David Letterman Celebrates 30th Anniversary as Late-Night Host
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Ray Tamarra/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) — On Wednesday’s edition of CBS’ Late Show, David Letterman commemorated a TV milestone: his 30th anniversary as a late-night host.
He joked in his monologue that he continues to work in TV, “because I’ve seen Regis in retirement,” referring to his pal Regis Philbin, who left his daytime talk show last fall — and who appeared on the Late Show to help Dave celebrate. Letterman then said his goal moving forward is to keeping doing the Late Show “until it gets sad.”
Letterman’s top-10 list also alluded to his milestone: “Top Ten Things Staffers Would Like to Say to Dave on his 30th Anniversary in Late Night.” Stage manager Biff Henderson, who has worked with Letterman since 1980 and makes frequent appearances on Late Show, told the host, “One of these days, we’ll figure out how to kill you and make it look like an accident.”
Producer Jude Brennan delivered one of the handful of jokes on the list that contained an expletive. She told Letterman, “I will not be berated this way. Go f*** yourself.”
Band leader Paul Shaffer ended the segment with another profane joke: “I got nothing to say to that [bleep].”
Letterman’s late-night run began on Feb. 1, 1982, when he launched Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. He’s hosted CBS’ Late Show since 1993.
Current Late Night host Jimmy Fallon paid tribute to Letterman on his show, which was taped in Letterman’s boyhood home of Indianapolis. Fallon said he was proud to continue the tradition and thanked Letterman on behalf of his staff for “giving us all jobs.”
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