Late Night with David Letterman on NBC (1980’s) was simply the funniest talk show ever.
I think Letterman got screwed by NBC when they gave it to Leno. Moving to CBS completely changed the perfect dynamic he had on NBC.
That being said, I still Letterman’s influence on comedy (in general) from 1980 onward is very, very underrated. His approach to humor was copied by almost ever new comedian for 15 years after his NBC show premiered.
“His approach to humor was copied by almost ever new comedian for 15 years after his NBC show premiered.”
Oh please. Just because you know how to turn on a tv set doesn’t mean you know anything about the business. Letterman didn’t do anything that hadn’t been done decades earler. Steve Allen was the first on TV to do that kind of goofy shtick and Bob & Ray were doing it for many years on radio well before Allen.
There was a movie on HBO a few years back about that very thing. The late shift or something like that. It was how Leno's agent pushed Carson off the stage and then pushed Leno into the spot. It was pretty good, I wonder how much was true.