Late Night With David Letterman - Format

Format

Like other talk shows, the show featured at least two or three guests each night, usually including a comedian or musical guest.

Letterman frequently used crew members in his comedy bits, so viewers got to know the writers and crew members of the show. Common contributors included bandleader Paul Shaffer, Chris Elliott, Calvert DeForest as "Larry 'Bud' Melman," announcer Bill Wendell, writer Adam Resnick, scenic designer Kathleen Ankers, stage manager Biff Henderson, producer Robert Morton, director Hal Gurnee, associate director Peter Fatovich, stage hand Al Maher, camera operator Baily Stortz and the "production twins," Barbara Gaines and Jude Brennan.

Letterman's show established a reputation for being unpredictable. A number of celebrities had even stated that they were afraid of appearing on the show. This reputation was born out of moments like Letterman's verbal sparring matches with Cher, Shirley MacLaine and Harvey Pekar.

Because of the innovations of staff writers like Merrill Markoe, Letterman's NBC show in its first few years especially, had innovative segments and theme shows that were new and different from other talk shows. Some were visual gags that owed a debt to pioneers like Ernie Kovacs and Steve Allen . One early episode showed everything from Dave's eye view with Markoe and others coming at Dave to pitch ideas as he walked onto the stage, and the audience was shown from Dave's view during the monologue and the opening segments. In another show, the picture turned like a clock, eventually being seen upside down half way through. There were segments where Letterman was dressed in a suit of Velcro and stuck to a Velcro wall, a suit of chips and dunked into a vat of chip dip, a suit of Rice Krispies and doused with gallons of milk while lying in a huge bowl, a suit of Alka Seltzer tablets and dunked in water, etc. Visual segments showing things being crushed by a hydraulic press, thrown through fluorescent lights or dropped off an office building to smash on the ground, were also common. Letterman's desk featured a control panel where he could operate a bubble machine, "radioactive" steam, a belch of New York soot or strange lighting. When he threw his pencils through the fake window scene behind him, breaking glass was always heard. A robotic arm for a while delivered the Top Ten List, and for another week or so, a complicated series of tubes would produce swirling coffee to eventually land in his cup on the desk. Cameras mounted on a chimpanzee's back (Late Night Monkey Cam) or on the roof (Roof Cam) would show odd viewpoints of the set and its participants. The Custom Made Shows allowed the audience to vote on each part of the hour, what they wanted to see, and the resulting shows had guests talking in high-pitched voices like they had inhaled helium (Jane Pauley refused to say a word during this, and answered his questions by writing answers on cards and showing them), sitting in dentist chairs or lawn furniture, the theme music replaced by the theme from Gilligan's Island, and an opening montage of the director's vacation photos. Reruns were often scoffed at by Letterman, telling the audience not to waste their time watching next Monday, or sometimes the entire rerun would be dubbed into a foreign language for rebroadcast, baffling viewers. He once had a member of the audience host the show and interview guests while he left the studio. Another time, he hosted the show from his home while waiting for his cable TV to be installed.

Sonny & Cher reunited on his show in 1987 and sang together for the first time in 11 years, at his request (which Cher at first was against) in an impromptu performance which had audience members in tears. Ringo Starr was talked into playing drums unrehearsed with Paul Shaffer's band when he appeared in 1989. Sly Stone gave his last ever TV performance on the show in 1982. Captain Beefheart was interviewed and showed part of his latest music video which MTV had not aired. Guests such as Jerry Garcia, Ringo Starr and Arnold Schwarzeneggar also participated in comedy sketches which were shown before the opening credits. Carly Simon performed on the show broadcast from a hotel room, because of her terror of appearing before a live audience. Teri Garr was once talked into taking a shower on the show, and was heard saying, "I hate you David Letterman!" as she stepped, naked, into the shower as the end credits rolled. Crispin Glover and Oliver Reed frightened Dave with their nearly violent, confrontational behaviour in their appearances.