Paul Shaffer

Paul Shaffer is the band leader on Late Night with David Letterman, foil and downbeat in the 12:30 laboratory. Stupid Pet Tricks, Viewer Mail, Top Ten lists: NBC inventing post-Carson cool. Shaffer sells the house band as a character — a sequin shrug, a sting, the reason the irony has a key signature. Essential if you care how talk shows learned to mock themselves.

On TV Flash he is 1980s catalog infrastructure. We file the bandleader with the hours that became a template. Watch the look to the drummer. Shaffer is why the desk still photographs as a duet. The birth certificate of ironic late night needed a musician who could wink in 4/4.

Shaffer’s handshake as Band leader on Late Night with David Letterman is s01e01. Bill Murray and Don Herbert on night one: the birth certificate of ironic late night, already teaching talk how to mock itself. If you only have one more hour, take s07e02. Show #0976 is a 1988 landmark in the cult scripture: 12:30 still a lab, years before everyone copied the irony. 1982–1993 on NBC is the span; the codes keep a long run from turning into a vibe.

Whatever Late Night with David Letterman became in the rerun — comfort, camp, appointment heat — Shaffer is still on the clock as Band leader. Paul is ensemble steel — Band leader is why Late Night with David Letterman photographs as a staffed room instead of a one-face hour. s01e01 and s07e02 are enough of a tour.

The NBC hour remains pressable. s07e02 for Shaffer: Show #0976 is a 1988 landmark in the cult scripture: 12:30 still a lab, years before everyone copied the irony. Band leader is still the credit.