Barbara vs. Barbara: Who Is The World's Fastest Typist? | Letterman

Barbara Blackburn, the world's fastest typist, goes head to head with Late Night's fastest typist, Barbara Gaines. (Air date: 1/24/85)
#BarbaraGaines #Typewriter #Letterman
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Welcome to the Letterman KZbin Channel, home to all your favorite clips from Late Night and Late Show - as well as conversations with the writers, producers and performers who helped make it all happen. These highlights have been artisanly-produced, carefully-curated, and chosen completely at random by an old computer that used to pick numbers for the New York Lotto back in the 90’s.

[@user-du9qw6ns6i]

Hello you absolute legends

[@mobyusone]

Karl exposes the truth!

[@jalliboy]

many here don`t get the reference :P haha

[@jasonm7298]

Karl jobst brought me here - Billy Mitchell (gamer of the century)

[@mobyusone]

@@jasonm7298 if it wasn’t black he wouldn’t have played on it. Plain and simple

[@ganglabesh]

lol

[@Geekeric]

Only this show could make a typing contest so hilarious.

[@beefyiceman94]

When you lie on your resume to get the job.

[@spoker2006]

this woman is legandary. tired of all the haters ive been seeing lately. just because she is older doesnt mean older people cant be the best at something. take your nonsense elseware, this woman was and is the GOAT of the typing community

[@staringcorgi6475]

@@spoker2006no she isn’t there’s no proof of anything and a guisness world record isn’t a prove bc it went like “this woman can type fastest than anybody put it in your book please to advertise our layout”

[@HomeAloneGaming1]

ur dont get it she was outed, this is fake, she is just average this is not fast duh...@@spoker2006

[@ross-carlson]

@@spoker2006 You REALLY need to look into this story more - it has nothing to do with her age, etc. - it has to do with this basically being totally fabricated. Sure, she's fast - but fastest in the world - NOT BY A LONG SHOT.

[@y4k052]

@@spoker2006delusional watch any recent video or documentary on her.

[@mibeatleman6767]

No paper in the typewriter, only on a Letterman moment that becomes so surreal. 😄

[@enigmauniwar9166]

Believe it or not she got even better at 300 wpm across the multiverse. [Citation: Karl Jobst - 2023]

[@spoker2006]

this woman is legandary. tired of all the haters ive been seeing lately. just because she is older doesnt mean older people cant be the best at something. take your nonsense elseware, this woman was and is the GOAT of the typing community

[@danielkiran8174]

@@spoker2006 There was literally 0 proof that she ever achieved that kind of speed. Guiness World Record never actually checked her claims, they gave her the title simply because the head of her company recommended her. Every single time her speed is brought up, its always "She said that she reached this speed" or "Her friend said she reached this speed". No third party was ever present to see her "records". And her result on the Letterman show sure doesn't paint her in a good way. Barbara Blackburn was simply used to market the Dvorak Keyboard. Her "records" are fake. Oh, and the ACTUAL GOAT of the typing community is Stella Pajunas.

[@CJack14dt]

@@danielkiran8174 To elaborate, the original claim was from when she was working on a system and one of her results had 212 wpm but it was based on a speed she achieved on a single sentence in the middle of a test. She just mentioned that in an email in an internal company email which the company then put out in a newsletter w/o the context of one sentence. Then someone wrote a letter to Guiness citing that 212 with no context and they just accepted it and put it in their "records".

[@nihaad344]

@@CJack14dtnope guinness never put 212 wpm in any of its books.

[@CJack14dt]

@@nihaad344 Did I say that's what Guinness wrote?

[@bobbyk9815]

In a later episode, after having some complaints about the results, they made a joke of bringing in three experts to determine that nothing was wrong with the typewriter; Barbara had started her fingers on the wrong keys.

[@xaviergarcia8274]

The typewriter, meanwhile had the J, B, M and R keys removed.

[@spoker2006]

everyone makes mistakes. this woman is legendary for her TYPING skills, not her TV show skills. She the GOAT in the typing community

[@TheDiveO]

that woman's no goat simply shill

[@spoker2006]

she was listed in the book of world records for over 10 years, and was still at the top of her game in her late years. I think that qualifys as the GOAT@@TheDiveO

[@TheDiveO]

@@spoker2006 which meaning of goat do you refer to, the idiot meaning or the scapegoat meaning? I was assuming the latter, so I might misunderstood it.

