Late Night with David Letterman with guests Mel Blanc and Hunter S. Thompson (1982)

The David Letterman Show premiere - audio only (1980)

Bruno Gerussi's Celebrity Cooks with guest David Letterman (1977)

The David Letterman HBO Special: Looking for Fun (1981)

Late Night with David Letterman with guest Jerry Lewis (1982)

Late Night with David Letterman with guests Henny Youngman and Hal Roach (1982)

Late Night with David Letterman with guest Harold Ramis (1983)

The Smart Alecks with host Allen Ludden and guests Pat Carroll and David Letterman (1977)

Late Night with David Letterman with guest Robert Klein - Christmas Segment (1983)

US Magazine Looks at the 70s with host David Letterman (1979)

David Letterman reads copy about punk rock - written by Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers. How's that for weird?

The 20,000 Pyramid with celebrity contestant David Letterman (August 10, 1979)

Password Plus with celebrity contestants Marion Ross and David Letterman (1979)

Late Night with David Letterman - Christmas Episode - with guest Brother Theordore (1984)

Late Night with David Letterman with guests Macaulay Culkin and Danny Thomas (1991)

This may have been the last thing Danny Thomas ever did. Nothing else posted today, because I am forcing you to watch this. It's great.

Late Night with David Letterman with guest Bob Hope (1983)

Everything about this is excellent.

Late Night with David Letterman with guest Bill Wendell (1982)

Late Night with David Letterman with guest Jerry Lewis (1982)

The Liar's Club with celebrity contestants Larry Hovis, Dick Gautier, Betty White and David Letterman (1978)

Late Night with David Letterman (1985)

Peeping Times with David Letterman (1978)

A wonderful, rare obscurity. Quoting from my own article on David Letterman's early career:

"Letterman taped a pilot that was supposed to be a spoof of 60 Minutes called Peeping Times. 'The week before we started shooting,' Dave remembers, 'I get a call from a secretary who says, 'We've been trying to get hold of your agent but we can't reach him, so we're just going to tell you - you've got to get your teeth fixed.' I fought it but finally they said you can get inserts. Which was fine except that when I wore them, I couldn't speak properly.' It was just as well he didn't invest in the dental procedure as the show never went beyond the initial episode."

Although the show is touted as a take-off on all news magazines, the resemblance to CBS' hit 60 Minutes is clear. Alan Oppenheimer as anchorman Miles Rathbourne and David Letterman as co-anchor Dan Cochran are the counterparts of Mike Wallace and Morley Safer. A third correspondent is on assignment, but his chair is there. Among the reports is an interview with a border guard, who is extolling the job he and his co-workers are doing to prevent illegal aliens from slipping into the U.S. as he goes on and on ... many illegal aliens [are] seen tiptoeing across the border. This sort of zaniness seems to fall somewhere between NBC's Saturday Night Live and long defunct, but much-lamented That Was The Week That Was, which first brought David Frost to the attention of U.S. audiences. Frost, in fact, is the man behind Peeping Times ... The pilot hour is part of his new deal with NBC, which also calls for a series of six weekly live interview shows to be done in prime-time beginning in May.


-Sherry Woods, The Miami News, January 25, 1978