David Letterman The show replaced
The Tomorrow Show, hosted by
Tom Snyder (and later co-hosted by
Rona Barrett), on Mondays through Thursdays. It did not expand to Fridays until 1987, when
Friday Night Videos was moved back an hour to accommodate a five-day-a-week
Late Night.
Late Night originated from NBC's headquarters building at
30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, inheriting Studio 6A from
Tomorrow (it was also the studio for Letterman's
morning program in 1980). The program ran four nights a week, Monday to Thursday, from the show's premiere in February 1982 until May 1987. Friday shows were added in June 1987 (NBC previously aired
Friday Night Videos in the 12:30 am slot with occasional
Late Night specials and reruns). Starting in September 1991,
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was pushed back from 11:30 pm to 11:35 p m, with Letterman starting at 12:35 am, at the request of NBC affiliates who wanted more advertising time for their profitable late newscasts. In mid-1993,
E! Entertainment Television purchased broadcast rights to
Late Night. The network aired complete shows from various years five days per week from 1993 until 1996. Then
Trio (owned by NBC) picked up reruns and showed them from 2002 until the channel went off the air in 2005. In 2022, David Letterman launched his official YouTube channel, which contains clips from this show and his previous morning and later
Late Show programs. A number of programs were sold by
GoodTimes Entertainment in 1992–93. These episodes were stripped of the series theme, open and close. No DVD release is currently scheduled (GoodTimes went bankrupt in 2005). A total of 1,819 shows were broadcast during its eleven and a half year run (an episode on January 16, 1991, went unaired due to pre-emption for coverage the beginning of the
Gulf War; the program had already been shot before word came out of Baghdad that United States airstrikes were beginning).
Peter Ustinov was a guest on the one-shot "360-degree" episode, during which the show's image gradually rotated 360 degrees during the course of an hour.
Transition from Letterman to O'Brien Upon
Johnny Carson's unexpected retirement from
The Tonight Show in 1992, executives at NBC announced that Carson's "permanent guest host"
Jay Leno would take over
Tonight, and not David Letterman. This was done against the wishes of Carson, who had always seen Letterman as his rightful successor, according to
Worldwide Pants senior vice president Peter Lassally, a onetime producer for both men. NBC later claimed that Letterman's high ratings for
Late Night was the reason it kept Letterman where he was. Letterman was bitterly disappointed and angry at not having been given
The Tonight Show job, and, on Carson's advice, walked away from
NBC after eleven years on
Late Night.
CBS signed Letterman to compete directly opposite Leno's
Tonight Show at 11:35 PM. He moved his show over to CBS virtually unchanged, taking most of the staff, skits, and comedy formats with him. However, NBC owned the rights to the
Late Night name and much of the
intellectual property created for the show, forcing Letterman to rechristen his show as
Late Show with David Letterman and re-title many of its signature comedy elements. ("Viewer Mail" became "CBS Mailbag"; sidekick
Calvert DeForest was no longer called "Larry 'Bud' Melman", but instead used his real name, etc.) However, some recurring elements, notably "Stupid Pet Tricks", actually dated from Letterman's earlier morning show. Those elements were Letterman's property, not NBC's, and carried over to the new show completely unchanged. NBC was faced with an unexpected need to replace not just Letterman, but
Late Night itself. The network still owned the name, but needed to essentially build a new show from scratch. The show was first offered to
Dana Carvey and
Garry Shandling, both of whom turned it down.
Saturday Night Live producer
Lorne Michaels' company,
Broadway Video, replaced
Carson Productions and Letterman's
Worldwide Pants as the show's co-production company, in partnership with
NBC Studios. Michaels took a leadership role in redeveloping the show, and comedians
Jon Stewart,
Drew Carey, and
Paul Provenza all auditioned for the hosting role. of television-performance experience as an occasional extra on
Saturday Night Live sketches, O'Brien auditioned for the show on April 13, 1993. His guests were
Jason Alexander and
Mimi Rogers, and the audition took place on the set of
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On May 20, 2015, during the opening monologue to his
TBS talk show
Conan aired just prior to the start of the final episode of
Late Show with David Letterman marking Letterman's retirement as host, O'Brien directly credited Letterman's 1994 appearance with preventing
Late Night from being cancelled by NBC. In 2000, Richter left
Late Night to pursue his acting career. The show's comedy bits and banter had usually depended on O'Brien's interaction with Richter. O'Brien's wacky
non sequitur comedy became more pronounced as he played all of his comedy and commentary directly to the audience instead of towards Richter. Bandleader
Max Weinberg also became O'Brien's primary sounding board and
double act in Richter's absence.