[@JasonSpitzMI50]

I like how she brought her own typewriter

[@MichaelLasotaWheresWaldo]

In my younger years I could do 110wpm. Now I'm down to 80-90 at middle age. Was the second best in my data entry job.

[@labellavida2581]

Wow!!!! I can only do like 44 a minute

[@ono5456]

i can only do like 35 or somthing lol

[@motionoftheocean7524]

I normally do 874, 882 per minute on a good day..... Accuracy is mor elike 00.01 percent though. We'll, can't blame me... Blame the speed.

[@Megaman.ExE7]

Out of curiosity, what do you think caused you to slow down? Is it just because you're older or do you think it's simply because you don't type as much as you used to?

[@y4k052]

@@Megaman.ExE7probably both factor in

[@foxwolf316]

Karl brought me here, who else also came here by karl?

[@ravisbanda]

Barbara Haines continued with the show for a very long time - almost until the end of Late Show. 😓

[@nikobatallones]

Not almost -- until the very end.

[@JakeMabe1]

Gaines

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

Who's Barbara Haines?

[@OwainCynanRoberts]

@@OMGWTFLOLSMHI’m guessing she was one of the writers on the show, maybe even Head Writer.

[@FomorViceroy]

She appears in a number of recent videos with Dave on this very channel. She remained with Late Night and the Late Show right up until its last episode in 2015.

[@Sm64wii]

whose hear from karl>

[@kingcrustytut7544]

INSANE people believed this, actually hilarious in hindsight

[@patrickdlogan]

Appreciating Paul's accompaniment with "Barbara Ann"

[@MrJohnnyFernandes]

"Barbara and,"

[@Kubakaiser]

The best part was the investigation that followed.

[@shanecharles4589]

finding out she was a total fraud is the best part, makes this all hilarious.

[@spoker2006]

shes not a fraud, she has the record in the guiness book

[@topwomble]

​@@spoker2006Please tell me this is a joke 😂

[@bistro-tat]

​@@spoker2006 you know you can just buy those

[@k3yzw1zard79]

​@@spoker2006 have a record in that book means nothing.

[@zackinblack]

She literally is the FASTEST Typer in the world with a Guinness wr of 312 words per minute. I don’t know what any of you are talking about. She is a god, her machine clearly malfunctioned.

[@Frindow]

212*

[@nihaad344]

Literally she’s been called out, for being fake, and Guinness even removed her records. See Karl Jobst’s video on this. PS: the 212 wpm was actually not ever in the guinness book.

[@-elijahriggs-]

guinness is a joke. there is no record for actually typing 212 words per minute. it was a claim that she literally made herself.

[@calvinwilder6512]

@@Frindowwrong

[@calvinwilder6512]

@@Frindow192

[@jrvondoom]

No paper. Types jibberish. What ever happened here? Haha. FRAUD.

[@paft]

Correct.

[@Kimdk87]

They later found out all her letters were one off to the left. So she was indeed an amazing typer. Just the layout the fooled her

[@paft]

@@Kimdk87 That was an intentional excuse.

[@Kimdk87]

lol no@@paft

[@topwomble]

​@@Kimdk87A convenient excuse and further investigations have shown she was a fraud

[@romanlewandowski5027]

Barbara Blackburn, Have you any wool? Yes, sir, yes, sir, To pull over your eyes

[@staringcorgi6475]

The only reason this woman got fame is bc of an interaction of with the dvorak layout owners and guisness which went like this “hello so this women we have here can type the fastest so put it in our book so it’ll make our layout look good bye”

[@TPinesGold]

0:13 "So you know everything that you type?" This was the set-up for the joke ... later having her type the balk rule. Was this joke too subtle for the majority of the audience?

[@BishopStars]

Yes, many of his jokes flew over the audience's head. People used to be okay with this, the savvy viewer would glean more. Now it must all be lowest common denominator.

[@cristobalvaldes8231]

Nice Karl jobs

[@vi55i]

I knew it would be barbara

[@LaurenceDay-d2p]

Amazing! I typed for years and could not do more than 85 wpm! The skill is a gift, like all skills.

[@DaneOrschlovsky]

Dave should've read the Balk Rule aloud, a missed opportunity to say the least.

[@malicant123]

Karl Jobst sent me here.

