Video: David Letterman’s GE Headquarters Remote Collection Is a Masterclass in Fearless Corporate Satire

When General Electric acquired RCA and with it NBC in 1985, David Letterman did what no late night host before or since has done quite so effectively: he spent years making his new corporate overlords the butt of the joke, on their own network, to their faces. This compilation from Don Giller collects the full arc of Letterman’s GE remote segments from 1985 through his final Late Night broadcast in 1993, from his first furious reaction to the merger announcement through the legendary GE headquarters visit and the unforgettable corporate handshake sequence that remains one of the most perfectly observed comedy bits in late night history.