Ratings and reviews continued to improve for
Late Night, and in 2002, when time came to renew his contract, O'Brien had notable offers from other networks to defect. In 2003, O'Brien's own production company,
Conaco, was added as a producer of
Late Night. The show celebrated its 10th anniversary, another milestone that O'Brien said he wanted to achieve with his 2002 contract. During the anniversary show,
Mr. T handed O'Brien a chain with a large gold "7" on it. The show's
house band was
The Max Weinberg 7, led by
E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg. The other six members were
Mark Pender on trumpet, Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg on trombone,
Mike Merritt on bass,
Jerry Vivino on saxophone and brother
Jimmy Vivino on guitar, and
Scott Healy on keyboard.
James Wormworth served as backup drummer when Weinberg went on tour with
Bruce Springsteen. With the departure of Andy Richter, Max Weinberg assumed a bigger role as an interlocutor for O'Brien's jokes. One common running gag was Max's awkwardness on camera and his apparent lack of chemistry with Conan. Weinberg was often used in sketches as well, which usually revolved around his purported sexual deviance (mostly a penchant for bedding barely legal groupies), although long running sketches also spoofed Max's lack of knowledge of current affairs. Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg was also used as the butt of many of Conan's jokes. These humorous sketches usually revolved around LaBamba's sizeable mustache, his poor acting skills, and his alleged inability to read
sheet music. Mark Pender would often sing songs on the topic of a current event, which ended with him screeching uncontrollably and climbing the risers into the audience. All members of the 7 had successful side careers as studio musicians. As is common in the talk show format, The Max Weinberg 7 performed the show's opening and closing themes, played bumpers into and out of commercial breaks (they actually played through the entire break for the studio audience), and a short piece during O'Brien's crossover to his desk after his monologue (except for several months beginning in April 2008, where a commercial break was inserted at that point). The show's opening theme was written by
Howard Shore and
John Lurie (a finalist for the job as bandleader). The show's closing theme was called "Cornell Knowledge", and was lifted from Jerry and Jimmy Vivino's first album together. However, on
Late Night, it was played at a much quicker tempo than the album version. The band played a wide variety of songs as bumpers – usually
popular music from a variety of eras. Weinberg sometimes took extended leaves of absence to tour with
Bruce Springsteen as the drummer for his
E Street Band. During his absence, temporary replacement drummers were hired (most commonly James Wormworth), and the band was led by Jimmy Vivino ("Jimmy Vivino and the Max Weinberg 7").
Joel Godard, a long-time announcer for NBC shows, was the show's announcer and an occasional comedy contributor. These comedy bits usually revolved around Godard's supposed homosexual fetishes, deviant sexual habits, substance abuse, and suicidal tendencies. The humor came in part from Godard's delivery. No matter how depressing or deviant the topic being discussed he always did so in an exaggeratedly cheerful voice, and with a huge smile plastered on his face. Several sketches ended with Godard apparently committing suicide in his announcer's booth. Members of the show's writing staff frequently appeared in sketches on the show. Among the most prolific were:
Brian McCann (Preparation H Raymond, FedEx Pope, The Loser, Airsick Moth, Jerry Butters, Funhole Guy, Bulletproof Legs Guy, Adrian "Raisin" Foster, S&M Lincoln, etc.),
Brian Stack (Hannigan the Traveling Salesman, Artie Kendall the Ghost Crooner, The Interrupter, Kilty McBagpipes, Fan-tastic Guy, Clive Clemmons, Frankenstein, Ira, Slipnut Brian, etc.),
Jon Glaser (Segue Sam, Pubes, Awareness Del, Wrist Hulk, Ahole Ronald, Gorton's Fisherman, Jeremy, Slipnut Jon, etc.), Kevin Dorff (Coked-up Werewolf, Jesus Christ, Mansy the half-man/half-pansy, Joe's Bartender, Todd the Tiny Guy, etc.), and
Andy Blitz (Awful Ballgame Chanter, Vin Diesel's brother Leonard Diesel, Slipnut Andy, Chuck Aloo aka the star of the
24 spin-off series
60). Blitz went so far as to travel to India for one bit in which he carried his computer through the streets of India to get technical support firsthand from the telephone representative at NBC's technical help center. One of the show's graphic designers, Pierre Bernard was featured several sketches, such as: "Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage", and "Nerding It Up For Pierre".
Late Night employed a number of sketch actors, many of whom were frequently reused in different roles in different episodes. Several years before joining the cast of
Saturday Night Live,
Amy Poehler often appeared as a regular in many sketches, she was best remembered for playing the role of Andy Richter's little sister, Stacy.
Jack McBrayer frequently appeared as well.
