With all the furor over NBC's late night, here's a chance to look back at a far different time: Jay Leno on "Late Night With David Letterman" (and a picture of Letterman's bandleader, Paul Shaffer, with hair):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coacWEhWT50&feature=related
Leno and Letterman took slightly different routes to success; though Letterman did standup, his role on television through his early career was primarily as a host or announcer. He did become a supporting player on Mary Tyler Moore's ill-advised variety show for CBS during the late 1970s.
NBC gave Letterman his own talk show in 1980 - at 10 in the morning. Letterman began to develop the comedy routines, such as "Small Town News," that are still part of his "Late Show" on CBS.
Letterman's daytime show was cancelled three months after its debut. Fortunately, Brandon Tartikoff, who soon came in as NBC's programming chief, figured out that late nighttime was the right time for Dave.
Meanwhile, Leno was becoming prominent in comedy clubs and for his standup routines on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. After Joan Rivers, the original permanent guest host for Carson, went to host her own talk show on the then-new Fox network, Leno was named the permanent guest host.
The rest, for both comedians, is history - not always pleasant, but definitely successful.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
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