After a long run of thirty-three years, David Letterman retires from television with the final episode of Late Show with David Letterman airing on May 21. In the run-up to the finale, tributes poured in from other late night fixtures such as Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon but some of the most poignant remembrances came from Conan O’ Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, with the latter deciding not to air an original episode of the show as a gesture of respect towards his comedic hero.
The late night playing field looks very different today compared to when Letterman debuted on Late Night with David Letterman on NBC in 1982. His first show was unlike anything seen on late night before. The episode opened with Larry “Bud” Melman making a strange and somewhat out-of-place appearance, the kind that would be expected from an episode of The Twilight Zone rather than from a show on late night. Following that, a group of girls wearing peacock costumes perform a small number with Letterman finally walking out on stage and wasting no time delivering an opening pitch filled with his characteristically acerbic wit.
The late night playing field has changed radically since then with the likes of Fallon and Meyers establishing a feel-good vibe on their respective shows as opposed to Letterman who stubbornly maintained his curmudgeonly demeanor and natural sense of humor that broke down the aura of celebrity in his guests.
With the departure of hosts like Letterman and his rival Jay Leno last year, a different era of late night television now starts with the likes of James Corden and Stephen Colbert (taking over for Letterman) joining Meyers and Fallon. While these hosts and their shows are focused on producing content that is designed to go viral on social media, the retirement of these legends highlights the end of an era of late night television that, in an age free of YouTube, was the only source of a brand of humor that was not only breathtakingly new-age but also refreshingly intelligent.