David Letterman saluted by stars on final Late Show
21 May 2015
From the section Entertainment & Arts
David Letterman joked he was moving on to “become the new face of Scientology”
Four US presidents have joined stars including Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Jerry Seinfeld and Foo Fighters to pay tribute to TV host David Letterman on his final late night talk show.
Letterman has bowed out after 33 years and 6,028 late-night broadcasts.
He joked that physicist Stephen Hawking had calculated it “works out to about eight minutes of laughter”.
He gave emotional thanks to his family, crew and viewers, saying: “There’s nothing I can ever do to repay you.”
The 68-year-old began his late-night career on NBC in 1982, before moving to CBS’s Late Show in 1993.
His final broadcast began with pre-recorded clips of former US presidents George H and George W Bush and Bill Clinton echoing fellow ex-president Gerald Ford’s post-Watergate remark that “our long national nightmare is over”.
Barack Obama then appeared to repeat that statement before adding: “Letterman is retiring.” The host then joined him to ask: “You’re just kidding, right?”
Letterman got a standing ovation from the studio audience
Later in the show, Martin, Fey and Seinfeld were among the stars delivering the final, traditional ‘Top 10 list’, on the subject of “Top 10 things I’ve always wanted to say to Dave”.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, with Seinfeld standing nearby, said: “Thanks for letting me …read more
Source:: BBC Entertainment
