Tony Randall vs. Marv Albert
Original Analysis,
Compiled July 8, 2000
Two of Dave's most frequent guests over the years have been Marv Albert and Tony Randall. A question recently came up on AFL regarding which of the two had appeared more often. The numbers from Donz5 were intriguing, so I decided that further analysis was warranted. I used the computer algebra system (this is a Class IV language, folks) Mathematica to construct the graphs. I'm sure this is not what Stephen Wolfram had in mind for the software :-).
Donz kindly provided the raw data for this project, a list of dates of appearances (including cameos) by Marv and Tony on Late Night with David Letterman (1982 - June 1993) and Late Show with David Letterman (August 1993 - present). One odd coincidence that I discovered in the raw data is that Marv's most recent appearance was on the very same night as Tony's most recent appearance (Late Show #1420, June 13, 2000).
From Donz's list I tabulated the following chart, which gives the number of appearances by Marv and Tony for each calendar year.
| Year | Marv | Tony |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 4 | 0 |
| 1983 | 7 | 0 |
| 1984 | 8 | 1 |
| 1985 | 12 | 1 |
| 1986 | 7 | 3 |
| 1987 | 6 | 4 |
| 1988 | 3 | 2 |
| 1989 | 4 | 4 |
| 1990 | 6 | 8 |
| 1991 | 9 | 3 |
| 1992 | 6 | 5 |
| 1993 LN | 8 | 1 |
| 1993 LS | 1 | 7 |
| 1994 | 4 | 15 |
| 1995 | 7 | 8 |
| 1996 | 6 | 4 |
| 1997 | 5 | 16 |
| 1998 | 1 | 11 |
| 1999 | 3 | 2 |
| 2000* | 2** | 10*** |
*Data available through June, 2000.
**This is a projection, based on 1 appearance through June.
***Projection based on 5 appearances through June.
As of June 30, 2000, Marv has a slight lead of 108 appearances to Tony's 100, or a projected 109 for Marv and 105 for Tony by the end of the year 2000.
Here we present bar graphs that show the number of appearances by each guest during each calendar year.
Marv got off to a strong start during the Late Night years, but his appearances have declined in recent years. Tony, on the other hand, had a slow start, but has come into his own on Late Show.
It is worth noting the turning point at the transition from Late Night to Late Show in 1993. Marv and Tony had nearly identical totals for 1993 (9 for Marv and 8 for Tony). However, all but one of Marv's appearances in 1993 took place during the first half of the year, i.e., on Late Night. For Tony the situation is reversed, with all but one appearance for 1993 occurring in the second half of the year, i.e. on Late Show.
For comparison, we superimpose the two graphs.
Here we clearly see Marv's utter dominance of the Late Night years, and Tony's near total control during the Late Show years. Marv made an average of 6.96 appearances per year on Late Night, and only 4 per year on Late Show (through June 2000) . By contrast, Tony averaged only 2.78 appearances per year on Late Night, and a stunning 9.71 per year on Late Show (through June 2000).
Here's another view.
Again we see the reversal of fortunes at the onset of Late Show in 1993. We also note an overall increase in combined Tony/Marv appearances since 1993. Only two years prior to 1993 saw more than 12 total Tony/Marv appearances, whereas only two years from 1993 forward had fewer than 12. Indeed, Late Night saw an average of 9.74 combined Tony/Marv appearances per year , while Late Show has been graced with an average of 13.71 combined Tony/Marv appearances per year (through June 2000).
We also find that the ratio of Marv appearances to Tony appearances on Late Show is exactly the reverse of the proportion for Late Night (refer to the following pie charts).
| Year | Marv | Tony |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 4 | 0 |
| 1983 | 11 | 0 |
| 1984 | 19 | 1 |
| 1985 | 31 | 2 |
| 1986 | 38 | 5 |
| 1987 | 44 | 9 |
| 1988 | 47 | 11 |
| 1989 | 51 | 15 |
| 1990 | 57 | 23 |
| 1991 | 66 | 26 |
| 1992 | 72 | 31 |
| 1993 LN | 80 | 32 |
| 1993 LS | 81 | 39 |
| 1994 | 85 | 54 |
| 1995 | 92 | 62 |
| 1996 | 98 | 66 |
| 1997 | 103 | 82 |
| 1998 | 104 | 93 |
| 1999 | 107 | 95 |
| 2000 | 109* | 105* |
*Projection, based on appearances through June 2000.
Again we see Marv's strong start, and Tony's sudden upswing beginning in 1993. Tony's slope becomes abruptly steeper just as Marv's begins to flatten out.
Tony, we predict, will overtake Marv by late 2001 or early 2002.
Check the Tony-Marv-o-Meter for the latest on the Tony-Marv race.
Helen Read