August 30, 1993…”Late Show With David Letterman” Debuts On CBS

On August 30, 2016 - TV History


August 30, 1993…”Late Show With David Letterman” Debuts On CBS

Here is the entire first show from The Ed Sullivan Theater with some great surprises along the way. I love the edited clips from Sullivan introducing the show, and at around 12:30, Dave goes to the spirit world to talk with Ed, and there is a big surprise there.

At around 5:40, NBC’s Tom Brokaw drops in for a funny bit and around the 7:30 mark, Dave talks about the theater renovation and shows a couple of minutes of that process.

Dave’s first guest is the same first guest he had on the original NBC debut show, Bill Murray. Billy Joel is the musical guest. Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_H3sKdH_S8

Late Show With David Letterman: Dave’s First Show At CBS, August 30, 1993. Guests: Bill Murray & Billy Joel. Originally recorded on VHS from CBS affiliate KO…

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8 Comments

  1. Frank H. Robinson August 31, 2016

    There was a big writeup about the creation of the show’s name, logo, theatre marquee, and opening montage, in a 1995 issue of Step By Step. I bought a copy last year in May, shortly after Letterman’s run ended, and scanned the article. I formatted it for a forum, so I’ll just link to that. It will take a few moments to load, as it is quite large.

    http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3607075&pagenumber=57&perpage=40#post446078433

  2. Doug Herendeen August 30, 2016

    “if you think about it, all I ready did was take the Summer off…”

  3. Ben Okuly August 30, 2016

    I totally forgot that Billy Joel was the first musical guest! David was starting a new chapter with a new show, and Billy was closing a chapter with the release and promotion of his final album of new rock material …

  4. Robert Barker August 30, 2016

    It’s hard to believe he’s only been gone 15 months or so. It seems longer. The late night TV landscape has changed. Dave was the last late night program I could tune to and just watch the host. Now I choose among the three from whomever has the best opening guest and stick with them that evening. I can’t believe he didn’t flatten Leno in the ratings. Leno’s monologue was bland and he was a terrible interviewer. (Not that Dave was a great interviewer, but at least he’d make it interesting, or at least uncomfortable). I never watched a Leno Tonight Show straight through. I had a special place for Dave because we’re both Indy natives, and I understand the special kind of smartass that part of the midwest produces. I miss him on the tube but I’m happy he’s free to run wild and be as eccentric as he feels. I hope he finds a project or something so we can still have his crotchety insights on the world from time to time. It was sad never seeing Johnny again. Maybe someday we’ll get Dave’s original Late Night program in reruns like they do Cavett and Carson now.

  5. Cole Stuart Johnson August 30, 2016

    Late Show, not Night.

  6. Don Newbury August 30, 2016

    “Where the hell are the singing cats?” Lol

  7. Albert J. McGilvray August 30, 2016

    I was running the ship’s TV station on the USS AMERICA (CV 66). We were on “the circuit” for TV shows while we were in the Med. The BETA tape we received from the sattelite station in Sigonella, Sicily was unplayable, so I send a ship-to-ship message to any other ship in our battle group for their copy. One of the destroyers in our group loaned me their copy, and the crew got to watch the first Letterman show on CBS.

  8. Fred Leonard August 30, 2016

    The last real late night host. The era ended when Dave stepped down. Dave I miss you. That doesn’t mean you should be tempted to try to come back. It didn’t work for Steve Allen or Jack Parr and Johnny was smart enough not to try.