "It is as if he is putting a metaphorical fig leaf over himself to cover up and is a sign that in that moment he was really feeling the exposure of all this."

Psychologist and body language expert Kevin Hogan tells PopEater that Dave's wetting of his lips and occasional strains in his voice signaled the anxiety he was feeling in the moment. "And his movement was much tighter than usual," Hogan says. "But he didn't lie. He was scared to death at times and he was deeply appreciative of the support he got."

Dave's anger rose to the surface when he talked about newspapers, radio and other media people browbeating and humiliating his staff. "His hands came up in fists when he was talking about the media. These were the strongest non-verbal cues he gave, signifying that he has very aggressive emotions towards the media," Wood says.

He then began his apology to his wife by clutching his own hand. "He held his own hand as a way of pacifying and comforting himself and you could see it was a real moment of pain for him," Wood says.

"My wife Regina has been horribly hurt by my behavior," Dave told the audience.

"His palms went up and straight out from his body in a sign of supplication to his wife. I felt a great sincerity in that nonverbal request for forgiveness," Wood explains.

Overall, Hogan dubbed Letterman as "brilliant." "There were no denials. There was no deception. He did a great job walking into the propeller and making it out without losing anything. It was rather a tutorial on how public figures should handle stuff like this in the future."

Tags: david letterman, david letterman apology, DavidLetterman, DavidLettermanApology, late show with david letterman, LateShowWithDavidLetterman, regina lasko, ReginaLasko

Comments

(208)

Wednesday 07 October

By kevin

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Oh, grow up! Ofcourse he is having sex. Famous people are known for their infidelity.

Thursday 08 October

By Jennifer

Why is this becoming the big deal that it is? He did what was right after making the wretched mistake that he did. And he was expolited for that mistake too! If I were his wife, I would be grateful that he apologized the way he did, and yes- I would want counseling. The media are a bunch of dogs, and the public are a bunch of judgemental, small-minded fools who discuss people rather than events. There are bigger things going on in this world than the affairs of superstars. The only reason I am commenting on this right now is because I am utterly disgusted at all of you people. Shame on you. Make this country better by paying closer attention to our government than you do our entertainment. How pathetic!

By dave

If you interpret his body language especially his hands one can clearly see he is thinking those women I had affairs with were some of the best tail I had in my life.

By glynkath

"Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone"....I am not a religious person but somehow this bible verse seems appropriate!

By Jim

Yes “Steve” he did get caught, the young woman’s diary was found by her fiancé, all was on its way to coming out even without the extortion attempt. The “Slug,” known as David Letterman, realized this and took the best path to save his career, probably coached by his attorney who set up the sting to catch the extortionist. Now I wonder what his real purpose was in making remarks about Palin’s daughter, maybe he was wishing for some type of contact.

By yacki

let's remember that this happens every minute of everyday with ordinary people. He is just human.
Like most guys he probably felt that this did not
change his love for his wife and child, this was just a sexual relationship and a separate part of his life. A lot of people can compartementalize their lives in order to do what they want when they want to.

By shar

Why are we sitting in judgement? One thing is sure..he loves his money more than his moral standings with the public. Otherwise he would have paid. If his wife leaves him ...it's her dicision...and his money..but I'm sure there is a prenup.

By SilverFalcon

Popeaters "experts" are full of crap. I'm a psychologist and the interpretations I see here are both self-serving and media attention generated. We need to see more of this, perhaps the "experts" could evaluate the Pope's Easter address to determine if he is actually sincere. More "experts", maybe they could be installed in courtroom and help streamline the process. Body language is an interpretive art at best and regardless of the media hype, there are no "experts" only opinions.

By Laura

Eww! He had to really have some money if he got multiple women to sleep with him. He is so unattractive!!! I don't think he could have enough money in this world to sack anyone I know. Please, ewwwww

By roger holland

who are we to ?

By ChristaLynn829

I don't care what he did, that is between him and his wife. None of my business and none of yours. He didn't have to tell us, he could easily have paid the man off but he braved up rather than pay the rat.
But whatever, it did not hurt me and his "girls" were willing participants. His wife is the only one who needs to judge or decide anything here!

By doctormonte

Do you think this is real or a great big spoof. Handwriting a $2,000,000 check is not real. This has become traditional marketing and publicity; like a guy getting caught in the back seat of a car with a lady of the night. It is rather trite.

By Anna

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David Letterman is a has been who is nothing but a cheating liar. He used his position as an employer to get what he wanted. He should be held to the same standard as other employers and be FIRED immediately. He doesn't deserve the star status that he is recieving right now. Just because he is "hollywood" doesn't mean he shouldn't be held to the same standards as every other member of this society.

Monday 03 May

By CK

Dave gets what he deserves---he makes jokes about others "mistakes" but feels he & HIS family are above that! I don't think so!! Who's the embarr"ass"ment now!

By butch

My opinion of Letterman hasn't changed because he is a devote liberal who has trashed Sarah Palin and her daughter and he himself is a piece of TRASH.

By Randy

I can bieleve this is news! Why is ANYONE shocked by this? It's like finding out that motly crew had sex with a groupy back stage! And some DA realy thought he could get 2 mil for this earth shaking info? Good grief! Get a life people!

By John Stevenson

David Leatherman,Bob Barker,Bill O'REILLY,Bill Clinton,John Edwards and my exwife,whos next,and who really cares.The list goes on and on and on,only the media cares so they got a good smut story to write and talk about,LOL!!

By Al

If Clinton would have handled his situation like Letterman it would have gone away.

By Gianni

Whether or not he's sincere in his apology is between he and his wife. I honestly couldn't care less about another story of an entertainer straying off the reservation. What tickles me though is this is the same guy who ridiculed Sarah Palin's daughter and then tried to wriggle out of it when she called him on it. What goes around, comes around.

By Jo Ann

The man was single when this happened. So take your gossip someplace else. I like David and have enjoyed his show for years.

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