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog began as part of a sketch on
Late Night. Celebrities such as
Joyce Brothers,
Nipsey Russell,
Abe Vigoda and
James Lipton also made frequent cameo appearances in comedy sketches on the show at different periods. Unusual for a late-night talk show,
Late Night made frequent use of various costumed characters such as The Masturbating Bear, Robot on a Toilet, and Pimpbot5000. The humor in these sketches often derived from the crude construction of the characters' costumes as well as the absurdist nature of their conceptions. For example, Pimpbot5000 was a 1950s-style robot who dressed and acted in the manner of an exaggerated
blaxploitation pimp, while The Masturbating Bear was a man in a bear costume wearing an oversized diaper who would inevitably begin to fondle himself to the tune of
Aram Khachaturian's "
Sabre Dance" when brought on stage. Many of these characters did little more in their appearances than walk across the stage or be wheeled out from behind the curtain, but some had extensive sketches on the show. As part of O'Brien's 2004 contract renegotiation with NBC, he was tapped to replace Jay Leno as host of
The Tonight Show five years later, in the summer of 2009. O'Brien's last
Late Night was taped and aired on February 20, 2009. He indeed succeeded Leno and renamed the show ''
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' on June 1, 2009, and resigned as host just over seven months later, a result of the
2010 Tonight Show conflict. O'Brien's last season on
Late Night attracted an average of 1.98 million viewers, compared to 1.92 million viewers for
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. On the final episode of his 16-year run, O'Brien stated that he "owed his career to Lorne Michaels".
Jimmy Fallon Executive producer
Lorne Michaels said he wanted Fallon to be the new host dating back to the day that Fallon left
Saturday Night Live in 2004, which occurred only a few months before O'Brien's departure was announced. According to Michaels: To help him prepare for his new
Late Night host role, Michaels had Fallon perform comedy in
clubs and create a series of
webisodes. The show is produced by
Lorne Michaels'
Broadway Video in association with NBC's
Universal Media Studios. Upon Fallon assuming the hosting role,
Late Night moved across the hall into Studio 6B, which had housed
The Tonight Show under
Jack Paar and then Johnny Carson.
WNBC then used the space to originate its news broadcasts until shortly before
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon debuted.
Late Night would move back to Studio 6A for the last few months of Fallon's tenure so that 6B could be renovated for
The Tonight Show's return to New York with Fallon as host. Fallon premiered on March 2, 2009, with
Robert De Niro,
Justin Timberlake and
Van Morrison appearing as his guests. Former
Late Night host Conan O'Brien also made a cameo appearance. The
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon logo is based on the typeface Bureau Grotesque. NBC failed to correctly license the font program, causing them to be sued by the copyright holder of that program, Font Bureau, Inc. for software copyright infringement, although fonts alone cannot be copyrighted. Fallon hosted his final episode of
Late Night on February 7, 2014, when he welcomed
Andy Samberg as his final guest. After a brief retrospective with Higgins about their time on
Late Night, the show ended with Fallon playing drums and singing backup to "
The Weight" behind an ensemble of
The Muppets. Upon the conclusion of the song, Fallon exited Studio 6A and walked silently down the hall to Studio 6B, through a door featuring his
Tonight Show logo, where his cast and crew awaited him with an ovation.
Seth Meyers On May 12, 2013, NBC officially announced that
Seth Meyers would become the new host of
Late Night following Fallon's exit to preside over
The Tonight Show. Meyers' first episode of
Late Night premiered February 24, 2014. His version of the show originates from Studio 8G in Rockefeller Center, previously home to
Jeopardy! during its original run plus talk shows for
Phil Donahue and
Rosie O'Donnell, and NBC's coverage of the
National Football League. It marks the first time that
Late Night and
The Tonight Show have been produced out of the same studio facility. In fact, Meyers' studio is directly above Fallon's, meaning that the shows cannot tape at the same time due to inefficient
soundproofing and elevator capacities for audience members.
Late Night begins taping at 6:30 PM, roughly thirty minutes after production of
The Tonight Show wraps. Meyers' version of the show is orchestrated in the traditional late night talk show format. Each show usually begins with an opening monologue, then informal chatter at the desk, a comedy bit, celebrity guest interviews, and closing with a stand-up comedian or musical guest. The house band for Meyers' iteration of
Late Night was "The 8G Band", until the band was lost from the programm due to budget cuts. The 8G Band was led by eccentric actor/musician
Fred Armisen, one of Meyers' former
Saturday Night Live castmates. The two usually engaged in a nightly exchange in which Armisen detailed (to great length) an absurd concept he had pioneered while Meyers played the
straight man and questioned its validity. When Armisen was away from the show for various reasons (including to produce his television series
Portlandia), he would sometimes appear in a taped comedy bit, and as with Weinberg's tenure, guest drummers or other performers would perform for the week with the 8G Band. As a tribute to the many NBC affiliates that air the show on a nightly basis, Meyers' desk features one
coffee mug nightly sent by each NBC affiliate which sits to his left, which varies between featuring a station's logo or
morning news imaging. Also on the desk is a
Matryoshka doll in the style of
Bill Hader's
Stefon character with a veil embellishment, originally hand-crafted by Matryoshka artist Irene Hwang and commissioned for a
Saturday Night Live crew holiday gift. Meyers and Stefon were "married" on
SNL. ==Gag, skit, and segment highlights==