Paul Shaffer

Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM (/ˈʃeɪfər/; born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian-American singer, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader and sidekick on the entire run of both Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1993) and Late Show with David Letterman (1993–2015).

Early years

Shaffer was born and raised in Fort William (now part of Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley and Bernard Shaffer, a lawyer; Shaffer was raised in a Jewish family. As a child, Shaffer took piano lessons, and in his teenage years played the organ in a band called Fabulous Fugitives with his schoolmates in Thunder Bay. Later he performed with the "Flash Landing Band" at different venues around Edmonton and the Interior of B.C. Educated at the University of Toronto, he began playing with jazz guitarist Tisziji Muñoz, performing in bands around the bars there, where he found an interest in musicals, and completed his studies, with a B.A. degree in Sociology in 1971.

Late Night with David Letterman

Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and ran until 1993, when Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. The series was then reformatted as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with Jimmy Fallon later taking over from O'Brien as host. Late Night continues to air as of 2015 with Seth Meyers as host.

In 2013, this series and Late Show with David Letterman were ranked #41 on TV Guide's 60 Best Series of All Time.

History

After his morning show on NBC was canceled in October 1980 after only 18 weeks on the air, David Letterman was still held in sufficient regard by the network brass (especially NBC president Fred Silverman) that upon hearing the 33-year-old comedian was being courted by a syndication company, NBC gave him a $20,000 per week deal to sit out a year and guest-host a few times on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.

David Letterman

David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American former television and radio host, comedian, writer, producer, and actor.

He hosted a late night television talk show for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC, and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,028 episodes of Late Night and Late Show, surpassing friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late night talk show host in American television history. In 1996, David Letterman was ranked No. 45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company, Worldwide Pants, produced his show and formerly produced The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication.

Late-night hosts Conan O'Brien (Letterman's successor on Late Night), and Jimmy Kimmel, cite Letterman's influence.