The David Letterman Show
Encyclopedia
The David Letterman Show was a live morning NBC
talk show
hosted by David Letterman
from June 23 to October 24, 1980. The show originally ran for 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward.
, the show was a critical success but the edgy comedy did not go over well with morning television watchers, more used to talk show
s, soap opera
s, game show
s and prime time rerun
s. The show had replaced the daytime version of Hollywood Squares
, High Rollers
, and Chain Reaction
on NBC's schedule (NBC president Fred Silverman
also considered canceling Wheel of Fortune as well, but he changed his mind upon discovering that the show was in fact one of the highest-rated programs on the network's morning schedule).
The original producer was Bob Stewart
, a veteran quiz-show creator who had enlisted Letterman as a panelist on Pyramid
from 1978 onward. However, due to creative differences, Stewart left the show four days before its premiere. Michael McDonald
of the Doobie Brothers wrote the opening theme of the show.
Behind the scenes were Hal Gurnee
directing and Barry Sand producing. The writing staff consisted of Merrill Markoe
(head writer), Valri Bromfield
, Rich Hall
, Gary Jacobs
, Harold Kimmel, Edie McClurg
, Gerard Mulligan, Paul Raley, Ron Richards, and Letterman.
Lou Del Prete, was the associate producer, Stephen H. Schwartz, was the creative consultant. Joan Gelman, Christine Lalonde, and Willie Stein
were the talent coordinators. Lisbeth Anderson was the production manager, Terri Guarnier was the unit manager. Francine Bergman was the production coordinator, Cynthia Kayan was the researcher. Kathleen Ankers
was the art director, Joyce Hurley was the associate director. Chrissy Frances was the music coordinator.
The production staff consisted of George Callahan, Kim Carney, Lee B. Chernick, Barbara Gaines, Edd Hall
, Tim Holton, Brian J. McAloon, Meg Mortimer, Dency Nelson, and David Reale
.
The news producer was Alan Mohan, news writer was Nick Allen. Bill Kelley was the technical director.
The program was produced by Space Age Meats, a precursor to Letterman's later production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated.
, Edie McClurg
, Rich Hall
, Gerard Mulligan, Merrill Markoe
and Paul Raley all appeared on the show and served as writers. Edd Hall
(later the announcer on Jay Leno
's Tonight Show) and current Late Show producer Barbara Gaines were both production assistant
s, while stage manager Biff Henderson
and director Hal Gurnee
would follow Dave to his next two shows. Announcer/comedian Bob Sarlatte was replaced partway through the run by Bill Wendell
, who would also announce on Dave's next two shows. Music director was Frank Owens. Longtime NBC newsman Edwin Newman
provided live news updates in the studio during each broadcast; studio audience members would often interrupt his reporting with laughter or groans, as if Newman were an anchor on Saturday Night Live
s Weekend Update
.
Among guests who appeared were Steve Allen
, Andy Kaufman
, Wil Shriner
, Judy Collins
, photojournalists Jon & Keiko Alpert
, keyboardist Suzanne Ciani
, and Jeff Greenfield
, who reviewed the first show on the air and as it happened was rather apathetic toward the whole thing.
The show's musical guests included Tony winner Nell Carter
.
Bill Maher
can be seen in the audience of the first episode (though he was not an official guest), and Conan O'Brien
claims he hitchhiked to New York just to see a broadcast in Studio 6A (which has also been home to some of Jack Paar
's NBC programs, later Late Night with David Letterman
and finally Late Night with Conan O'Brien
).
archives in New York; a brief clip from the finale was shown on Dave's 15th-Anniversary show in 1997 and is known to be held by collectors. Some episodes are available for on-site viewing at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
hosted by David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
from June 23 to October 24, 1980. The show originally ran for 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward.
Background
A precursor to 1982's Late Night with David LettermanLate Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
, the show was a critical success but the edgy comedy did not go over well with morning television watchers, more used to talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
s, soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s, game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
s and prime time rerun
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
s. The show had replaced the daytime version of Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
, High Rollers
High Rollers
High Rollers is an American television game show based on the dice game Shut the Box. The show aired on NBC from July 1, 1974 to June 11, 1976 and again from April 24, 1978 to June 20, 1980. Two different syndicated versions were also produced, a weekly series in the 1975–1976 season which ran...
