The David Letterman Show

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The David Letterman Show Title Shot

Dave Walking Out on the Last David Letterman Show

The David Letterman Show was a short-lived live morning NBC talk show hosted by David Letterman every weekday from June 23-October 24, 1980. A precursor to 1982's Late Night with David Letterman, the show was a critical success but the edgy comedy did not go over well with morning television watchers, more used to talk shows,soap operas, and game shows. The show had replaced the daytime version of The Hollywood Squares and High Rollers on NBC's schedule (NBC president Fred Silverman nearly cancelled Wheel of Fortune in favor of Letterman as well, yet Silverman eventually decided not to do such when he realized Wheel was one of the network's highest-rated daytime shows.)

Valri Bromfield, Edie McClurg, Rich Hall, Gerard Mulligan, Merrill Markoe and Paul Raley all appeared on the show (with all but the first two also serving as writers). Edd Hall (former announcer on Jay Leno's Tonight Show) and current Late Show producer Barbara Gaines were both production assistants, 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 Owen.

Among guests who appeared were Steve Allen, Andy Kaufman, Wil Shriner, Judy Collins, photojournalists Jon & Keiko Alpert and Jeff Greenfield, who reviewed the first show on the air, as it happened, and was rather apathetic toward the whole thing. Bill Maher can be seen in the audience of the first episode as well (though he was not an official guest), and Conan O'Brien claims he hitchhiked to New York just to see a broadcast in NBC's Studio 6B, which has also been home to Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman and now Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The first 30 episodes were all 90 minutes, but the show was cut to an hour for the last 12 weeks (60 shows). Of the 90 episodes broadcast, only 83 or so survive in the Late Show archives in New York. A brief clip from #90 (see still above) was shown on Dave's 15th Anniversary show in 1997, and some episodes are apparently available for on-site viewing at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York.

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