The David Letterman Show is an American morning talk show that was hosted by David Letterman on NBC. It originally aired from June 23 to October 24, 1980. Originally, the series lasted 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward.

David Letterman's relationship with NBC began in January 1976, initially via an appearance at a TV run-through in Burbank's NBC Studios for a Ron Greenberg-produced, Jim Lange-hosted game show called Word Grabbers whose eventual pilot would not be picked up. A struggling young nightclub comic based in Los Angeles and performing mostly in The Comedy Store, Letterman was rounded up for the run-through as part of a group of Comedy Store comics that also included George Miller, Tom Dreesen, Johnny Dark, Roberta Ferrill, Heather Harwood, and Alliene Flanery.

Among his numerous 1977-1978 game and variety show spots, Letterman appeared, alongside Arte Johnson and Jaye P. Morgan, as a celebrity judge panelist in an episode of NBC's daytime amateur talent program The Gong Show in July 1977.

Then came the lead role as a mock newscaster on the Peeping Times sketch comedy program, a spoof of the U.S. national television news magazines like 60 Minutes and Weekend. NBC broadcast the comedy show at 8:00 p.m. on a Wednesday night in late January 1978 as an hour-long primetime special/pilot potentially to be turned into a regular series, however, due to tepid viewership, it never went beyond the initial airing.

Letterman debuted on the highly-rated The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson later that year in November, performing a 7-minute stand-up comedy set at the end of which the powerful host Carson waved the young performer over for a follow-up interview, an indication he was pleased with a comic's material. Over the next two years Letterman returned to the show several times, and occasionally served as guest host in Carson's absence. During early 1980, Letterman took a job emceeing an Anti-Defamation League event presenting the advocacy organization's award to NBC's president Fred Silverman who was so impressed by Letterman's performance at the said event that he decided to offer the 33-year-old comedy performer and writer a morning talk show on the network. Silverman envisioned the new show to be framed along the lines of the 1950s CBS show Arthur Godfrey and His Friends.

In early 1980, NBC's daytime morning lineup consisted of six game shows. The David Letterman Show was made possible by the cancellation of three of them: High Rollers, Chain Reaction, and the long-running daytime version of Hollywood Squares.

The series was a critical success (and won several Daytime Emmys including the 1981 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Writing) but the edgy comedy did not capture morning television watchers, who were more accustomed at the time to talk shows, soap operas, game shows, and prime time reruns.

The original producer was Bob Stewart, a veteran quiz-show creator who had enlisted Letterman as a panelist on Pyramid from 1978 onward. However, due to creative differences, Stewart left the show four days before its premiere, and production of the first several shows fell to head writer Merrill Markoe, who acted as the show's de facto producer despite having absolutely no prior experience in the role. Much more comfortable as a writer than as producer, Markoe stayed aboard as the show's head writer for the entire run of the series but was succeeded as producer by Barry Sand. Sand joined the show on July 15 and remained at the helm for the rest of its run; Sand would later return to working with Letterman as producer for the first five years of Late Night. Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers wrote the opening theme of the show.