David Letterman retiring from the Late Show next year when his contract ends.
‘LEGEND’ TO SIGN OFF IN 2015 after longest-running gig in the history of American late-night TV
David Letterman, the longestrunning host in the history of late-night television, will retire from his CBS show next year, the latest shakeup in a roiling talkshow lineup.
Letterman, who has always used his show as the outlet for discussing developments in both his life and his career, announced his decision during a taping Thursday afternoon in Manhattan.
He said he had informed CBS president Leslie Moonves of his intention to step down from Late Show With David Letterman at the end of his current contract, which expires in 2015. Moonves has been steadfast in his assurances in recent years that he would never ask Letterman to retire, saying at one point: “You don’t do that to a television legend.”
Letterman, who will turn 67 next week, is considered by many critics and fans to be the most original voice in the late-night format, and several of his comedy bits, including Stupid Pet Tricks, Stupid Human Tricks and his nightly Top 10 list, have become indelible pieces of contemporary American culture.
His announcement Thursday comes just two months after Jay Leno left NBC’s Tonight Show, and means that by next year the coveted 11:35 p.m. time slot on three broadcast networks will have a new lineup of hosts, skewing considerably younger. Jimmy Fallon, 39, replaced the 63-year-old Leno, and last year Jimmy Kimmel, 46, moved his ABC show from midnight to 11:35.
Speculation about Letterman’s successor will now become a popular parlour game for countless television executives, entertainment writers and late-night fans.
Two choices mentioned frequently on Thursday by people at CBS and other networks: Stephen Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s midnight show, The Colbert Report, and Neil Patrick Harris, the star of the recently concluded CBS comedy hit How I Met Your Mother, who has scored as host of awards shows on CBS.
Craig Ferguson, who hosts the 12:35 a.m. show on CBS, also has been mentioned as a contender. One executive who has been involved in discussions of the CBS’s future in late night said the network would like to move relatively quickly to name a successor.
In his statement on the air, Letterman said he and Moonves had spoken several times about how his retirement would be handled. “We agreed that we would work together on this circumstance and the timing of this circumstance,” Letterman said. “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 also thanked his staff and the viewers for supporting him during his run. He began the Late Show on CBS in 1993 after an 11-year run on NBC’s Late Night program, which he created. That total of 33 years in late night (counting 2015) eclipses the 30-year tenure of Johnny Carson on NBC’s Tonight Show. Letterman also hosted a morning show for four months on NBC, and in total he will have been the host of over 6,000 hours of television by the time he concludes his tenure on CBS.
In a statement, Moonves said, “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.”
Informing the audience of his plan to retire, Mr. Letterman joked that he had always said: “When this show stops being fun I will retire — 10 years later.”
He explained his reasoning, citing his coming birthday and his desire to spend more time with his family. The audience, expecting jokes, was slow to grasp the meaning of what he was saying, but it eventually caught on and stood to give him an ovation. Letterman provided enormous profit for the network for much of his run at CBS, which had never before had a successful late-night entertainment show. But in recent years, profits have been in decline in general for late-night television, especially at NBC and CBS. A senior executive at one of the networks, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private financial situations, said that both Leno and Letterman were compelled to make huge budget cuts to their shows in recent years, and estimated that Letterman’s show now took in less than $20 million a year in profit.
His ratings have been in decline. Letterman is averaging 2.8 million total viewers this season, down about 6 per cent from last season. But in the category that makes money in late-night television, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, he is down about 17 per cent.
One reason for that, of late, is the strong showing of Fallon, who has scored impressive ratings on Tonight so far. When NBC replaced Leno with Conan O’Brien in 2009, and pushed Leno to prime time, the resulting chaos proved a boon to Letterman, who surged back into the No. 1 spot in the late-night ratings.
That has not happened this time, and the apparent entrenchment of Fallon as a new Tonight star may have influenced Letterman’s decision to step aside at this time.
The Tonight Show played a significant — and quixotic — role in Letterman’s career. He first emerged as a star as a standup comic on the show and then became a favourite guest host for Carson. NBC hired him to start up Late Night as a kind of younger-generation alternative to Carson. Letterman soon electrified the television and comedy worlds with the inventiveness of his show, and was quickly presumed to be the heir apparent to Carson at Tonight.
When Carson retired in 1992 and the job went to Leno instead, Letterman thought his career might be over. Instead, the rest of the television business laid offers at his feet. He chose CBS mostly because he wanted a network show at 11:35 p.m. and only CBS could give it to him.
He created an immediate sensation there, becoming the first host to establish an enduring late-night show that rivalled Tonight. For his first two years Letterman dominated the ratings. But Leno staged a comeback and never again gave up the top spot.
Letterman still drew critics’ praise. Late Show won six Emmy Awards during Letterman’s run. Leno won once.
Over the years, Letterman turned the show into a kind of personal forum in which events in his life played out in front of the cameras. He talked directly to his audience about his open-heart surgery and battle with shingles (both of which forced him off the air for a time); about becoming a father late in life (his son, Harry, was born in 2003) and about a scandal that involved an affair with his personal assistant and the bizarre blackmail attempt that accompanied it.
He also memorably — and emotionally — addressed the attacks on New York Sept. 11, 2001, becoming the first late-night host to return to the air; he was widely credited with giving the country a measure of freedom to laugh again.
The specific end date for Letterman has not been set. His contract has about 16 months left. That would take it to August 2015.
In his commentary, Letterman said: “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.”