David Letterman is set to retire from the CBS show in 2015. The announcement was made by the TV host himself on his long-time running show on Thursday. Letterman, who turns 67 next week, did not mention the exact date of his retirement. Nevertheless, his contract at CBS will end in August 2015, or 16 months from now.
“The man who owns this network, Leslie Moonves, he and I have had a relationship for years and years and years, and we have had this conversation in the past, and we agreed that we would work together on this circumstance and the timing of this circumstance. And I phoned him just before the program, and I said, ‘Leslie, it’s been great, you’ve been great, and the network has been great, but I’m retiring,” Letterman told his audience.
“We don’t have the timetable for this precisely down — I think it will be at least a year or so, but sometime in the not-too-distant future, 2015, for the love of God,” Letterman added. He also thanked CBS, his staff, and his audience. He even joked that he and Paul [Shaffer] can now be married. But then he said he has spent half of his life on TV and he wanted to spend more time with his family. The audience gave him a standing ovation.
“For 21 years, David Letterman has graced our network’s air in late night with wit, gravitas and brilliance unique in the history of our medium,” CBS Corporation President and CEO Leslie Moonves said in a statement. The “Late Show With David Letterman” made its CBS debut on August 30, 1993. This is after an 11-year run of “Late Night with David Letterman” on NBC, which makes a total of 33 years of the show.
David Letterman created his NBC “Late Night” show in 1982 and left the network in 1993. The show was replaced by “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and in March 2009 by “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Starting February 24, 2014 the late night show is being hosted by Seth Meyers.
Starting his career in Hollywood as a stand-up comedian in the late 1970s, David Letterman had a 4-month morning show, The David Letterman Show, on NBC in 1980. In 2013, he surpassed the 30-year record of his mentor and friend, Johnny Carson, for being the longest-serving late-night talk show host in TV history.
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