Dave Letterman's own page has loaded up a better quality video of all this that includes the clip of THE THING that was cut out of the version I found and posted here. You can find Letterman's video at: https://youtu.be/ZJRksSu_y_4
The only cool thing about mine now is that I edited it to hold a second longer on the theater marquee featuring John Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 at the start of the show.
I picked up Scream Factory's 2-Disc BluRay set of John Carpenter's THE THING and it is excellent - the new 2k transfer provides amazing new detail and the movie is easily the best it's ever appeared on video. The new commentary tracks and short interview docs Michael Felsher produced are all genuinely superb. I honestly didn't think a whole lot more could be done supplemental wise after the original TERROR TAKES SHAPE doc from the laserdisc release, but the interviews with the various actors are great and the Carpenter interview is fun, if not particularly revealing. Felsher's interview with producer Stuart Cohen for the new commentary track is truly fantastic though as Cohen's memory is miraculous and he provides many new revelations about the production. Frankly, this track alone was so great it made the triple-dip purchase more than worthwhile. (Though I was very happy to also finally get a complete, good copy of the vintage MAKING OF THE THING video from the original EPK.) I don't want to spoil any of Cohen's tracks so just trust me and give it a listen. One thing he discusses is how badly Universal dumped the promotion of the film mentioning how one of the very few television interviews they set up for Carpenter was on Letterman and that it didn't seem to go that well as Dave, Paul Schaeffer and the audience reacted poorly to the clip from the film. John does seem to be nervous and defensive for much of the interview which is unusual for him. I think the poor test audience screenings and the strain with the execs at the studio had to be weighing on him. This interview is not included on the disc so for those who want to see it I've cut it down to just the opening, any mentions of Carpenter and the actual interview then uploaded it here: https://youtu.be/xCduoZrNnlQ