[@dimitreze]

in my home we had a typewriter who would store the words on the memory, showing only on a little digital display then you would hit a button and the typewriter would type automatically all the words in the paper (you could type the normal way too) I was thinking that this was the case with Barbara when I didn't see any paper (wich would defeat the purpose of the competition but my brain went that path)

[@dimitreze]

@@otten5666 I don't remember details it was early 90's and I only used once or twice

[@Sr.ChilePepper]

@@otten5666 I had a similar typewriter in the late 80s early 90s before the PC boom (may well be somewhere in the basement still), and it was great because it much like a computer, you could proof read it before actually typing it out. Saved a lot of time. As I recall I could do at least a 5 page essay.

[@QuantumBraced]

85 WPM and going up against the world's fastest typist? That takes courage.

[@malcolmdrake6137]

No, all it took was exactly what Dave said, "thanks for helping us out" MEANING: he asked her to do it, so he wouldn't have to _interview_ the woman...get a clue.

[@shanecharles4589]

she isn't the fastest, it was all a lie.

[@spoker2006]

yea i wouldnt be able to do it personally. this woman is legendary.

[@JamesC1981]

she won though

[@eetuthereindeer6671]

That doesn't take courage. Surely you wouldn't be nervous when the entire point is to compare to "world's fastest"? Theres no need to be nervous, the point isnt to be faster anyway

[@sherry5136]

You don't here clicking of typewriter like that anymore

[@tutumannyAQUE]

Here or there?

[@sedawk]

That’s why I always get the clickiest keyboard I can - people need to hear me work.

[@sedawk]

@@otten5666 Blue of course!

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

Yes I do. I have 8 of them in my house.

[@HullzOSRS]

"Something happened to the typewriter" YEAH OK

[@TheOrionStar]

Praise Karl Jobst!

[@ScumbagKorain]

Don't mind me, just here to scrape up some of dat sweet mid-80s speed typing drama in which I now, thanks to Karl Jobst, am heavily invested.

[@alexpopowski1318]

When laptop bags gave you one permanent buff lateral muscle and a dodgy hip.

[@danadominguez5760]

Mmmmmmm… IBM Selectric. Music to my ears. (With or without paper!)

[@mercnem6855]

the battle of the barbaras...took me 43 WPM to type this comment

[@petewhite85]

So Barbara do you still type 85 wpm?

[@AlexAnteroLammikko]

Well no considering she died in 2008.

[@yourfavoritepersonjust]

Hi Karl!

[@GardenGirlD76]

Hystericaly sweet!

[@soupafi]

Here’s the rule: I don’t know what it is. But I’ll know it when I see it.

[@JamesC1981]

"I know I had no paper I did that on purpose" OH Dear

[@spoker2006]

i can barely type without looking at my hands, this woman is a legend

[@fyodorx5428]

Look at her technique! This is nothing like your standard "home row" touch typing people are taught these days. Here hands are not static at all, she actually types not from her fingers or wrists, but rather her elbows to provide momentum. She moves her hands around the keyboard instead of unnaturally stretching fingers or bending the wrist. What is the name of this technique?

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon1828]

i just learned to type from a young age. typing over 50 wpm is pretty natural. for there to be any "names" for these techniques would be a bit.... uhh..... pretentious i guess. It just comes naturally through practice. I am learning how to type in russian, and it just seems to be the same thing all over again. It's like writing. There's a basic concept of what you do to get the set outcome.... and you just do it.

[@kingcrustytut7544]

Shes a fraud

[@BishopStars]

It's called the fraud typing technique. It's what you use when you have no idea how to type, but your employer says you're the best in the world. Then you get called out on national TV and have to fake it.

[@shanecharles4589]

it's called the lying fraud technique.

[@jasonm7298]

She literally committed FRAUD live on camera (that's a sin) Why didn't Letterman grab her by the arm, slam her over the desk like a cop slamming a perp over the hood and send her to prison??????????

[@ZENBONES1991]

seek professional help

[@jasonm7298]

@@ZENBONES1991 No one is going to take you seriously if you post things that are so far from reality that they aren't even believable. Nice try at incorrectly acting like I am the bad guy and not the fraudster in the video. Though you owe me an apology (for how wrong you are) i don't expect one. The internet has so many liars on it that you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to insult one of the few truth tellers that still exists on here.

[@ZENBONES1991]

@@jasonm7298 tell it to a therapist

[@JamesC1981]

haha funniest comment in years

[@-Mando-924]

Im 13 and can hit 90 consistetently on a laptop keyboard. Top speed varies depending on the website

[@andreasjohansen1658]

my score is 60 and I would like to improve that

[@judydoyle1124]

Did she come back?

[@MrSteelermania]

Yes they had a whole 'investigation' on air

[@johnslaughter1062]

But she didn't actually come back. They just had a big picture of her that they zoomed in on and played dramatic music after presenting each piece of evidence. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGSynaaHgZalj9U

[@prmaninla]

@@johnslaughter1062 The dramatic music / zoom in was absolutely hilarious. Made the segment. And the look on Letterman's face was perfect.

[@spoker2006]

she

[@NinjaKittyRetro]

Barbara Tallarico? :D

[@doctortheopolis3122]

This is Dave's Ed Ames moment.

[@CyclingSteve]

Wrong keyboard layout perhaps. From Wikipedia: As of 2005, writer Barbara Blackburn was the fastest English language typist in the world, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. Using the *Dvorak* *keyboard* *layout* she had maintained 150 wpm for 50 minutes, and 170 wpm for shorter periods, with a peak speed of 212 wpm.

[@jbell6642]

Yep. The Letterman staff installed a qwerty ball instead of a Dvorak. Still, you gotta wonder how she could not notice she didn’t have paper loaded. You check to make the ribbon’s working, etc. Oh well.

[@CyclingSteve]

@@jbell6642 that could be the pressure of being on stage. It wouldn't have been memorable if it had gone smoothly. Dave dodged a very boring 5 minutes. 😃

[@TheCleaner76]

I can't even speak that many words in a minute

[@debschaefer7820]

@@jbell6642 she said she did it on purpose, not putting paper but in the typewriter. You have to listen closely because people are laughing. Dave also repeats but she did it on purpose. What I'm wondering is why?

[@Marcelg13]

Didnt she just put her Hands in the wrong position? I remember they showed it on a later Episode. I hope they´ll upload it.

[@mbwilding]

Can see that her typewriter has the keys set to DVORAK, but is possible it was a QWERTY ball inside or the rotation was wrong.

[@c00kee]

Dvorac is keyboard only, no element change required

[@Idk-cc7yz]

what about rocket?

[@tholfikarn]

Can you make the transition effect colour black instead of white..

[@TheSuperSupreme]

They must of not had WD-40 back then cuz that chair squeaking.

[@vishnucs1994]

2024 anyone 🎉

[@deathshotzz7762]

Spoiler: Barbara won

[@sodea13]

that old lady was off...she was probably nervous as she forgot the paper was not loaded

[@ajayrajan8882]

That old lady is writer Barbara Blackburn , who was the fastest English language typist in the world, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. Using the Dvorak keyboard layout she had maintained 150 wpm for 50 minutes, and 170 wpm for shorter periods, with a peak speed of 212 wpm.

[@yourfavoritepersonjust]

@@ajayrajan8882 Which isn't actually true.

[@omarlopez1372]

​@@ajayrajan8882there's no evidence for that claim

[@kienduong594]

I got 102 WPM with 5 fingers only..

[@noteven300wpm]

i got 135 with 5 fingers only..

[@kienduong594]

@@noteven300wpm impressive

[@noteven300wpm]

@@kienduong594 not really, somebody has achieved 180 with 2 fingers and the current world record is 273

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Monkeytype, the fastest is Shazman at 306 WPM.

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

Sheesh. Good thing they weren't sending them in a rocket to the moon here.

[@malcolmdrake6137]

??...what?

[@PakRT48]

Today's kids: "What's a typewriter? And what's baseball?"

[@spoker2006]

yea meanwhile this woman could outype all of them. total legend

[@plunium1446]

is she still alive ?

[@ono5456]

"Blackburn worked in the word processing department of State Farm Insurance in Salem, Oregon until her retirement in 2002. Blackburn died in April 2008." a legend has died

[@kingcrustytut7544]

@@ono5456 A legendary con artist maybe

[@k3yzw1zard79]

​@@ono5456 she ain't no legend. Just another Billy Mitchell

[@aidanr9164]

F

[@jamesjarvis931]

The queen of typing is certainly worthy of being president of the entire world. Barbara is not the guilty one here and does not deserve the hate. If the fingers do not fit, you must acquit.

[@proletariennenaturiste]

85 is very good for a typewriter especially, I don't know my WPM on a typewriter yet, but on a computer 60-80 was my average, but I've typed over a hundred before.

[@w4439]

F