David Letterman On The “Melancholia” Of Leaving Late Night TV
David Letterman is into his final month as a late night television host. His last show is approaching quickly for him that has him filled with mixed emotions. In an interview with the New York Times, Letterman gives his farewell to the troops and talks about the state of late night television now, his legacy and keeping up the standard set by Johnny Carson. He also discusses the overwhelming sadness he’s feeling with stepping down from the Late Show.
David Letterman told the Times, “Yeah, I’m awash in melancholia. Over the weekend, I was talking to my son, and I said, “Harry, we’ve done like over 6,000 shows.” And he said, [high-pitched child’s voice] “That’s creepy.” And I thought, well, in a way, he’s right. It is creepy. He added, “Every big change in my life was full of trepidation. When I left Indiana and moved to California. When Regina and I decided to have a baby — enormous anxiety and trepidation. Those are the two biggest things in my life, and they worked out beyond my wildest dreams. I’m pretending the same thing will happen now. I’ll miss it, desperately. One of two things: There will be reasonable, adult acceptance of transition. Or I will turn to a life of crime.”
Letterman admits he was not consulted by CBS when it came time to choose his replacement on the Late Show, Stephen Colbert. He said, “I always thought Jon Stewart would have been a good choice. And then Stephen. And then I thought, well, maybe this will be a good opportunity to put a black person on, and it would be a good opportunity to put a woman on. Because there are certainly a lot of very funny women that have television shows everywhere. So that would have made sense to me as well.”
Stephen Colbert will be taking over the Late Show in September on CBS. The outgoing host said at first it bothered him that CBS didn’t ask him his opinion on his replacement, but he’s over it now. He said, “Just as a courtesy, maybe somebody would say: “You know, we’re kicking around some names. Do you have any thoughts here?” But it doesn’t bother me now. At the time, I had made the decision [to leave] and I thought, O.K., this is what comes when you make this decision.”
David Letterman’s final Late Show is Wednesday, May 20th on CBS.
