Late Night with David Letterman
| Late Night with David Letterman | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Also known as | Late Night (franchise brand) |
| Genre |
Talk Variety |
| Created by | David Letterman |
| Written by |
Merrill Markoe (head writer 1982–88) Steve O'Donnell (head writer 1988–92) Rob Burnett (head writer 1992–93) |
| Presented by | David Letterman |
| Starring |
Paul Shaffer and The World's Most Dangerous Band |
| Narrated by | Bill Wendell |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 11 |
| No. of episodes | 1,819 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Jack Rollins (1982–92) David Letterman Robert Morton (1992–93) Peter Lassally (1992–93) |
| Location(s) | Studio 6-A, NBC Studios New York, New York |
| Running time | 42–43 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Carson Productions Worldwide Pants Incorporated (1990–93) Space Age Meats Productions (1982–90) NBC Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | 480i (4:3 SDTV) |
| Original release | February 1, 1982 – June 25, 1993 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Tomorrow Coast to Coast |
| Followed by | Late Night with Conan O'Brien |
| Related shows |
The David Letterman Show Late Show 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 on February 1, 1982, as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and ran until 1993, when Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. The series was then reformatted as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with Jimmy Fallon later taking over from O'Brien as host. Late Night continues to air as of 2017 with Seth Meyers as host.
In 2013, this series and Late Show with David Letterman were ranked #41 on TV Guide's 60 Best Series of All Time.
After his morning show on NBC was canceled in October 1980 after only 18 weeks on the air, David Letterman was still held in sufficient regard by the network brass (especially NBC president Fred Silverman) that upon hearing the 33-year-old comedian was being courted by a syndication company, NBC gave him a $20,000 per week deal to sit out a year and guest-host a few times on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
In 1981, NBC and Carson, after significant acrimony, reached an agreement on a new contract, which (among other concessions to Carson) granted Carson the rights to the time slot immediately following The Tonight Show. On November 9, 1981, NBC and Carson's production company Carson Productions and Letterman's production company Space Age Meats Productions announced the creation of Late Night with David Letterman, set to premiere in early 1982 in the 12:30 a.m. time slot Monday through Thursday, with occasional specials every few Fridays, all aimed at young men. The network wanted to capitalize on catering to young males, feeling that there was very little late-night programming for that demographic. The newly announced show thus displaced the Tomorrow Coast to Coast program hosted by Tom Snyder from the 12:30 slot. NBC initially offered Snyder to move his show back an hour, but Snyder, already unhappy with being forced to adopt changes to Tomorrow that he detested, refused and ended the show instead. The final first-run Tomorrow episode aired on December 17, 1981.
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