Late night with David Letterman was an hour-long talk show that was hosted by David Letterman on the NBC television network. The show debuted February 1, 1982, with Letterman’s first guest being the legendary comedian-actor Bill Murray.

One of the most memorable episodes of the late night talk show was on July 28, 1982, when both Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler were guests on the show and it appeared that they got into a real fight with Lawler knocking Kaufman out of his set. The staged fight was so convincing that the network felt the need to reveal to the public that it was indeed a planned hoax.

Another memorable show was on November 13, 1987, when a singing duet and once husband and wife team, known as Sonny & Cher,  performed their hit song “I got you babe” together for the last time.

Late night with David Letterman aired until 1993 when Letterman decided to take a CBS offer to host a new late night talk show entitled Late Show with David Letterman.

The new show replaced another show named The Tomorrow Show that was hosted by Tom Snyder.

Part of what prompted Letterman’s move to CBS is the fact that NBC passed him over to host the hugely popular The Tonight Show that had been hosted by the legendary forefather of late night talk shows Johnny Carson. The job was given to comedian Jay Leno, even though according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassaly, Carson himself had always seen Letterman as his rightful successor to The Tonight Show.

So in 1993, Letterman and his crew moved to CBS and Late Show with David Letterman was born on August 30,1993, and went on to successfully compete with The Late Show, something no other late night talk show had ever done before.

Admittedly I’ve never been a big follower of late night TV talk shows although from time to time I would tune into David Letterman when he had a star I was interested in hearing him interview.  Letterman’s writers have their own brand of humor that works well with Letterman’s laid back style of delivery. It has proven to be a successful combination for years which has helped to make David Letterman arguably one of the most beloved public characters of late night TV.