, and Chain Reaction
Chain Reaction (game show)
Chain Reaction is an American game show created by Bob Stewart, in which players compete to form chains composed of two-word phrases.The show aired three separate runs: Bill Cullen hosted the original series on NBC from January 14 to June 20, 1980...
on NBC's schedule (NBC president Fred Silverman
Fred Silverman
Fred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the...
also considered canceling Wheel of Fortune as well, but he changed his mind upon discovering that the show was in fact one of the highest-rated programs on the network's morning schedule).
The original producer was Bob Stewart
Bob Stewart (television)
Bob Stewart is a former American television game show producer. He was active in the TV industry from 1956 until his retirement in 1992....
, a veteran quiz-show creator who had enlisted Letterman as a panelist on Pyramid
Pyramid (game show)
Pyramid is an American television game show which has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973 and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series...
from 1978 onward. However, due to creative differences, Stewart left the show four days before its premiere. Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)
Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...
of the Doobie Brothers wrote the opening theme of the show.
Behind the scenes were Hal Gurnee
Hal Gurnee
Hal Gurnee is an American television director who directed all of the television shows hosted by David Letterman on NBC. Gurnee directed the Emmy award-winning but short-lived NBC daytime program The David Letterman Show, then moved with Letterman to Late Night with David Letterman in 1982...
directing and Barry Sand producing. The writing staff consisted of Merrill Markoe
Merrill Markoe
Merrill Markoe is an author, an Emmy Award-winning television writer and a sometime standup comedienne.-Career:Markoe attended the University of California, Berkeley, receiving a B.A. in Art in 1970 and an M.A. in 1972...
(head writer), Valri Bromfield
Valri Bromfield
Valri Bromfield is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, and television producer who started her career as one half of a comedy team with Dan Aykroyd. Together, they joined the first Toronto company of The Second City where she was one of the original players.-Television appearances:Bromfield was a...
, Rich Hall
Rich Hall
Richard "Rich" Hall is an American comedian, writer and musician.-Early life and career:Hall was born in Alexandria, Virginia and grew up in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He is part Cherokee Indian...
, Gary Jacobs
Gary Jacobs (writer)
Gary Jacobs is an American television comedy writer and producer. He was executive producer of Empty Nest and creator/executive producer of Woops! and All-American Girl...
, Harold Kimmel, Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg is an American character actress. She is known for her perky North Central dialect , common to persons from Middle America.-Career:...
, Gerard Mulligan, Paul Raley, Ron Richards, and Letterman.
Lou Del Prete, was the associate producer, Stephen H. Schwartz, was the creative consultant. Joan Gelman, Christine Lalonde, and Willie Stein
Willie Stein
Willie Stein was an American television producer and songwriter.In 1950, Stein and Milton DeLugg cowrote the song "Orange Colored Sky", which became a hit for Nat King Cole, and later his daughter Natalie....
were the talent coordinators. Lisbeth Anderson was the production manager, Terri Guarnier was the unit manager. Francine Bergman was the production coordinator, Cynthia Kayan was the researcher. Kathleen Ankers
Kathleen Ankers
Kathleen Ankers was an American scenic designer. Born in Ealing, London, she moved to the US in the late 1940s. She did occasional Broadway costume design and set design Kathleen Ankers (22 October 1919 - 24 October 2001, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City) was an American scenic designer. ...
was the art director, Joyce Hurley was the associate director. Chrissy Frances was the music coordinator.
The production staff consisted of George Callahan, Kim Carney, Lee B. Chernick, Barbara Gaines, Edd Hall
Edd Hall
Edd Hall is an American celebrity, television personality, and announcer. Most famous for his work on television as Jay Leno's announcer on The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2004, Hall replaced famed Tonight Show announcer Ed McMahon after Johnny Carson's retirement...
, Tim Holton, Brian J. McAloon, Meg Mortimer, Dency Nelson, and David Reale
David Reale
David Reale is a Canadian actor best known for his roles as Glenn Coco in Mean Girls and Dave in Skins.Reale is also the voice actor of Kai Hiwatari on the English version of Beyblade, also becoming the voice actor of Tsubasa Otori from the spin-off series Beyblade: Metal Fusion. He was also in...
.
The news producer was Alan Mohan, news writer was Nick Allen. Bill Kelley was the technical director.
The program was produced by Space Age Meats, a precursor to Letterman's later production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated.
