David Letterman is certainly the talk of the town, with only hours to go before the 68-year-old hosts his final episode of the Late Show on CBS. Early last year, Letterman announced that he would be retiring from the Late Show in 2015 and in December, it was announced that his final show would be on May 20. In a Rolling Stone interview, Letterman mentioned his inability to compete with the viral content of his younger competitors as a reason for leaving the job which he says he still enjoys.
In the weeks leading up to Letterman’s final show, there have been many heartfelt tributes and goodbyes. Last week, comedian Norm Macdonald performed his final stand-up set on the Late Show, which was followed by a teary and emotional goodbye. Bill Murray, who was the first guest on Letterman’s first program, Late Night, made also made appearance to show his respect last night. But now, even Letterman’s competition is coming out to bid farewell.
Last night, both Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, who host rival shows in the same time slot as the Late Show, took time out of their programs to express their admiration and respect for Letterman. On the Tonight Show, Fallon talked for several minutes about growing up watching Letterman and how he had changed the late night talk show genre with his unique style. He also held up a page from one of his old yearbooks, in which one of his teachers had predicted that he would go on to replace David Letterman on the Late Night show.
Perhaps one of the most emotional tributes so far, however, came from Jimmy Kimmel, who hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC. It was announced earlier this month that Jimmy Kimmel was refusing to compete with Letterman’s final show, deciding to run a repeat of his show on May 20. Last night, Kimmel took it even further during a monologue on his show. Fighting back tears, Kimmel told the story of how he grew up watching Letterman. He even showed photos of his Late Night birthday cake and license plate. He even went so far as to tell his audience to not watch his show the following night and to watch Letterman’s instead.
“Tomorrow night is Letterman’s farewell show and I would like it if you make sure to watch that instead of our show,” he said. “We will have a show tomorrow night but it’s going to be a rerun. Please do not watch it; especially if you’re a young person who doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. Dave is the best and you should see him.”
Until today, not many details had been released about Letterman’s final show tonight, other than it would be jam packed with surprises. It was reported earlier today, however, that several major stars were spotted going into the Ed Sullivan Theater for the final taping. Steve Martin, Jim Carrrey, Peyton Manning and Barbara Walters are all on the list and apparently, Dave’s favorite band the Foo Fighters are set to play a song.
