Don't Miss Letterman Tonight!

Darlene Love

She had a mild heart attack this past summer, but Darlene Love is back and ready to sing for Letterman tonight.  So, set your DVR or VCR or BetaMax, or just stay up late tonight and watch The Late Show with David Letterman, tonight at 11:35 after your local news concludes with a fake "lighter side" story about a child being abducted by an eagle.

Spector in his heyday

Lana Clarkson (far left)

Letterman does this show every year.  Darlene recorded "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" for the amazing Phil Spector Christmas album in 1963.  Spector was a genius record producer and is, well, a pretty lousy human being who currently resides at  the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison (SATF) in Corcoran, California.  He was convicted in 2009 of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.  Ms Clarkson, best remembered as Mr Vargas's wife in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, was shot at Spector's mansion in Los Angeles.

But the records he made are still among the best parts of any radio playlist in December, and Letterman's favorite Christmas song is the one we'll see Darlene sing tonight.  It's always a huge production with Paul Shaffer leading a big band.  We call this the Big Band Theory.

Ahem.

Jay Thomas will make you laugh!

Also, Jay Thomas will make his annual visit to the Late Show, throwing a football at a meatball atop a Christmas tree and telling his Lone Ranger story.  I guess the true test of a great story is whether you can listen to it over and over.  You can, when it's a) funny to begin with and b) told by a master storyteller, which Jay is, as you'll see tonight.

I can't wait!