CNN Special Report: David Letterman Says Goodnight (2015)

"CNN Special Report: David Letterman Says Goodnight" hosted by Jake Tapper. Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Myers, Conan O'Brien and many more celebrate Dave. Tuesday, May 19, 2015.

[@charlenemack7040]

It takes a hell of a lot to get me to watch something on the Internet that’s 41 minutes long. This was exceptional. Whoever put it together probably many you did a beautiful job and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.😢 Those are happy tears.

[@kcinks]

This makes me sad in one way, I had a house fire over two years ago and, I had over 300 letterman shows from the late 80's and early 90's on VHS . It is nice to know I can punch nearly everything in on youtube and watch some of them......Thank You KZbin!

[@emmaduncan2991]

I just watched a thing about Dave's final show, and it was mentioned that this would be the most important show in the "Late show" history, I hate to disagree with experts, but I still say the most important show in late show history, was Daves first post 9-11 show, which he handled with such grace, class, and bravery!

[@bobbyhoffman5967]

I can't think about 9/11 without thinking of that show. Especially his interview with Dan Rather. I still tear up when I see it.

[@robbpowell194]

Yep 🎈

[@DaleMaraugha]

Without a doubt, Letterman was/is the absolute best. There will never be anyone like him on television ever again. I still feel sadness with his absence. LOVE YOU LETTERMAN!

[@rustybear5125]

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!

[@tetasentada]

@@rustybear5125 I think the closest to rival the unbridled insanity and comic innovation of Dave's 80s run on NBC would probably be Conan in the mid 00s, particularly around the time the writer's strike happened.

[@ThatOpalGuy]

@@tetasentada conan is pretty damn good.

[@ThatOpalGuy]

I remember watching dave's daytime show when I was just out of high school and worked in the evenings. It was one of the best daytime shows ever, so funny. I really miss Coffee Cup Theater.

[@fdmantube]

I used to record the show on our families vcr and watch it after school. Looking back now the show was so much more than I remember. It displays Dave in his prime and the crazy things you used to able to do. Paul and the band were stellar.

[@charlenemack7040]

I’m 71. I watched Johnny Carson every night. My mother’s been gone for 29 years and I can still hear her yelling at me… Go to bed you have school tomorrow, go…to…bed! 😮I’m still sleep deprived.

[@kimmerkakes3593]

I will always think fondly of Dave.!! Lol....my water broke while I was watching his show..The next day, my daughter was born Nov. 19, 1987...cool memory! :))

[@Shshshshshhshhs]

Yes in fact watching David Letterman has been medically proven to be a way of inducing labor

[@jedfra9172]

Getting old and moving on is so, so very difficult. As much for any one of us as it is for those who were our icons. Edit to say...Thankyou for posting this 👌

[@wellrose17]

I'm 39 & grew up with Dave. I literally felt like he was part of the family. I watched his Netflix special which was really good as well. It's crazy how some guy on a talk show can summon warm memories & it shouldn't be underestimated his influence. Cheers Dave! We miss you! 11/29/18

[@dezstepz2427]

Couldn't have said it better myself

[@ThatOpalGuy]

he really is a great interviewer, despite being a clown at times.

[@davidcalllac1006]

None of these other so called late night comediennes, can hold a candle next to Dave. Thanx mr letterman for always making my heart lighter...

[@graxjpg]

Comediennes are female, there are on lot two or three female talk show hosts and none are comedians.

[@duroxkilo]

@@graxjpg "women", comediennes are women. that's the proper use of language if we're guarding grammar and rules here. :):) *an even more explicit formulation would be "comediennes is the feminine of comedians" -this also contains the reasoning behind when/how to use female vs woman. ok.

[@pleiadesdragon1391]

So thankfull that I have David Letterman in my live to entjoy.. .. I had to find people to tape his show and send to me in europe . Thats how much I love his show he s really something special Thank you Dave

[@Theheartzofmen]

sad sad sad

[@briansherrick1708]

My god, I love letterman.. I too grew up watching the man, with my father i might add.. He is and will always remain one of the most influential persons of my very short existence (31 yrs young)..

[@alansjazzful]

I saw David Letterman's show he was and still is a real class act. What a guy, very humbled great human being. God bless you Dave in whatever you choose to do. Alan

[@thegamingkitchen8429]

Amidst his flaws, his short comings and his mistakes, he is a man. And a man who found a way to be talented and use his gifts. That you can't take away.

[@michaeldonovan3959]

I feel lucky to have been alive and loving Letterman on air for so many years. Thank you Dave!

[@wendydarling5790]

Thank you for posting this!

[@ashrafbakhiet619]

wendy darling

[@alextownsend4706]

David made talk shows awesome for life by giving it the spice it needed. We love you, pal!!

[@complextrocassette-carotta9889]

a zillion thank you's for this !! David has always been my ultimate favorite.

[@tomjordan9918]

I saw Dave's second show ever on Latenight with... on NBC. The second show ever. Apparently his viewership doubled that day! Hats off!

[@michaelwirth6843]

Letterman is by far the best tv host in history.

