This may be of interest to perhaps seven people on the planet, but it's something I wanted to share regardless. Most LNs from the first five years or so would enter the last act with a plug for The Omni Hotel, a still image with Bill Wendell's voiceover. "Most guests stay at the Omni…"
After which Dave would thank his guests and then billboard who'd be on the following show.
When a show was repeated, the Omni Hotel plug would always be replaced by the "Relay Box" bumper over one of two versions of the band playing the last measures of Barrett Strong's "Money," as arranged by The Beatles. One version would have guitarist Hiram Bullock end the song on a low note, the other on a high.
What made it odd was that these music clips would be included in shows long after Hiram had left the band.
Then, during the last act, if Dave were billboarding the next night's guests, that would have been edited out and replaced with a shot of the studio stage from the far end of the audience seats, as Wendell would announce the actual next night's guests (or just "a brand new Late Night"). That clip would always be the same video, varying in length, based on how long it had taken Dave to announce the guests in the original broadcast. And that clip showed the original Late Night band, with Hiram Bullock and drummer Steve Jordan, a clip long before Sid McGinnis and, then later, Anton Fig, had succeeded them.
The first four videos here illustrate the patterns:
1. August 11, 1988
A. End of original broadcast with Super Dave Osborne.
B. End of rebroadcast on May 8, 1989. Here, Hiram ends "Money" by descending to the low tonic. Then Dave's billboard is replaced by a short clip of the studio stage from far back in the audience, with Wendell cutting in with "tomorrow with a brand new Late Night."
2. February 6, 1986.
A. End of original broadcast with Tom Waits.
B. End of rebroadcast on September 29, 1989. Here, Hiram ends "Money" by ascending to a high dominant. And Wendell's interrupt with the studio stage clip is longer, reflecting Dave's longer billboard from the original air.
I always wanted to find the sources for both the clip and the music, and recently I finally did. They all come from a commercial break in the May 18, 1982, show. It was the break between Acts 2 and 3, when, instead of the Relay Box bumper staying in place throughout, the camera went live back to the studio and recorded that particular video clip in full. The band plays "Money," and then ends it with Hiram on the low tonic. Then Paul picks it up again, and Hiram ends it on the high dominant. Then back to Dave.
I can only guess that the video and music was deliberately planned precisely for future rebroadcasts, but I don't know for sure.
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