Bill Murray remembers being David Letterman's first Late Night guest 40 years ago today

Yahoo!

Murray recently said when he was the guest on the Feb. 1 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman, he expected it to be a one-night affair. "If the show was gonna get canceled right away, I thought, 'That may be the one I would like to go out on, if it was going to be canceled after one night," Murray told Yahoo Entertainment. Letterman's interview with Murray set the tone for Late Night. "It was really fun," said Murray. "I remember a lot about that night, although I don't remember thinking that 'Physical' was gonna be my statement piece that I'd be remembered for. If I were taken by God tonight, probably the first thing that would come up on Yahoo tomorrow would be: 'Tragedy today as entertainer William Murray dies.' And then 'Physical' would come up and there'd be a photograph of me at the bottom of a fire escape having fallen the last three stories to the street." 

ALSO: 

• David Letterman launches a YouTube channel. The Letterman channel, which Letterman tweeted out this morning, features random clips and promises "conversations with the writers, producers and performers who helped make it all happen.”