Max Headroom Makes His American TV Debut | Letterman

[@chelseapoet3664]

Hilarious. I'd forgotten how funny and clever Max was.

[@plisskenationbackfromthede3657]

One of the rare live max interviews. You can tell because hes having to do most of the voice effects himself. I never really noticed til i heard matt himself explain how he did max live.

[@MsHolmi]

“Paranoimia” by the Art of noise….I loved that track.

[@keefriff99]

Well damn...it doesn't get more '80s than this! Matt Frewer is awesome.

[@davefost]

Love it! Max was such an innovative show and Frewer, omg, Frewer is just genious. Absolute genious. Saw him at a Star Trek convention years ago when Taken was on... all everyone seemed to talk about was that and his awesome Trek episode. But this was truly, truly TV history. Could have listened to his experiences for days, let alone a few hours. Never enough credit to him.

[@michaelparks6120]

I never made that star trek conection...no idea how I missed that one...oh wellski, ya can't win them all .....

[@MKPiatkowski]

The show was so far ahead of its time. Wish more people knew about it.

[@sweou]

He's so quickwitted while playing a character with all the voice changes and physical expressions, so impressive!!!

[@CarlosMota]

In the 80's I was a teenager and I had a vague image of Max Headroom associated with a music video and I always thought it was created by CGI. Today I found out that Max was an actor covered in foam, latex, fiberglass and his voice was distorted by a harmonizer. I always thought it was very technologically advanced for its time... and it was, because it wasn't real.

[@otterbp003]

yes and his head glitching back and forth, and his words not quite matching with his mouth movements is all him ! no computer gimmicks besides making him sound like a robotic static-like t.v. voice.

[@otterbp003]

its like hes an insanely good ventriloquist, plus he is his own dummy lol...

[@shayneoneill1506]

Yep. It was *well* ahead of its time, because even now it looks very much relatively cheap CGI, and thats to an audience that in 2024 actually knows what cgi looks like. Back in the 80s, most people didnt know what CGI looked like, but this was an excellent repesentation of it..

[@davewebbtheauthor]

Wow, in 1986 they predicted the glitchyness of Zoom meetings.

[@desmondsvideos1831]

I think he just made a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds

[@thelettermanpodcast]

“Lassie come home! I want to have your puppies!” Well said.

[@r3tr0actiongamer24]

I loved watching him as a kid back in the day

[@thelettermanpodcast]

Us too.

[@kstepko]

Same here - but as an adult, I can understand why my parents found him so annoying!

[@stevendefehr4393]

October 2/23 I sure enjoyed this video!!!! I was in my 20s when Max was starting out 😅 I’m 63 today and remembered those great years of the 1980s living in Vancouver BC. Cheers

[@buddafingahz9057]

Richmond Sockeye here. Did you ever make it to Gators Club?

[@lorip.1110]

Had to check the obits for any mention of Matt Frewer. Glad ol' Mr. Headroom is still with us!

[@getpumped87]

"On July 29, 2022, AMC announced a series reboot, with Matt Frewer once again returning to play Max.[20]"

[@kinsmed]

@@getpumped87 Ah. Hence the re-air here. thx

[@lorip.1110]

@@getpumped87 As a kid growing up in the 80's, I never realized how much of the 'digitization' was performance based. Frewer's got great acting and improv chops.

[@kingofmadprops]

@@getpumped87 WHAT???? Is this legit???

[@thelettermanpodcast]

Until someone kicks out the plug.

[@JoseTwitterFan]

A Max Headroom reboot with original actor Matt Frewer is now in the works at AMC.

[@maxcardun]

"GASP" YOU LIE!!! 😲

[@Piggy-Oink-Oink]

He's 80 lol

[@maxcardun]

@@Piggy-Oink-Oink Hardley Matters, after what we've seen in Pixels they can do that again.

[@t23001]

It’s hard to tell if Dave’s laughter is because he’s genuinely amused or it’s out of nervousness due to the material and technology. Very funny sketch/interview.

[@hootyhaha]

@@Piggy-Oink-Oink Doesn't matter with a tatex mask

[@ErickC]

It occurs to me that I am a human observing a digital image of a human masquerading as a digital image of a human. And, given the nature of today's internet, I'm probably being stalked by an AI.

[@Adam-kn3tv]

Am I A I? R u A I?

[@Xis-ql5pj]

Max didn't die. He is the secret mastermind behind chatgpt AI

[@bigd3087]

@@Adam-kn3tv Is that you, Max Headroom? Is this me?

[@Sigurther]

We're probably all just a simulation anyway.

[@michaelparks6120]

Dave seemingly got a kick out of this gag

[@johndavis3921]

I read recently that Mr. Frewer and Elijah Wood are homonyming (reboot) Max Headroom. Mr. Frewer will once again be Max, and it will appear on AMC according to the Deadline website in an article dated July 29, 2022.

