It was announced last week that legendary late night television host David Letterman will be retiring by 2015.
Letterman has been on late night for 31 years and has been known to be one of the best hosts in history. When Letterman announced his retirement during a taping of his show last week, his bandleader, Paul Shaffer jokingly said, “Do I have a minute to call my accountant?” The two have been together since the beginning of Letterman’s career.
“I just want to reiterate my thanks for the support from the network, all of the people who have worked here, all of the people in the theater, all the people on the staff, everybody at home, thank you very much,” Letterman said.
Letterman was supposed to host “The Tonight Show” on NBC after Johnny Carson retired, but the network decided to go with Jay Leno. Letterman was given the opportunity to have his own late night show on CBS and has been in competition with Leno up until Leno retired this year. Letterman brought a new light to late night hosting and revamped the way it works. His questions and his segments, like “Top Ten,” will always be remembered.
The news that Letterman is retiring is heartbreaking to his audience because so many have grown up watching him. They have watched him grow and become one of the most beloved late night hosts.
[su_quote]Even though there have been some negative rumors about him in the past, he will be remembered as one of the greatest talk show hosts all time.[/su_quote]
Even though there have been some negative rumors about him in the past, he will be remembered as one of the greatest talk show hosts of all time.
On “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” last week, Fallon paid homage to Letterman by performing a “Top Ten” of his own. He did the top ten reasons why Letterman was retiring. Even though it poked fun at him, it was a great tribute to Letterman.
It is the end of an era. Letterman and Leno have passed down the torch to the younger generation. It was announced on Thursday that Stephen Colbert, current host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, will be the new host of the late night show. But the “Late Show with David Letterman” will always be just that – no one will ever be able to truly replace Letterman and all that he has accomplished in his career.
