NEW YORK — David Letterman was ushered into retirement Wednesday by four presidents declaring “our long national nightmare is over” and a succession of stars delivering a final Top Ten list of things they always wanted to say to the late-night host.
The taped intro of President Barack Obama and former Presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush referenced President Gerald Ford’s declaration to the country when he took office following the 1974 resignation of Richard Nixon. Letterman sidled up to Obama to say, “you’re just kidding, right?”
Ten stars delivered the final Top Ten list.
Letterman said goodbye after 33 years and 6,028 broadcasts of his late-night shows on CBS and NBC. The final “Late Show” broadcast ran long, some 17 minutes over its usual hour. CBS planned to let the show air without cutting it.
The transplanted Hoosier will be replaced by Stephen Colbert in September.
Letterman joked in his monologue that he’s been on the air for so long that the hot show when he started was “Keeping Up with the Gabors.”
“You want to know what I’m going to do now that I’m retired?” he said. “By God, I hope to become the new face of Scientology.”
Letterman, whose wife, Regina, and son, Harry, were in the audience, was serenaded at the end by the band Foo Fighters. They sang, “Everlong,” the same song they played when he returned following heart surgery in 2000.
Several audience members who filed out of the theater after the show had tears in their eyes.
Rival Jimmy Kimmel paid tribute to Letterman by not making a fresh ABC show on Wednesday, where he usually competes in the same time slot. Jimmy Fallon opened his Wednesday monologue on “Tonight” by saying: “I want to thank you for watching this on your DVR after you watched Letterman.”
Final top ten
The category was “Things I’ve Always Wanted to Say to Dave.”
10. Alec Baldwin: “Of all the talk shows, yours was the most geographically convenient to my home.”
9. Barbara Walters: “Did you know you wear the same cologne as Moammar Khadafy?”
8. Steve Martin: “Your extensive plastic surgery was a necessity and a mistake.”
7. Jerry Seinfeld: “I have no idea what I’ll do when you go off the air. You know, I just thought of something. I’ll be fine.”
6. Jim Carrey: “Honestly, Dave, I’ve always found you to be a bit of an over-actor.”
5. Chris Rock: “I’m just glad your show is being given to a white guy.”
4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus: “Thanks for letting me take part in another hugely disappointing series finale.”
3. Peyton Manning: “You are to comedy what I am to … comedy.”
2. Tina Fey: “Thanks for finally proving men can be funny.”
1. Bill Murray: “Dave, I’ll never have the money I owe you.”
