David Letterman saluted by stars on final Late Show

David Letterman

Letterman took over The Late Show on CBS in 1993

Four US presidents have joined stars including Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Jerry Seinfeld and Foo Fighters to pay tribute to TV host David Letterman on his final late night talk show.

Letterman has bowed out after 33 years and 6,028 late-night broadcasts.

He joked that physicist Stephen Hawking had calculated it “works out to about eight minutes of laughter”.

He gave emotional thanks to his family, crew and viewers, saying: “There’s nothing I can ever do to repay you.”

The 68-year-old began his late-night career on NBC in 1982, before moving to CBS’s Late Show in 1993.

His final broadcast began with pre-recorded clips of former US presidents George H and George W Bush and Bill Clinton echoing fellow ex-president Gerald Ford’s post-Watergate remark that “our long national nightmare is over”.

Barack Obama then appeared to repeat that statement before adding: “Letterman is retiring.” The host then joined him to ask: “You’re just kidding, right?”

Letterman

Letterman got a standing ovation from the studio audience

Later in the show, Martin, Fey and Seinfeld were among the stars delivering the final, traditional ‘Top 10 list’, on the subject of “Top 10 things I’ve always wanted to say to Dave”.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, with Seinfeld standing nearby, said: “Thanks for letting me take part in another hugely disappointing series finale.”

Fey chipped in with: “Thanks for finally proving men can be funny.”

And Chris Rock contributed: “I’m just glad your show is being given to another white guy.”

Letterman’s successor, Stephen Colbert, will take over his slot in September.

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey took part in the final Top 10 list

During his monologue, the outgoing host joked he had been on the air for so long that the hot show when he started was Keeping Up with the Gabors.

“You want to know what I’m going to do now that I’m retired?” he said. “By God, I hope to become the new face of Scientology.”

Letterman became known for his mixture of big-name interviews and comedy features.

They included his irreverent Top 10 lists and segments like Monkey Cam, in which a TV camera was strapped to a monkey while it roamed the studio.

Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters closed the show with their song Everlong

His career has had ups and downs. Testing times included a heart bypass and a sex scandal in which he admitted having affairs with women who had worked on the show.

“When I screw up now, and Lord knows I’ll be screwing up, I’ll have to go on somebody else’s show to apologise,” he said on Wednesday.

He ended the show by saying: “The only thing I have left to do for the last time on a television programme: Thank you and goodnight.”

Foo Fighters then played their song Everlong over a montage of clips from Letterman’s TV career.

BBC

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