Video: ‘Late Night with David Letterman FIRST FULL EPISODE (2/1/82)’

(Tuesday, February 2, 1982, 12:30 a.m. EST) — Late Night with David Letterman premiered on NBC-TV early this morning from NBC Studio 6A at the RCA (later GE) Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.

Late Night premiered with a cold opening featuring Larry “Bud” Melman delivering lines as an homage to the prologue of Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein, followed by comedian David Letterman coming out on stage to Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1” behind a group of female dancers — the peacock girls who had also opened the finale of The David Letterman Show.

After a brief monologue, the very first comedy segment was a sarcastic tour of the studio.

The first guest, 31-year-old comedian and actor Bill Murray, came out in confrontational fashion, throwing jibes and accusations at the host as part of a knowing put-on. He remained for two more similarly sardonic segments in which he first presented footage of a Chinese zoo baby panda as a supposed home video of his recently adopted pet, before expressing newfound love for aerobics and pulling a crew member onstage, making her do jumping jacks along with him to Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical.”

The second comedy piece was a remote titled “The Shame of the City”; taking a general format of a local news action segment, it featured Letterman touring several New York locations pointing out various civic problems with righteous indignation.

The second guest was Don Herbert, TV’s “Mr. Wizard”, and the show ended with a young comic named Steve Fessler reciting aloud the script of the obscure Bela Lugosi film Bowery at Midnight.