Following an 11-year run as host of Late Night on NBC and a disappointing turn of events when Jay Leno was chosen to replace Johnny Carson as host of the Tonight Show, David Letterman packed up and headed over to CBS in 1993 to start a new program opposite Leno, the Late Show. Now, over 20 years later, Letterman is pushing 70 and soon to retire. In fact, in just two short weeks, on May 20, Letterman will sign off of the Late Show for the final time.
The 68-year-old says there are several reasons why he is leaving his show behind and going into retirement. One of those reasons is his inability to compete with the viral content of his late night rivals. In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Letterman said he doesn’t really know how to produce viral content like his rivals Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, who host their own late night programs in the same time slot on NBC and ABC, respectively.
Despite the extremely competitive history of late night television, however, one of Letterman’s rivals says he has too much respect for Letterman to run a competing show on his final night. Jimmy Kimmel recently revealed to the New York Times that, on May 20, he will be running a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
“I have too much respect for Dave to do anything that would distract viewers from watching his final show,” Kimmel told the Times. He also mentioned that he’ll “probably be crying all day,” which he says would make it difficult to host a show.
Kimmel will have new shows every night that week other than the 20th and so far, he’s the only one of Letterman’s late night rivals to do such a thing. Jimmy Fallon, who took over for Jay Leno as host of the Tonight Show in 2014, will apparently be continuing as normal on the night of the final Late Show. According to a statement from Tonight Show representatives, new episodes of Fallon’s show are scheduled for every night that week. The same goes for Conan O’Brien, who hosts a late night show on TBS.
Letterman’s final weeks are set to be jam packed with interesting guests. Howard Stern and Don Rickles are set to appear this coming Monday, while Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey Julia Roberts, Adam Sandler and Norm MacDonald will all appear later in the week. As for the final three episodes, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will appear as the guest list has not yet been released.
Stephen Colbert, who hosted the popular news satire program The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, is set to take over for Letterman as host of the Late Show later this year.
