David Letterman Announces He Will Retire in 2015 (VIDEO)

Late night legend, David Letterman, announced that he plans to retire from late night TV in 2015, during a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman today. Watch the announcement at the bottom of the page!

Letterman is the longest running late night TV host in history. For more than 31 years, he’s helmed a show, first on Late Night with David Letterman on NBC, and then on Late Show for CBS beginning in 1993.

Here’s the announcement released today by Letterman’s production company, World Wide Pants.

David Letterman Announces His Retirement from the Late Show

David Letterman, during a taping of tonight’s Late Show, said that he informed Leslie Moonves, President and CEO of CBS Corporation, that he will step down as the host of the show in 2015, which is when his current contract expires.

“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,’” said Letterman.

“I just want to reiterate my thanks for the support from the network, all of the people who have worked here, all of the people in the theater, all the people on the staff, everybody at home, thank you very much. What this means now, is that Paul and I can be married.”

“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, in fact, Paul and I will be wrapping things up,” he added, to a standing ovation from the audience in the Ed Sullivan Theater.

Letterman’s career as a late night broadcaster has spanned more than 32 years and nearly 6,000 episodes. He was the first host of Late Night at NBC from 1982-1992, and he has been the only host of Late Show, which he created on CBS in 1993. The two shows have been nominated for 108 Emmys, winning eight. Late Night received a Peabody in 1992, and Letterman became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2012.

Yes, it’s time for Dave to go. It doesn’t mean I can’t be sad! Some of you younger peeps may not remember, but in his early years, Letterman literally changed the face of late night TV, and comedy in general.

You might think of him now as late night’s grumpy, curmudgeonly, elder statesman.  It’s the young guys–Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel who capture the web’s collective imagination with their inventive viral bits. But those bits? Done first by Dave. If there was an internet in the early 80’s Dave would have owned it.

Ask Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien. Ask them which late night host inspired them and they’ll tell you David Letterman. Even Dave’s rival, Jay Leno, got his start on Late Night back in the day.

Just like his hero, Johnny Carson, Letterman will go down in history as one of TVs great and innovative broadcasters. CBS better throw Dave the biggest party ever when he leaves next year…

Via Deadline

Watch David Letterman Announce His Retirement on Late Show

About mj santilli 34841 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!