A few days after the film's premiere, John Michael Higgins was booked on Late Show with David Letterman (1993) to talk about the movie and what it was like to portray Letterman. Letterman's A-guest that night was Julia Roberts. During the commercial break, Letterman reportedly asked the star if she wouldn't mind staying longer as a favor to him. Higgins sat in the green room watching the show, hearing Letterman occasionally plug his "coming up" interview (at commercials breaks). At the end of the show Letterman apologized to Higgins for "running out of time", pointedly saying he hoped the actor could "come back again soon." According to producer Rob Burnett, Letterman fully intended on going through with the interview but his insecurities got the better of him; Burnett confirmed Higgins would not be invited back.
In this film, Bob Balaban played NBC President Warren Littlefield. He also played the character Russell Dalrymple on Seinfeld (1989), the NBC executive who was inspired by Littlefield.
Both David Letterman and Jay Leno were vocal in their disapproval of the film, with Letterman calling it "the single biggest waste of film since my wedding photos." In an interview he said his self-loathing tendencies were overplayed, in particular a scene where he throws baseballs at an archery target, and he also took issue with the red hair color given to the actor who played him, John Michael Higgins.
Jimmy Brogan, the best friend of and head writer for Jay Leno for the first nine years of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), was critical of Daniel Roebuck's performance as Leno, but was impressed by John Michael Higgins' performance as David Letterman.