A once in a lifetime show for both us and this nice lady. Wow.

I just love popping a random episode of Dave, not knowing what to expect.
Thank you for these.

Awesome!  Cavett's reaction is awesome.Rosemary for the win.

I'm gonna be so spoiled by the time the writer's strike is over! Now that I've found these, they can hold out for years as far as I'm concerned!

Wish that all ---or at least a lot more---of the tapes of the old nighttime Steve Allen show from the early 60's had survived as they created the wild no-hold-barred craziness mold that David Letterman followed in his night time show. Steve Allen did things like becoming a "human tea bag", driving through a huge block of ice in the street, leading the entire audience out the stage door to walk through the Hollywood Ranch Market next door, walking down the street during the show to interview people in the neighborhood, staging a giant audience pie-fight, crossing an alligator pit on his stage on a thin board etc etc to say nothing of the on-going nonsense with "Allen's gang" that consisted of Don Knotts, Gabe Dell, Dayton Allen, Louis Nye, Pat Harrington Jr., Bil Dana and Tom Poston. Plus including his stage crew as part of the shenanigans, guys like Johnny Jacobs, the technical crew, stage director and announcer. It was THE greatest night show ever, but, unfortunately, someone chose to erase the shows and record new shows over them, video tape being very expensive at the time (or at least that is what I heard, and was also told by Steve's widow, Jane Meadows.)

If only Antenna TV could broadcast these NBC shows each night after Johnny Carson.

Thank you I watched this back 1982.

That kind of daring stuff by then you wouldn't see now.

Most famously, Howard Smith also produced Marjoe(1972) about a child Pentecostal preacher. It's a revealing look at evangelicals, revival meetings etc.

Two of my favorite TV hosts. Thanks for posting, Don.

Based on the "Thanks Dave" graphic- I assume this was the final NBC airing of a Letterman show- as they ran the earliest "Late Night" episodes the last 2 weeks between the CBS debut and Conan O'Brien (August 30-September 10, 1993)

These old shows give so much insight into inner workings of "Late Night". @5:59 (watch in 0.25 slo-mo for best viewing), when they pan around the band's side of the set, you can see how Dave's desk was angled towards all the set equipment, stage personnel and Paul, and not really facing the audience as you probably imagined from watching the show all those years. In my ignorance of how TV stagecraft works, I always thought Dave was facing directly towards the audience during taping.

How cool that you posted this.  Not only was at at this taping but that is me sitting right next to Rosemary as they pluck her from the audience at 2:55!

Don, ..don[t stop. Thanks.

A couple of years ago on the Decades channel, I caught the last part of a Dick Cavett show where he too interviewed Howard Smith about "Gizmo!"  I think it originally aired in April of 1980.  Been trying to watch for it to come up again in the rotation but so far no joy.  (Cavett may have met Smith years earlier on his ABC show when he was shopping "Marjoe!" around.)

My first time, watching the first show, with the NBC peacock logo bug, at the beginning. Most of the time, in the beginning, u would see the NBC In Stereo trademark. So fantastic!

Late Night on NBC was so cutting edge I used to tape these and watch the next day since I was still a teenager going to school. If you only knew Dave from the CBS show you really should go back and watch these shows especially from is first 5 seasons. I didn't care for the CBS show at all but these old NBC shows in the old time slot I'll always revere.

24 yrs old at the time living in Orlando. 😅 I too can name all three of the Hudson brothers.  Sooo funny Dave was. 😁

My childhood 😄

Don, I’ve been searching many years for an episode in which Dave read my letter.  Sometime between 1982 and 1984.  It was on yellow stationary, signed mike comer Ravenswood WV.   I asked Dave why he never mentioned WV  on his show.   Paul pulls out a map and WV was not on the map.    I’ve told the story, no one believes me.  Lol.  Can I find all episodes somewhere and continue my search?