DAVID & JOHNNY

Calendar, always understanding, might find the answer to two questions plaguing me.

Why does David Letterman regularly refer to his program as “this damned show” when it took him from being a third-class unknown bozo to being a celebrity millionaire?

Why does Johnny Carson, long “entertaining” us by constantly juggling pencils (apparently he thinks its cute) now have a second compulsive habit, shrugging his shoulders dozens of times during the monologue? Any psychiatrist readers have the answer?

Add heartbreak of the week: Jess Marlow, struggling along on half a million a year, doesn’t see his way to accepting $350,000. No business like show business, as I said to a friend of mine standing there at the garbage cans looking for dog food to survive.

HOWARD MERRILL

Beverly Hills