RIP, Harvey Pekar: Why His Letterman Performance Was Great

Harvey Pekar died today.

The man's career is difficult to sum up, especially if you haven't seen American Splendor. But this 1987 performance on David Letterman's show gives a taste, not to mention that it demonstrates just how far the Letterman show has changed.

Some reasons why the clip is great:

1. Well, the t-shirt saying he's on strike against NBC, for starters.

2. His catching the Vaughn Monroe reference in terms of his voice and riffing off it.

3. The perfectly delivered sarcasm of "Yeah, Dave, wait `til next year."

4. The rant against GE.

5. The fact he keeps up the rant against GE after Letterman seriously asks him to stop.

RIP, Harvey.