The year was 1993:
The World Trade Center was bombed for the first time, a huge blizzard struck the East Coast, The Buffalo Bills lost the Super Bowl for the third time in a row, Boy Meets World and Monday Night Raw made their debuts, Cheers closed down after 11 years on the air, Mariah Carey’s third album Music Box was a monster smash around the world and was later certified diamond, Bill Clinton became the 42nd President, and future young actor/singers Jennifer Stone, Debby Ryan, Miranda Cosgrove, Raini Rodriguez, Taylor Momsen, Rydel Lynch, Alyson Stoner, Niall Horan and AnnaSophia Robb were born during this year. So yeah, 1993 was a very big and impactful year.
But the all-time biggest and most impactful moment of the year was when NBC announced that it has selected Jay Leno as Johnny Carson’s successor on The Tonight Show, passing over Late Night host David :Letterman, whom, mind you, was Carson’s own personal choice as his replacement.
This led to massive waves of news and word-of-mouth all across the country, countless outrage and cries of weird, yet brilliant hilarity. This led to a big idea at the Peacock’s rival CBS, which, at the time, has been sitting comfortably in Late Night with Crimetime After Primetime. Then an exec heard the big news and came to his fellow bigwigs with a question:
“Why not hire this guy to host our own attempt at late night television?”
This lead to gasps of brilliance, a quick few phone calls, and exchanges of words with producers. And thus, a new program that would change late night (again) and become a beloved pinnacle in late night comedy for decades to come was born:
The Late Show with David Letterman.
So, come along, folks, and join me as I review the very first episode of The Late Show with David Letterman, and trust me, it’s going to be a very good watch (the show, not the review; these are never always great, I guess).
The show starts off with an open to make local news open producers shed a tear, featuring awesome flyover shots of the New York City skyline and its hotspots, and equally awesome graphics (which I think still hold up very well today) to match. With an open like that, you know CBS is gonna kiss his ass for the next few years (and for good reason).
Next up is an intro by...Ed Sullivan?
As shown here, it’s clips of Mr. Stoneface himself from his iconic variety show (which also aired on CBS), cut in so it looks like he’s announcing David to the television audience of the 50s and 60s. The clips chosen made this genius open hilarious and was a perfect indicator of what goofy, weird, whimsical and gut-busting humor we’re in for tonight.
After his name was called, Dave comes into the studio to riotous applause and a standing ovation from the audience. It’s as if he’s left the face of the earth for a long time, but it’s been over two months (which now that I think of it, really does seem like a long time, as it’s David Letterman I’m talking about). The standing O was very sweet and, in context of the late night situation, very well-deserved, and the audience for the entire show was really great. I enjoyed their energy, their laughter and the loyalty they gave to Dave like he was a God (which, again, in this situation, makes a lot of sense).
Now to the best part: his first monologue. I will say without getting long and analytical, that almost all the jabs and zingers were at the expense of NBC, which, while brutal, were very hilarious. But the icing on the cake was when then-anchor of NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw made a cameo to congratulate Letterman for his new show at the Eye, but then stopped to give the real reason he was there: because he had to take two of Dave’s jokes, which were “intellectual property of NBC”. The sprinkles and candles came in straight after when Dave threw in a nice little twist of the knife:
"Who would have thought you would ever hear the words 'intellectual property' and 'NBC' in the same sentence?"
I swear, I could’ve died from even thinking that joke, as it just hurts of humorous and awesome. The topical jokes still hold up well, and are just super funny, even if you don’t know a thing of the late night controversy of ‘93. And they’re also a testament of Dave’s genius snarky, wacky and hilarious humor. He hasn’t missed a beat, and as the years passed, he never would, could and should.
After he sits at his desk, Dave gives us a nice quick video-clip look at the Ed Sullivan Theater before the renovations to it in time for the new show began. I knew it was a big facility to house a television production (as I’ve watched many clips of The Ed Sullivan Show before) but that place was big as hell! It makes you wonder how a small set could offset such a huge building. This was a sweet video dedicated to the men and women (mostly men) whom spent their time and efforts to bring the production facility up to code and put the set together. Also, parts of it were really funny, such as when one worker gets a nail in his hand and bleeds while he and another worker laugh it off, and three workers watching As The World Turns on one of the hooked-up screens. It was a funny and wonderful clip, and the workers deserve all the praise they can get. Which is why after it ended, Dave welcomed all the workers on-stage. It was even sweeter to see all of them come together and be congratulated for their hard work. I did find the “CONSTRUCTION WORKERS!!” graphic a little obnoxious and really pretentious, as we already know who they are and what they do from watching the video. But still...Very well-deserved.