[@mnightfamalam1510]

It's fascinating seeing what popular comedy looked like 37 years ago

[@SG-sj6cw]

It was horridly cheesy

[@slickdickmemes]

@@SG-sj6cwnot enough diversity for ya, big fella?

[@ihavefallenandicantreachmy2113]

Popular Comedy, Today (and the past 20+ years) = THE "MUSIC" INDUSTRY

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@SG-sj6cw In the 80s that was more than half the point

[@goatcheese4me]

If his voice sounds familiar, the voice actor is Matt Fewer, who was the neighbor Russ Thompson in the movie Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

[@sle2470]

That IS Matt. They used a combination of prosthetics and video/audio effects.

[@stuwerb]

He was 37 years ahead of his time. Time to bring him back once the actors strike is over.

[@stevemcleod2464]

20 minutes ahead...😉

[@tackyman2011]

@@stevemcleod2464 Niiiice!

[@thelettermanpodcast]

You guys are doing the lord’s work posting this. Which lord we aren’t quite sure, but it’s awesome.

[@joecarusopop-jazzswingsing1562]

Understand...this was once cutting edge. No other show would dare have Max on, and Dave did it fairly early...before Max was entirely publicly known. The show often broke ground booking ultra new talent.

[@patmoogs9069]

He was on Johnny too, so yeah. False

[@patmoogs9069]

And this was 3 months after his movie and 2 months since he signed the deal with coca cola. So he was known worldwide at this point. Was his 1st appearance on an American television show but he'd been all over the TV in commercials seen 10 or more times a day.

[@joecarusopop-jazzswingsing1562]

@@patmoogs9069 Dave first, hot shot.

[@joecarusopop-jazzswingsing1562]

@patmoogs9069 "Known" in 30 second ads.

[@Gambit771]

​@@joecarusopop-jazzswingsing1562He'd already done this on the BBC for Wogan's chat show. So...

[@BojoPigeon]

Virtual personalities before the technology for virtual personalities existed.

[@thelettermanpodcast]

I wish I had a virtual personality now.

[@BojoPigeon]

@@thelettermanpodcast I plan to go virtual in retirement.

[@Novaheart1998]

Max was my fave back in the day, he was so weird it was refreshing and slightly disconcerting 😅

[@JeffreyOliverRock]

"Goodbye is such a sad woooooooorrrRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrr-DUH" xD

[@greg.murphy]

Now, we need to see the Larry "Bud" Melman version of Max.

[@TalkMyShiit]

Max was/is brilliant … this is TALENT!

[@ROOKTABULA]

I remember watching this at my friends house at lunch on VHS. We didn't have American channels so this was the only time I saw Max.

[@jedijones]

Just funny that the Back to the Future '80s Cafe based its waiters on this guy, but no one remembered him by the real 2015. I did though and I love Max Headroom. I even remember when he got his own prime time series and his name was explained by him seeing a sign on a tunnel that said "max headroom" right before he had a motorcycle accident that turned him into this computer program.

[@SpielSatzFail]

I remembered Max and I think anyone who ever saw a glimpse of him couldn't forget this crazy project 🥸

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

Are you saying that in the BTTF movie the café scene with the Max Headroom waiter was set in the year 2015, but the characters in the movie didn’t remember Max Headroom from the ‘80s in the real world reality that exists outside of the movie? Otherwise, I don’t understand what you were saying, because everyone who was alive in the 80s still remembered max headroom in 2015 (as well as to this very day).

[@haroldfarthington7492]

the british movie was better than the us version ngl

[@Johnnyb418]

I’m actually watching that movie right now which is what brought me here.

[@YZ250W1]

Love this one. I've got a full set of China!

[@kz1000ps]

That full set of China line is brilliant. I wonder if that was scripted for Dave to ask or totally of the cuff. Either way Matt Frewer has an incredible wit.

[@thelettermanpodcast]

Yes!

[@TighelanderII]

@@kz1000ps Yeah, I wondered too if that softball was lined up before the interview.

[@ntedeschini]

The great Matt Frewer was the protagonist and crazy voice of Max Headroom (Max Speed in US), the last sign that the journalist Edison Carter saw after the "accident" and was reconstructed in a virtual body with AI.

[@stannc]

Max Headroom in the US too.

[@thelettermanpodcast]

Is that show on any streaming platform you are aware of?

[@mannybravo237]

I recall he was hanging out the moonroof of the swagger limo when entering a parking garage, the sign across top of entrance read: Caution! Max Headroom 7', and, Crunch!!!!!

[@ntedeschini]

@@stannc Yes but the sing in US is not Max Speed?

[@stannc]

@@ntedeschini that would be Speed Limit in the US. The sign that Max hit to knock him out would be Clearance in the US.

