And the No. 1 reason to not delay your retirement from TV is . . . lame attempts at humor that make it clear you have no respect for women.
David Letterman got a cool reception while trying to warm up his studio audience Monday with a sexist wisecrack recycled from the dustbin of Hollywood’s earliest days, a source in the crowd told The Post.
The married “Late Show” host — who in 2009 was forced to admit a series of affairs with female staffers — engaged in his trademark practice of taking questions from his fans inside the Ed Sullivan Theater on Monday.
The first one came from a college staffer who asked what advice the scandal-scarred funnyman would give to this year’s graduates.
“Treat a lady like a wh–e, and a wh–e like a lady,” the host shot back.
The joke — a version of a saying attributed to 1930s screenwriter Wilson Mizner — was met with stunned silence, the source said.
“I turned to my wife and was, like, ‘What?’ ” the source said. “It was really the first joke of the evening, and it seemed like an odd choice.”
When the zinger fell flat, Letterman tried to recover by urging future alums to “eat a lot of salad” and always be nice, the source added.
Several fans who passed by the theater on Tuesday evening were outraged by Letterman’s comic misfire.
“Younger people watch his show. We already live in a culture that objectifies women, it’s not right to make a joke like that,” said Joe Logan, 41, a high school teacher from Pennsylvania.
Jerry Stockton, a retiree from Virginia, called the crack “disrespectful to women, and women should never be disrespected.”
“My daughter is going to college in September and I worry how guys will treat her,” he added.
A Letterman spokesman said of Monday’s failed joke, “I can’t confirm the accuracy of that,” and declined to comment further.
A source close to the show insisted, “It got a big laugh.”
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