The Early David Letterman 1967-1980 – WFMU

NBC President Fred Silverman was so impressed with David’s performance that an exclusivity contract was penned soon after. Silverman started brainstorming immediately. An afternoon show was conceived called Leave it to Dave. “The whole project was just a disaster,” says Letterman, “I was supposed to sit on a throne and the set was all pyramids. The walls were all covered in shag carpet … At one point I was in New York and I got a phone call from the West Coast. They said, ‘We’ve come up with a great idea. Your guests will all sit around on pillows.’ And I hung up the phone and I turned to my manager, Jack Rollins, and I said, ‘This moron wants us to sit on pillows. What’s the matter with chairs?’ You could just see the elements kind of – I hate to say it was like dominoes toppling, but it was like dominoes toppling.”