[@t0mcat23]

I found a 1080p upscale of the old Max Headroom show. It's amazing how good it is, but it's been so murky and low-res every time I've watched it. (It's only gotten a dvd release.)

[@MKPiatkowski]

I have the dvd. Such a good show.

[@blakfloyd]

6:57 "Gimme a flat F!" lmao

[@elbuort]

Best TV-Character ever!

[@markjones952]

This was America in 1986. I remember his 15 minutes of fame as an 8 year old boy.

[@morbidmanmusic]

He isn't actually in a lot of movies... obviously not a MAX.

[@keefriff99]

Hey, we’re the same age.

[@DrHalbesWissen]

this was global!

[@mannybravo237]

Awesomely popular England tv personality who ventured 'across the pond'

[@thefifthdementia5231]

I don't remember him as an 8 year old boy. Looked much older. Maybe 30ish?

[@Kohntarkosz]

He did the "falling asleep" gag on Wogan's World (Terry Wogan was sort of the 1980's UK equivalent of Johnny Carson or Letterman).

[@larrydockery7201]

bring back max headroom he rock the 80s man

[@pgo301]

I certainly can appreciate the many 1000's of hours to get this up and running for a national TV audience. It was a handful for the public to grasp this and a lot did not take to it so easily. Dave certainly gave it a nice promotion.

[@massapower]

MAX HEADROOM was the Best !😁👍🏻

[@TheHighExecutioner]

Classic!! One the best times in history.

[@worldmikel]

In Manchester, across from the Granada Studios, there is a parking lot with a bar at the entrance to keep trucks out. It is the only time I've ever seen "MAX HEADROOM" used to denote height limit on a sign anywhere.

[@chipbuttytime3396]

There used to be a car park in North Tyneside which had that sign at the entrance, this was in 1987.

[@doderiolarkisso4038]

"NEWSPAPER NEEEEEEEEERDS"

[@LouStoolz]

Wow…I watched this when it originally aired.

[@morbidmanmusic]

Live using digital delay, studio using video-audio edits. Big difference between, but both cool. Good attempt for that era.

[@Dreamskater100]

Sublime. Classic.

[@buddafingahz9057]

Thanks for letting me relive 8 minutes of the 80s. Had just graduated the year this was aired and now I'm retired. Where the "eff" did all the time go?

[@TighelanderII]

All of a sudden, I'm thinking, "Was Max the prototype of Jim Carrey?"

[@pooyab01]

There was a larry bud headroom too

[@Bootrosgali]

I think Jim Carrey ripped Max Headroom off loads!.. He would have seen the British television show of Max Headroom which wiuld have aired in Canada so that makes sense in dates too. And maybe he thought "no ones gonna ever watch this obscure English TV show". And then bam he is on Letterman he musta shit a little!

[@thenostalgicpodblast]

L-L-L-LLOVE THIS. L-L-L-LOVE THIS

[@captjames19]

Matt Frewer is BRILLIANT

[@hootyhaha]

Matt Frewers humor was too much for the audience back then, his comic out burstd were ahead of their time.

[@TheGreatAtario]

The ABC series was amazing

[@BlakeNaftel]

After watching this clip, curious if Max Headroom was the inspiration for "Fire Marshall Bill" on In Living Color several years later, played by Jim Carrey. Many similarities!

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

Oh totally! _LET ME SHOW YA SUMTHIN!_

[@tackyman2011]

Anyone remember "20 Minutes Into The Future"?

[@TimothyJones-l2j]

I think Lyle the Intern was a 2000s version of Max Headroom.

[@m3talentagency680]

No one but Matt Frewer could have pulled out being an incredibly versatile artificial character right then and there.

[@tonelocrian]

This guy is the digital version of Jim Carrey.

[@andrewsmactips]

Or, Jim Carrey is the analog version of this guy.

[@dmontes133]

Except Max is funny.

[@peperondeipeperoni]

Except he's not digital at all

[@RadicalEdward2]

Jim Carrey actually made his whole career pretending to be Max.

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

@John Q. Bebtelovimab Max Headroom is NOT digital. It’s Matt Frewer in make-up with awesome practical effects/voice manipulation!

[@FUGP72]

He's a lot like Mel Tillis, apparently. He doesn't stutter when he sings.

[@frodotiki]

Loved the 80's!!!

[@TonyWud]

Now we know. Jim Carey was watching on 7/17/86

[@inkthomson]

20 minutes into the future.

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

I'm guessing he is talking to pre-recorded footage. Unless they could somehow do the stutter in real-time back then.

[@Goldengirl48]

"OOO! Who's been digging around in the garden of gossip and came up with a couple of weeds?" And Dave, "Do you have plate in your head?" Max, "I have a full set of china!!😅😅😅

[@GregCurtin45]

Who knew Sen. Rick Scott, Fl. was once actually popular?

