TFTP On This Day: "Password Plus" with David Letterman from NBC (May 31, 1979)

Posted to YouTube by user 'The Fun & Games Channel'
Length - 24:05

It Was 39 Years Ago Today: "Password Plus" was the second revival of the game show "Password"; the original had run on CBS from 1961-1967 and another run of the original game had appeared on ABC from 1971-1975. In this new revival, which aired on NBC from 1979-1982 and like all versions up to this point was hosted by Allen Ludden, the "plus" took the form of an extra element in which the individual passwords accumulated to become clues to an overall word or phrase that had to be guessed.

The episode above, which aired 39 years ago today on May 31, 1979, features David Letterman and Marion Ross of "Happy Days" as the celebrity contestants. (This copy of the episode is from a much later rerun on Game Show Network, and thus has packaging and interstitial elements from that broadcast.) Letterman, a few years prior to the launch of his "Late Night" program--and thus at a point in his career where he was having to do game-show guest appearances--is his regular grumpy and irascible self, but still engaging in the game at hand. Contestant Sally cruises through two "Alphabetics" bonus games (one with Letterman and one with Ross) to become the winningest "Password Plus" contestant ever to that point (five months into the show's run).

Christmas at TFTP: "Christmas with the Lettermans" from NBC (Dec. 19, 1984)

Posted to YouTube by user 'Nezar Berryhill'
Length - 41:52

"Late Night with David Letterman" was at its peak in late-1984, in part because of the willingness to do episodes like "Christmas with the Lettermans". With no overt hint that the whole thing was a put-on (were there viewers who thought that this was really Letterman's family?), but with the sly subversive attitude that infused almost everything Letterman did (and with special title slides and a redecorated set made to resemble a ski lodge to complete the effect), "Christmas with the Lettermans" is a masterpiece of absurdist comedy.

There is very little "gag" comedy per se in this episode--just a great many ridiculous or off-kilter elements presented in a straight-faced fashion. A cast of faux family members joins Letterman--including four children (the youngest of whom is sent off for the whole episode to fetch a Christmas tree), an older brother ("Daryll Letterman"), and no less than two different wives (one of which is promised a chance to sing a Christmas song that, of course, never materializes). A song and dance troupe called the Doodletown Pipers (apparently, against all expectation, a real troupe) participates in the opening musical number.

Despite the Christmas special conceit, Letterman still manages to interview two guests, singer Pat Boone and early-period "Late Night" regular Brother Theodore. Boone gamely participates in the Christmas theme, asking Dave about his family Christmas traditions in a set-up to a comedy bit where these are explored with the faux-family. Brother Theodore (a character of humorist Theodore Gottleib) does what he always did in his Letterman guest spots: rants and raves to Letterman's evident delight.