After an incredible 22-year run – David Letterman retired on May 20 from The Late Show. Here are a few facts you might not have known about the king of TV.
Bill Murray was the guest on Late Night and the Show in 1982 and 1993, respectively, and was the last guest in his final Show in 2015 taken up by David Letterman.
David Letterman was given his Show on NBC, which was a morning comedy series although he won two Emmy Awards for it, but was canceled only four months later due to extremely poor ratings. Then, at another time slot, he attempted in 1982, following Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show.
When Johnny Carson retired in 1992, most people, including Carson himself, thought that Letterman would take over The Tonight Show. It was a project which Jay Leno would finally triumph, prompting Letterman to leave NBC and go to CBS, with CBS doubling his NBC salary to $14 million annually. The total cost of bringing Letterman to CBS ended up being almost $140 million, including renovating the set, buying other similar expenditures, and the right to negotiate with Letterman, Letterman’s salary.
The authors had to pen down an estimated 300 of every Letterman show To 400 jokes ‘Top 10 List’.
The start of David Letterman’s career
His first broadcasting job was for his college’s radio channel. In 1966, he became a newscaster for the student-run channel at Ball University in Indiana but was fired for his irreverent treatment of classical music.
Johnny Carson is the only TV host to have had a running hosting career. To date, Letterman has received 67 Emmy Award nominations (winning 12 Emmy Awards), which is a record for someone.
David Letterman started his career out as a radio newscaster. This was at the WBST radio station, which was a college is now an Indiana public radio station and run radio channel. After being fired from that radio channel for making fun of classical music, he helped found another campus radio station, WAGO AM 570, which is now WCRD FM 91.3.
After performing numerous small-time local TV shows in Indiana, he moved to LA in 1975, where he pursued a career in standup comedy and humor writing. His big break came in 1977 when he did a pilot for a game show called “The Riddlers” which was ultimately not picked up. Nevertheless, his performance was seen by workers at The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and he became a regular on The Tonight Show, eventually assuming the role as a guest host beginning in 1978.