"The David Letterman Show" (1980) TV series

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Directors:

Bruce Burmester
Hal Gurnee

Writers:

Gary Jacobs (writer)
David Letterman (writer)

Seasons:

unknown

Release Date:

23 June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Talk-Show

Plot:

After several guest hosting appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Dave was given his own morning talk-show...

Plot Keywords:

Non Fiction

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Andy Kaufman	...	Himself (1 episode, 1980)
Wil Shriner	...	Himsel (1 episode, 1980)

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

Trivia:

The program ran 90 minutes for the first six weeks, and was shortened to 60 minutes beginning on 4 August 1980 (the last 12 weeks).

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993)

Made my mornings

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.