David Letterman Talks His Failed “Airplane!” Audition: ‘I Can’t Act’

The late-night legend recalls auditioning for the role of Ted Striker in an upcoming book about the 1980 comedy classic: “That would've ruined it”

David Letterman may be one of the most iconic late-night hosts of all time, but he admits he was not cut out for the big screen.

The comedian and talk show host, 76, spilled details on his audition for the Airplane! role of Ted Striker in an upcoming book about the 1980 disaster spoof with Leslie Nelson, in an excerpt published by Entertainment Weekly.

The book, Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True History of Airplane!, by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker (aka ZAZ), recounts Letterman’s screen test for the role — which ended up going to Robert Hays — along with director ​​Jim Abrahams’ prank of playing the audition on Late Night with David Letterman.

"I get out there, and they had set up a cockpit for the aircraft with chairs," Letterman recalled in the book, per Entertainment Weekly. "I had a chair, and there was another chair where the copilot would be. We did the scene once, and then they came in and gave me some notes, and then we did it maybe two more times. And I kept saying all along, 'I can't act, I can't act, I can't act,' and then one of them came to me after the audition and said, 'You're right: you can't act!'"

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Coming out on Oct. 3, Surely You Can't Be Serious will feature conversations with the movie's stars, including Hays and Julie Hagerty. It will also include juicy stories about the casting process with Sigourney Weaver and Caitlyn Jenner, per the outlet.

Related: David Letterman Learns How to be a Grocery Store Employee in Hilarious Video

“They were really nice to consider me for a film, because I can see where people would think, ‘Oh, we have a thing where we're opening an Alpha Beta (supermarket); can you come out and talk to the bag boys?’" Letterman said in the book, per EW's excerpt. “That made sense. But a movie? And the guy who produced it was Howard Koch, who had a legitimate movie career and big-time credits. He was somebody that even I was aware of, and so I thought, Geez, he's not gonna want anything to do with me!”

Letterman added, “When I saw the movie, it was just delightful, and I was delighted to see it knowing that I didn't have to look at myself. Because that would've ruined it. If not the whole movie, it certainly would've ruined it for me.”

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