In the original script, the talk show host was David Letterman as himself. Chris Elliott was a frequent performer on Late Night with David Letterman. Letterman was a fan of this series and was interested in appearing. But shortly before filming was to start, he turned it down because he could not spare the time needed to film the episode. The script had to be quickly rewritten and Martin Mull was cast due to him playing a similar role on Fernwood Tonight (1977). Mull only had two days to rehearse and film the episode.