[@melissawickersham9912]

That wasn’t Rick Scott. Max Headroom was played by Matt Frewer in the mid to late 1980s. He had nothing to do with the Florida politician.

[@YodatheHobbit]

This was the '80s version of AI cleverbot.

[@fmsolee]

He sounds like Jim Carey

[@juniourst3ven596]

Jim Carrey playing him would be AWESOME

[@jamieemes4292]

Very much. Wondering if this is where Jim picked up his schtick...

[@sumertheory]

how is this possible in 1986

[@grantr9745]

It’s not CGI

[@melissawickersham9912]

@@grantr9745 It’s Matt Frewer in prosthetic makeup and contact lenses. The four hours needed to prepare him for this role was agonizing torture for him, and the contacts lacerated his corneas. He actually suffered for this role in real life. I wouldn’t want to wish the pain of lacerated corneas on anyone, not even my worst enemy. Of course, Matt Frewer endured that pain like a champion for a career making role.

[@PaigeBlack-l4p]

LOVE HIM HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST AI IN TELEVISION 😊

[@FourOf92000]

Jim Carrey and Longmont Potion Castle had a time-traveling magic gay lovechild

[@jim-f4n]

Motorcycle accident. Last thing he saw be for his head injury was the low bridge sign…. Maximum headroom.

[@jaydlytning]

Sounds like a young Patrick Waterburton.

[@thatkid386]

Zoom meeting!

[@LCTesla]

The true story of Max Headroom's name is that it was a text displayed on low hanging bars or poles in the UK specifying the amount of headroom vehicles maximally had driving under them. And the name was chosen for this character because he supposedly had a maximum amount room in his head.

[@jesuswasntafascist]

Matt Frewer is awesome!

[@Denominator90]

Man you can really tell Jim Carrey was inspired by Max

[@t2av159]

this is the guy from honey shrunk the kids, the neighbour. I recognise that voice

[@JackSilbert]

I enjoyed Frewer in the series Doctor Doctor.

[@bigadz0r]

Ed Harris voiced by jim carrey

[@thelettermanpodcast]

Woah…..you just blew my mind.

[@GATUK1773R]

Max Headroom fue la inspiracion de carrier es una copia exacta

[@ZMSportsnShorts]

Lawrence O'Donnell?

[@guyvandenbroeck8405]

Max will be my first AI avatar when available! I have always known that changing coca-cola taste is devastating somehow...

[@Armakk]

Am I crazy or does this feel SOOOO 21st Century?? People need to show this to their kids, tell em it was the very first Tik-Tok star!

[@melissawickersham9912]

Before Tik Tok was invented!

[@Xis-ql5pj]

Max headroom is the mastermind behind todays chatgp AI

[@cgamejewels]

This was before twitch, KZbin, V streamers, etc. The 80s was so futuristic.

[@hootyhaha]

Look up Max Headroom Old Man, they did a few PSAs during the digital transition. CHannel 4 Max Headroom DIgital Switch might pull a few of them up. Or look for Max Headroom Old Man.

[@donniestellmaker9010]

MER MER MERV!

[@joshuaolsen5316]

Wonder if he inspired Primus

[@mitchellhughes5180]

Cocaine is a helluva drug

[@RoughJustice2k18]

0:38 now you know where Eminem got the idea for his "Rap God" music video. Nice to see the original "Paranoimia" Max Headroom. A.I. character with sass.

[@unfa00]

Did they do it live? I can't quite tell, but I think they must've. It's incredible that this was possible almost 30 years ago! Nowadays we have vtubers, and machine learning technology that could do this for real. Who knows, maybe if someone trained a model on max's dialogue and inspirational source material, maybe he could be brought to life as a fully artificial personality. On the other hand - how ironic that Max being a caricature of American late night TV show hosts was later interviewed by one himself. Well, after becoming a spokesman for Coca-Cola, which was perfectly on-brand for the lying shill that he was a parody of.

[@claragreenfield6317]

hang on.... Did Jim Carrey learn from this guy? Reminds me SO much of typical Jim 😅

[@basicpianotutorial]

This is where Eminem got the idea for his rap god video

[@MrKkprince]

37 years old chat gpt

[@ericjanssen394]

And later in the show, with Grace Jones as an understandably confused Dave's guest-- Dave: "...Grace, do you have someone offstage programming for YOU?? 🤨"

[@advancetotabletop5328]

Sure miss the television series!

[@TimSlee1]

I now see where Jim Carrey got his sense of humor from

[@josephlawson9950]

Nobody who the max headroom incident hacked guy is still a mystery

[@JHoCLT]

Jim Carrey must have idolized Max

[@rainyday5654]

Before Jim Carey, there was Terry Frewer …

[@melissawickersham9912]

Matt Frewer, not Terry.