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Late Night with David Letterman premiere, February 1st, 1982
Photo: Nancy Kaye/AP

I’ve been a fan of David Letterman for years. Back when he used to guest host the Tonight Show and he did a long, long bit on how thick the chili was in the NBC commissary, when he once mentioned that the word ‘snacks’ never, ever appeared in the Bible, and asked a store called ‘just light bulbs’ if they sold anything else.

He had ‘dancing waters’, confetti canons and parades of circus freaks running thru the studio and the Sky Cam or the monkey cam – any time there was a lull. Fights with Cheryl Tiegs, Cher, Stevie Nicks, The Phil Donahue countdown calendar, Bill Murray throwing raw meat at Julia Child, Larry ‘Bud’ Melman mispronouncing ‘tater tots.’

What was cool was Dave was doing things on tee vee that no one had ever thought of (Except Steve Allen, who inspired Dave to do his own thing). Before Howard Stern, before reality tee vee, one would stay up late to see what Dave was going to do. It didn’t matter who the guests were, if Dave had something to bitch about, that’s what the show was.

And of course, due credit must go to Merrill Markoe – who was Dave’s head writer for many, many years. When she left, the void was felt. I can safely say her humor really synced with a whole generation.

The very first thing I ever videotaped was Letterman’s first anniversary show (1983) – because it was my birthday and it took most of the evening to get that BIG AS A BOAT VHS MONSTER actually hooked up. Had it up and running by 12:30 a.m. Just in time for Dave.

Here’s a couple of cool links with great content:

Laughing Squid: David Letterman NBC Years and Earlier

And

the comic’s comic: Great Moments in David Letterman interviews

tags: cool finds, originally posted on my myspace blog, thoughts // 2 comments  . . .