The guests of the first show were comedy icon Bill Murray and Billy Joel.
But before that, there was a genius surprise later on after the Mono: In this gag, Letterman mentions that in the Theater, the spirit of Ed Sullivan still lingers, and tries to think up the spirit. And when it appears, it calls up Paul Newman. And guess who appears? Paul Newman himself (!) in the flesh (!!)...in the audience (!!!). After another eruption from the crowd, Newman made a joke that he thought he went to see Cats, and leaves. This was one of favorite parts of the episode, but as there were many of those, this was still a good one.
Straight after, Dave presented his first Top 10 List of the Late Show era. And its category, "Top 10 Way The Show Will Be a Lot Better", is an interesting one. But hilarious.
Here's my favorites:
9) No More Relying on GE Jokes (unless we're really stuck)
7) Inhaling Asbestos Particles from Renovation Makes Me Extra "Wacky"
6) No More Pressure to Book NBC President Robert C. Wright's Son-in-Law Marv Albert
2) Every Friday Paul & I Swap Medication (My favorite)
Murray was up first and carried a lot of great moments, starting from the beginning:
At the start, he cried and made a confession, that he appeared on stage during the segment with the construction workers, pretending to be one. This was straight-up hilarious and genius. But it didn’t stop there; later on, Murray brought in a can of spray paint and tagged Letterman’s desk with his first name--the hilarious part is that it somehow stopped after the A was painted in, causing Bill to scrape on the VE part in desperation. The two later commented about it that the person the people will see walking down the street and love for years to come is named “DA”. I couldn’t breathe after that.
Who knew the very first interview would become one of the best?? I seem to think so.
Next up was the first-ever musical guest--The Piano Man himself, Billy Joel.
He performed his song “No Man’s Land” from his album River of Dreams (with assistance from Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra). This was a great, vibrant and amazing performance and clearly shows why he’s nicknamed The Piano Man. He’s a badass on the 88 Keys, can write and perform like it’s nobody’s business, and can look like a God while doing it.
After that, Joel returns for a short interview with Dave.
Oh, and before I get to the end, I want to talk about...
Paul Shaffer is a God of music. He can create music, he can make already recorded music sound fantastic, and his appearance and voice is stuff of legend. He went from leader of the Saturday Night Live Band (and featured cast member), to leader of The World’s Most Dangerous Band on Television (also an awesome name) to leader of the second most well-known Band in Late Night (after the Carson-era Tonight Show Band, of course), the CBS Orchestra. This man is one of the best men on television to make help us enjoy our night with music, and his loyalty to Dave is one of the reason making this show so amazing.
And the members of the Band itself are equally awesome. Each and every single member (along with Paul) is a badass with his or her instrument and can play like King Arthur to a dragon: they can f*ckin’ SLAY. Every time a commercial break begins or ends, their music just gives me good feelings. This band will has become one of the vital, important and supreme elements of it, and is also a testament to The Late Show wonderful, lasting longevity.
And finally...When all's said and done, Dave thanks the audience for appearing and the viewers for watching, his first-ever episode of The Late Show. And with that, we’ve reached the end of the beginning of a new era in Late Night television. This was a fantastic start to what would become an amazing and legendary late night show that television has never seen before (well, after Late Night, of course) and will never see again.
According to Wikipedia, the cost for CBS to take Letterman, Shaffer, the Orchestra, and first announcer Bill Wendell, along with rights from NBC and renovations to the Ed Sullivan Theater, was $140 million. And since I watched this show for years, along with countless videos on YouTube and the CBS website, I’d say it was pretty damn good buy and investment. According to comments under the video on YT, the first episode was watched by 28 million viewers, some of whom I assume would stay and watch for days, weeks, and even years to come. And if that’s a major indicator, that’s well-deserved.
Letterman and CBS has been a great combo for many years and years and I can’t imagine what TV would be like without him fronting the funny; mostly because I wasn’t even born for another several months and never watched the first 10 years while barely getting through watching the last 10. But it feels like I’ve been a royal subject to a wonderful King.
Dave, congratulations on your 33 years in late night television, but for now, I’m celebrating the first night of Show 2 in Year 11. You’re a Pioneer in late night television, and no one will ever be like you again. Thank you.
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