Guests
Valri BromfieldValri Bromfield
Valri Bromfield is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, and television producer who started her career as one half of a comedy team with Dan Aykroyd. Together, they joined the first Toronto company of The Second City where she was one of the original players.-Television appearances:Bromfield was a...
, Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg is an American character actress. She is known for her perky North Central dialect , common to persons from Middle America.-Career:...
, Rich Hall
Rich Hall
Richard "Rich" Hall is an American comedian, writer and musician.-Early life and career:Hall was born in Alexandria, Virginia and grew up in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He is part Cherokee Indian...
, Gerard Mulligan, Merrill Markoe
Merrill Markoe
Merrill Markoe is an author, an Emmy Award-winning television writer and a sometime standup comedienne.-Career:Markoe attended the University of California, Berkeley, receiving a B.A. in Art in 1970 and an M.A. in 1972...
and Paul Raley all appeared on the show and served as writers. Edd Hall
Edd Hall
Edd Hall is an American celebrity, television personality, and announcer. Most famous for his work on television as Jay Leno's announcer on The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2004, Hall replaced famed Tonight Show announcer Ed McMahon after Johnny Carson's retirement...
(later the announcer on Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
's Tonight Show) and current Late Show producer Barbara Gaines were both production assistant
Production assistant
A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production...
s, while stage manager Biff Henderson
Biff Henderson
James Jackson "Biff" Henderson, Jr. is an American comedian and television personality best known for his work on The Late Show with David Letterman. He is the show's stage manager and appears in occasional humorous segments, often involving interviewing people he meets in public places or at...
and director Hal Gurnee
Hal Gurnee
Hal Gurnee is an American television director who directed all of the television shows hosted by David Letterman on NBC. Gurnee directed the Emmy award-winning but short-lived NBC daytime program The David Letterman Show, then moved with Letterman to Late Night with David Letterman in 1982...
would follow Dave to his next two shows. Announcer/comedian Bob Sarlatte was replaced partway through the run by Bill Wendell
Bill Wendell
Bill Wendell was an NBC television staff announcer for almost his entire professional career.-Biography:...
, who would also announce on Dave's next two shows. Music director was Frank Owens. Longtime NBC newsman Edwin Newman
Edwin Newman
Edwin Harold Newman was an American newscaster, journalist and author.-Early life and education:Newman was born on January 25, 1919 in New York City to Myron and Rose Newman. His older brother was M. W. Newman, a longtime reporter for the Chicago Daily News. Newman married Rigel Grell on August...
provided live news updates in the studio during each broadcast; studio audience members would often interrupt his reporting with laughter or groans, as if Newman were an anchor on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
s Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...
.
Among guests who appeared were Steve Allen
Steve Allen (comedian)
Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent...
, Andy Kaufman
Andy Kaufman
Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...
, Wil Shriner
Wil Shriner
Wil Shriner is an American actor, comedian, director and game show host.-Life and career:Shriner was born in New York City, New York, the twin brother of soap opera actor Kin Shriner and the son of Eileen “Pixie” McDermott and Herb Shriner, a Hoosier humorist who had several shows in the early...
, Judy Collins
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
, photojournalists Jon & Keiko Alpert
Jon Alpert
Jon Alpert is an American journalist and documentary filmmaker, known for his use of a cinéma vérité approach in his films. A native of Port Chester, New York, Alpert is a 1970 graduate of Colgate University, and has a black belt in karate....
, keyboardist Suzanne Ciani
Suzanne Ciani
Suzanne Ciani is an Italian American pianist and music composer who found early success with innovative electronic music.-Education:...
, and Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Greenfield is an American television journalist and author.-Biography:He was born in New York City to parents Benjamin and Helen. He grew up in Manhattan and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1960. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in...
, who reviewed the first show on the air and as it happened was rather apathetic toward the whole thing.
The show's musical guests included Tony winner Nell Carter
Nell Carter
Nell Carter was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin, as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television...
.
Bill Maher
Bill Maher
William "Bill" Maher, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and...
can be seen in the audience of the first episode (though he was not an official guest), and Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
claims he hitchhiked to New York just to see a broadcast in Studio 6A (which has also been home to some of Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
's NBC programs, later Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
and finally Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
).
Episode status
Approximately 83 or so episodes are held in the Late ShowLate Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
archives in New York; a brief clip from the finale was shown on Dave's 15th-Anniversary show in 1997 and is known to be held by collectors. Some episodes are available for on-site viewing at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York.
External links
- Episode list at epguides.com