David Letterman Makes SNL Debut at 50th Anniversary Special

David Letterman was back at 30 Rock for the third time in week Sunday, making his first-ever appearance on Saturday Night Live, albeit simply as an audience member.

The surprise collision of late-night institutions came during Steve Martin‘s opening monologue. “David Letterman is here,” Martin announced as a beared Letterman was shown in the audience. “Dave, thanks for leaving the sheep at home.”

Letterman was sitting next to his former musical director Paul Shaffer, a row behind current Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon. Sitting a few seats down in the same row as Letterman was another late-night legend: Conan O’Brien. Shaffer, Fallon, and O’Brien all got their start working on SNL.

Speaking with Vulture‘s Josef Adalian in 2020, Letterman revealed that Lorne Michaels had asked him to host SNL a couple of times and he’d declined, saying “I was scared silly.”

“I was so certain, absolutely positive, that I would screw up his show and have to continue working with him in the same building,” he explained. “It’s a small regret that that was not part of my life, because you see other people who have long, long relationships with Lorne and that show, and I think that’s a mark of a great career. I don’t have that, but it was my own foolishness.”

The former late-night host has been impersonated on the show multiple times, with four different cast members portraying him over the years: Joe Piscopo, Norm Macdonald, Jeff Richards, and Jason Sudeikis.

Letterman, who created and hosted NBC’s Late Night franchise from 1982-1993 from 30 Rockefeller Plaza, has been back in the building three times this week.

On Monday he made a surprise appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, marking his first appearance on the NBC late-night franchise since Johnny Carson‘s retirement in 1992.

And on Tuesday, he was photographed backstage at Late Night with Seth Meyers with his old friend (and his very first guest on both Late Night and Late Show) Bill Murray, who guested with Seth Meyers that night.

Watch a clip of Letterman’s appearance on tonight’s special below: