Over the years, David Letterman has featured dozens of Minnesotans as special guests, including Louie Anderson, Lea Thompson, Josh Hartnett, Larry Graham, Mitch Hedberg, Eleanor Mondale, Paul Molitor, Tom Arnold, Craig Kilborn, Thomas Friedman, Kevin Garnett, Jonny Lang, Diablo Cody, Al Franken, Jesse Ventura, Kirby Puckett, Lindsey Vonn, and, infamously, WCCO-TV’s Don Shelby and Amelia Santaniello, as part of a Minnesota-themed special in 1997.
Most important to Minnesota musicheads, the retiring “Late Night” host, whose 32–year run concludes Friday, has been a great friend to Minnesota musicians, bands and songwriters, several of whom made their way to Rockefeller Center and the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York to perform for Letterman’s estimated 4 million nightly viewers. With his trademark, “Kids …,” Letterman introduced national television audiences to local heroes like Paul Westerberg, Soul Asylum, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Atmosphere, Semisonic, Lizzo, Trampled By Turtles, Jeremy Messersmith, and more. In honor of Letterman’s swan song, MinnPost presents a mixtape of Dave’s Greatest Minnesota Hits:
