Peter Lassally

Peter Lassally (October 14, 1932 – July 19, 2026) was a German-born American executive who served as the executive producer of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Night with David Letterman, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Early life Lassally was born into a Jewish family in Hamburg, Germany, on October 14, 1932. They fled to the Netherlands in 1938 before the outbreak of World War II, where he went to grade-school with Anne Frank, who was in his sister's class. In 1943, Lassally and his mother and sister were interned at the Westerbork Nazi concentration camp and then Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. In 1947, the family immigrated to New York City. Lassally graduated from Newtown High School. In 1951, he became a page at the NBC network studio.

Career in television Lassally worked on radio shows including Monitor, Nightline, and The Nation's Future. In the 1950s, he became producer for Arthur Godfrey's television show. Around 1970, Lassally took over as an executive producer of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. After Carson retired in 1992, Lassally became the executive producer of Late Night with David Letterman and then The Late Show with David Letterman. He was also executive producer of The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder from 1995 to 1999 and mentored Jon Stewart when he was a guest presenter filling in for Snyder.