He was one of the reasons that Late Night With David Letterman was such a popular and well-loved show in the 1980's, and now he's gone. Larry 'Bud' Melman, whose real name was Calvert DeForest, died after a long illness in Long Island. Melman began working for the Letterman show in 1982, after being discovered in a student film at New York University.
He continued to play Melman for Letterman until 2002, and was the first image that people saw in the first show after Letterman made the move to CBS in 1994. Watch one of his funniest appearances here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ7PMG8c2gI