Letterman left "Late Night" in 1993 for Late Show with David Letterman (1993) on CBS when NBC give the "Tonight Show" to Jay Leno following the departure of Johnny Carson in 1992. However, NBC refused to allow Letterman to use elements that made the show famous such as "Larry 'Bud' Melman" or "The Top Ten List". NBC claimed those bits were their "intellectual property". "The Top Ten List" was renamed "Late Show Top Ten" and "Larry 'Bud' Melman" used his real name, Calvert DeForest.
At age six, Lindsay Lohan appeared as a trick-or-treater dressed as garbage for a Halloween skit ("Things You Find on the Bottom of the D Train").
At least three people called David Letterman "an asshole" on this show. Cher was the first: Episode dated 22 May 1986 (1986). Shirley MacLaine was the second: Episode dated 4 October 1988 (1988). Calvert DeForest, aka Larry 'Bud' Melman, was the third in August 1989.
NBC ordered Letterman to do a short monologue and to not have brass instruments in his band in order to differentiate the show from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). Letterman later did a longer monologue and had brass instruments on Late Show with David Letterman (1993).
The timing of the show's growth coincided with an explosion in sales for videocassette recorders. The A.C. Neilson Company always reported that "Late Night with David Letterman" was among the most taped programs on television.