'Letterman's' Eddie Brill axed

"The Late Show With David Letterman" has lost its comedy booker, Eddie Brill, who's also Letterman's warm-up comic. Ray Getlen of newcomer comedy industry mag Mirth reported Monday that Brill was handed the pinkslip for "talking with the press without authorization," along with a source confirmed the report. Brill triggered a stir a few days ago as he told the NY Occasions that "you will find much less female comics who're authentic. I see lots of female comics who to impress a crowd will behave like males." The content under consideration would be a profile of Brill by Jason Zinoman, and Brill was reacting to some question about why so couple of female comics were reserved on the program. The debate was dissected at Mirth, where Brill stated within the comments section that his words have been removed of context. Zinoman responded with transcribed questions and quotes, and Brill subsequently apologized to "all who've been impacted by this." Brill is anticipated to stay at Letterman as warm-up comedian, and also the booking process will probably go back to its pre-Brill system, by which comics scouted at standup venues is going to be asked to do for producers from the show. A speaker for "The Late Show" rejected comment. Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com