Yes, late-night American talk back master David Letterman has finally made it onto Australian screens and has shown how much the Australian TV host shamelessly cloned.

To be fair, Vizard did admit on the first night of his show that he had lifted three ideas from Letterman, including the coffee cup. The other two were Letterman's Top 10 list and his jokes with musos on the show.

Comparisons aside, how will the very American Letterman translate to Australian screens?

On the one night this previewer watched last week, his guests were a footballer we had never heard of, a singer we had never listened to and a TV talk-back host we had never seen.

Otherwise, it was very watchable. Letterman, a former comedian, is older than might be imagined, a good interviewer who listens, waits for the right lines, is quick to jump in with his quips and is just as quick to laugh at his own jokes.

Letterman is so successful at home that a new variety show up against him hosted by film actor Chevy Chase only lasted a few weeks before falling foul of TV's grim reaper.

Over here, Nine is saying that Letterman pulls the "big names" but actor Richard Harris was the only one coming soon.

With Vizard off Channel Seven and rumours rife that Vizard's company, Artists' Services, will still dish up some sort of late-night variety show, Nine is clever to jump on the Letterman bandwagon now.

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on January 17, 1994