Well, my favorite part of David Letterman’s first show of the year was the cameo by Hal Gurnee. Longtime fans remember that Gurnee, a veteran TV director who also worked for Jack Paar, was Dave’s director throughout the run of “Late Night with David Letterman” at NBC and for the first few years of “Late Show” at CBS. He retired from the daily grind but still remains on good terms with the show and has even produced some remote segments from time to time.

When Letterman, at NBC, returned to the airwaves without writers during the 1988 writers’ strike, one of the non-written conceptual pieces they used involved Gurnee. There was a sleek, animated graphic intro, with the NBC logo spinning around to reveal the title “Hal Gurnee’s Network Time Killers.” Then Gurnee, from the control room, would introduce some novelty act. Gurnee’s low-key, monotone, almost sleepy introductions were what made the bit funny, given that he was introducing some over-caffeinated juggler or lasso expert or what have you.

Well, even though Letterman has his writers with him, he worked in a couple of bits Wednesday night in a nod to what the show might have been like without writers. One was “Meet Your Staff,” in which Dave interviews one of his staff members. The other was “Hal Gurnee’s Network Time Killers,” complete with the old NBC logo graphics and with Hal sitting in the control room, as if he’d never retired.

“I’m not on tape, Dave,” quipped Gurnee at one point when Letterman stepped on one of his lines.

My second favorite part of the show Wednesday night was when Robin Williams, riffing on Dave’s “strike beard,” compared him to General Robert E. Lee and announced that it was time for Civil War re-enactors to enter and storm the stage.

It’s good to have you back, Mr. Letterman.