Stupid .... tricks

[Drew Danielson]

Gareth Branwyn wrote:
>
> "James A. Landau" wrote:
>
> > "stupid accounting tricks"---"stupid .... tricks" is in my experience a phrase used only by computer people (I remember a collection of "stupid UNIX tricks" in the newspaper Computerworld several years back) but it could easily have arisen elsewhere.
> >
>
> "Stupid .... tricks" originated (I believe) with David Letterman when he
> was still at NBC. "Stupid human tricks" was a regular segment (where
> people did silly bar-bet types of stunts). But then, the bit (and the
> term) may have come from Steve Allen, from whom Letterman got most of
> his act. They still do stupid human tricks periodically on CBS. When
> Letterman left NBC, there was a big intellectual property stink about
> whether he could take the bit, and the name, to CBS.
>
> Gareth

Letterman also had "stupid animal tricks" and "stupid kid tricks" on
NBC.  I have no idea which came first.