To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Late Night with David Letterman's debut on February 1, 1982, I'm launching a compilation series of all of the Viewer Mails that aired on the show.

First up is 1982, which is in two parts. The first covers the first half of the year; the second covers the second. 1983 and on will follow in due time.

(Note: The April 1, 1982, video clip that Andy Kaufman airs has been deleted here due to copyright caution; it had been blocked in my Kaufman compilation.)

This is a video companion to my new blog post that offers a brief history of Viewer Mail. It also catalogues every letter writer and location on both Dave's morning show (1980) and Late Night (198293). It's a definitive reference for locating the name of any writer and matching it with the specific show that that person's letter was selected for air. Also included are some trivia details scattered within the data.

The blog post can be found here: https://donzblog.home.blog/2022/01/12...

My nowobligatory ask: I have a Patreon account that helps me pay the bills. It'd be wonderful if anyone is so inclined to donate.

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26278592