Colbert’s final Late Show episode also marked the end of the franchise launched by former host David Letterman in 1993. Letterman, who himself weighed in on the Late Show cancellation, calling it “pure cowardice” on CBS’ part, previously stopped by Colbert’s show as a guest in 2023 in his first time on The Late Show since he retired in 2015. During their conversation, they compared notes on their respective experiences hosting the CBS late night program. And Colbert recalled how he’d asked for Letterman’s advice, which led to the current host’s desk being on the other side of the stage, and made a specific request.
“I asked if there was a place to hide … from my producers,” Colbert said. “You said, ‘Yes … it’s great because it’s close enough you can hear the producers calling for you, and they won’t know where you are.”
“They’ve never found me,” Colbert continued. “But the secret might be they’re not looking. They might not care if I show up.”
“My problem was I couldn’t hide from anybody, and it shortened my life” Letterman said. “I don’t know about you but I couldn’t leave the building until it was dark — and really, really dark. I’d be so embarrassed.”
Letterman also marveled at how nice the theater, which was renovated before Colbert took over, had become.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is television of the future,” Letterman said. “I think it’s delightful. I was in the dressing room — and by the way, the dressing room is nicer than the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in in my life. I’ll be here through Christmas. … They have snacks in the dressing room — and a menu.”
“We’ve fixed it up a bit,” Colbert said.
Letterman, who’s recently lashed out at CBS execs, calling them “lying weasels,” for their decision to cancel The Late Show, returned a week before Colbert’s final episode aired, where the two threw some set furniture off of the roof and onto the CBS eye logo on the street below.
During the interview segment, Letterman again complimented Colbert’s revamp of the studio, likening it to “the Bellagio.”
“I will say, and I have every right to be pissed off, so I’ll pissed off here a little bit, because this theater, you folks wouldn’t be in this theater if it weren’t for me, and Stephen wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me, and we rebuilt this theater, and then Stephen came in and look at this, it’s like the Bellagio,” Letterman said. “As we all understand, you can take a man’s show, you can’t take a man’s voice, so that’s the good news in this.”
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