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Episodes from Monday through Thursday are taped at 5:30 p.m. on their respective days. Friday episodes are taped at 8:30 p.m. on the preceding Thursday.
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One of the series' most memorable moments occurred in the mid-1990s when Johnny Carson made a surprise walk-on appearance. David Letterman stood up and let Carson sit at his desk for a moment, with the intent of having the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson veteran deliver a joke. The audience went crazy and applauded for so long that Carson never got to say a word.
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At least 29 people have guest hosted for David Letterman. In 2000, as he underwent and recuperated from heart bypass surgery: Charles Grodin, Regis Philbin (2 times), Paul Shaffer (3 times), David Brenner (2 times), Tom Snyder (2 times), Tom Arnold, Bill Cosby, Kathie Lee Gifford, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, and Dana Carvey; in 2003, as he recuperated from the shingles: Bruce Willis, John McEnroe, Regis Philbin, Whoopi Goldberg, Vince Vaughn, Elvis Costello, Will Ferrell, Megan Mullally, Brad Garrett, Tom Dreesen, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Shaffer, Bill Cosby, and Luke Wilson. Guest hosts who filled in for Letterman in June for no apparent reason ("Tired Ass Syndrome"): Tom Arnold, Tom Green, Kelsey Grammer, and Jimmy Fallon. In November 2003, Paul Shaffer filled in for Dave because of his girlfriend's ('Regina Lasko' ) delivery of their baby, Harry Joseph. In 2005, Paul Shaffer filled again as host, after Letterman went to accept a car award in Detroit. In 2007, Adam Sandler stepped in after Letterman caught fever earlier in the day.
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Tom Arnold is the first guest host to fill in for David Letterman due to a non-illness related absence.
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NBC claimed "intellectual property rights" on many of Letterman's famous running gags and characters from his original show. As a result, the character of "Larry Bud Melman" was retired (though the actor remained with the show and appeared under his real name), and such traditions as "Viewer Mail", "Stupid Pet Tricks", and the "Top 10 List" were simply renamed. This controversy was the subject of much ridicule during the 1993-94 TV season, mostly from Letterman himself.
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Many, including rival talk show host Jay Leno, whom NBC chose over David Letterman as Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show successor in a bitter competition between the two, saw Carson's Late Show with David Letterman cameo appearance as a signal that Carson preferred Letterman over Jay.
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In January 2005, onetime Late Show with David Letterman producer Peter Lassally revealed that Johnny Carson occasionally contributed material for Letterman's monologues, even years after Carson's retirement.
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On the show, people in the audience are often wearing coats, or appear "bundled up". This is because the temperature of the Ed Sullivan Theatre is kept at 58 degrees during taping, supposedly at Dave's insistence.
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The microphone on David Letterman's desk is an old RCA DX 77. It is a replacement for the original microphone given to him as a gift from the NBC crew when he left the network. A couple of years after making the move to CBS, the original microphone was stolen. The microphone on his desk is usually not plugged in. His primary microphone is the lapel clipped to his tie.
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Before reading the Top Ten List, David Letterman used to announce that it came "from the home office of Sioux City, Iowa". This was a reference to the fact that at the time, the CBS affiliate in Sioux City refused to air the show.
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An estimated 13.5 million viewers watched when Oprah Winfrey was guest on 1 December 2005. The average night pulls in 4.3 million viewers.
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In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks (specifically the World Trade Center attack in New York, downtown from where "The Late Show" is taped), David Letterman was reported to have said that he didn't know if anything would ever be funny again. Most American programming (including "The Late Show") was suspended in the aftermath. However, on September 17, "The Late Show" was one of the first comedy shows to resume regular programming. The starting guest that night was Dan Rather, and the emotionally-charged episode is considered one of Letterman's finest.
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David Letterman originally wanted to call Paul Shaffer's musical ensemble "The NBC Orchestra," but that name was already taken by Doc Severinsen and company on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Letterman settled for the name "Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band," but he got his way in the end: when Letterman and Shaffer defected to CBS, they changed the name of Shaffer's ensemble to "The CBS Orchestra."
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On April 28, 2010, Letterman's monologue included references to Jay Leno's 60th birthday. He refused to read one joke from the cue cards. The joke was: "Time flies - seems like just yesterday he was pushing Johnny out."
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