The David Letterman Show

This show is THE reason I, a broke college student, splurged and bought my first VCR - to record Dave's morning show while I was in class. I couldn't miss Dave working with no net and no rules. Some of this weirdness made the transition to Late Night, but I miss the unpolished, disorganized, and off-the-cuff spontaneity of this fledgling creation from Dave and Merrill Markoe. And I miss the cast that never made it to Late Night - Rich Hall, Mrs. Marv Mendenhall, Valry Bromfield, Barry Sand, Bob & Stan...

Although this program did not remain on the air past the first season, it is interesting to note that Dave has won Emmy's at each of the three shows he has hosted. A winner then, a winner now.

By contrast, Leno has only won one non-technical Emmy in six years on the air - Dave has won best series two years in a row.

My mom and my aunt were both on the 1980's Letterman morning show when they were still in New York. I have no idea how they got selected, but I remember them on TV, I was about 12-13. Their names are Rhonda and Sharon. It was 'stupid pet dress up day' and our cat "Norman" (brown Persian tabby) was dressed as a baby and a dog, "Macho" (a small white mutt) was dressed in a running suit. Both pets are long gone. My family still watches Letterman some 25 years later. If anyone knows where we can get copies of those early-day tapes, I would LOVE to know. Who would ever imagine Dave would become such a huge success. I had heard they would be available on DVD, but I have yet to come across them anywhere.

This was the first of David Lettermans phenomenal comic success in Late Night. Although this show didn't go over as well as the others, I've seen re-runs and it was funny, and earned him an Emmy. If anyone knew then what we know now about this "dude" (as Dave would say), I'd be a rich woman today.

I was in high school when this show appeared and disappeared. I don't remember the circumstances that allowed me to be home to see it (perhaps it ran in the summer), but it was hilarious. Featuring comedian Rich Hall and Edie McClurg, among other regulars, it's not surprising that its often absurdist humor didn't play well enough with a morning audience for it to remain on the air -- it was definitely a better fit for late night. For those who didn't see it (approximately everyone -12), Dave would generally have 1 or 2 real guests and a bunch of skits and recurring characters. Usually if he announced a guest you had heard of, the person who appeared was this one guy from the cast who would claim he was that person (or people -- he claimed on one show to be Donnie and Marie) despite Dave's incredulity.

I spoke to Rich Hall after he performed at the University of Colorado some years ago and after expressing his surprise at meeting someone who had seen the show, he said that they all knew fairly early in the run that the show was going to be cancelled, which pretty much gave them the freedom to do whatever they wanted. Another poster mentioned having seen the show in reruns -- I'd love to have the chance to see at least some of them again to see if I find them as funny now as I did then.