[@ComedyJakob]

I like that they said his Palin joke fell flat yet the audience laughed when he told it

[@markdaniels7174]

Lose Intel The joke was misconstrued to be about Palin's 14-year-old. It was actually in reference to her older girl, who'd been in the news for being 18, unmarried, and knocked-up. (Where was the "family values" preachiness from the hypocritical republicans on THIS one? You'll notice they've stopped singing that song, after so many "un-family" scandals of their own.)

[@chado3000]

Mark Daniels How the fuck do you put politics into this conversation?

[@jimreily7538]

@@chado3000 I'll make it simple for you. Sarah Palin was a politician.

[@dezstepz2427]

@@chado3000 not to bright are you.

[@charlenemack7040]

I’ve secretly been in love with David Letterman for 40+ years. Please don’t tell anyone. Thank you. 😊❤

[@johnsjohnson448]

This is terrific work! Great show! Dave is both Legendary and a Legend in His Own Life Time.

[@paulwevers2109]

I am from The Netherlands (thats in Europe boys and girls) and loved watching Letterman. They aired all of it here and nothing better then his show and some smoking green stuff.

[@AB-iw4kw]

I lost so much sleep in High School staying up to watch Letterman.

[@katgrey3510]

Love Dave, he was the Best! I named my dog Letterman back in the 90"s lol

[@jonnierotten7]

Dave was a great interviewer, hence, his "My next guest needs no introduction" show.

[@Spartanm333]

Clearly a significant influence on British talk show host Jonathan Ross - his original show was a Letterman clone with English sensibility. So the reach of influence was over the Atlantic also. Thanks for posting.

[@markbleichwehl]

The best of late night talk shows. God Bless

[@PraxisPeabody]

I have this old pic of my mom playing a board game on the floor in the livingroom. If you look over her shoulder you see a redheaded Letterman on the tv. 😂

[@emmaduncan2991]

I loved Daved Dave's morning show, I miss this man so much.

[@rollandmakinano1744]

During my college days in the early 80’s, I had a tweed jacket my favorite, I had it altered to fit like a glove and I wore with slacks, and especially with my blue jeans and white tennis shoes. Not knowingly influenced by David Letterman. But it was stylish back then. Letterman and Carson were my favorite late night shows to watch. I hardly watch Leno, he was “the” company man.

[@ellenthompson5796]

Thanks. Nice special on him.

[@charlenemack7040]

I love you Dave 😊❤

[@talkcommonsense]

Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and David Letterman were all great!!! Late night is not what it used to be...

[@donnie8032]

I think Conan takes a bit after Dave, and Kimmel has his moments.

[@dazzaMusic]

Just because having the best ratings (Leno) doesn't make you the best host Letterman all the way!

[@kkknotcool]

It does if you want people to watch. Which is kinda the point of mass media.

[@marksamuelsen2750]

Absofuckinlutely

[@davecarsley8773]

I mean... it kinda does. Everyone who has access to one channel has access to the other. They chose to watch one over the other. You could of course argue what being the "best host" means, but it's hard to argue that the most important part of that is anything other than enticing other human beings to watch the show you're hosting, right?

[@SupraRy]

@Dave Carsley it also has a lot to do with the budget and advertising. There was far more production and money put behind Leno and the tonight show and that has a LOT to do with ratings. I believe carson even wanted Letterman to take his spot over Leno. But Leno knew how to play politics and that has a lot to do with things as well. Letterman wasn't a kiss ass and did things that way, and the higher ups always chose a yes man over someone like Letterman.

[@graxjpg]

It makes you the more popular, but doesn’t make you more influential.

[@MaxStax1]

In my opinion he was at his best when he had the Late Show on NBC, there was something magical about that show at that time.Where I lived in Ohio it started at 11.30PM. Instead of brown nosing celebrities he asked them real questions. I noticed a huge difference when he moved to CBS, overnight he suddenly started towing the Hollywood line.

[@barumbadum]

He was the best. He was intellectually funny. Very smart person.

[@ENFPerspectives]

- creative and intuitive.

[@SportsBoss999]

David had his personal flaws, to be sure. But he was always must see TV, And it was something to see how much Dave enjoyed Norm McDonald coming onto his show.

[@LenHummelChannel]

Letterman is definitely in the "top tier" of ALL Talk Show Hosts: beginning with Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Carson, Letterman, Merv Griffin, Leno, and a few others.

[@RealTime88]

David Letterman is the reason late night rocks!!!

[@backroads6695]

Dave ROCKS!!!! God bless you, my friend!

[@johncornell3665]

What a great segment about Dave!

[@somejackball]

Dave was a goof, and it worked for him, and we loved him for it!

[@kcinks]

I saw that Collene bit.....just comedy gold!

[@donnie8032]

15:40 "I'm a mailman" damn he should have hired that guy. That delivery was perfect.

[@emidom2004]

Well... He's a mailman.

[@palomaarts7382]

Thanx for posting this report. I didnt know about his ratings. I always thought he went head to head with Jay Leno..but still he is definitely a pioneer in this business.

[@switchbuckle5th]

Nancy Afif He beat Leno for almost 3 years I think it was but yeah, after that he was the perennial second. That's not as bad as people make it out to be though. He may have been a perennial second in the ratings, but he always got the critical recognition, and he was the one who was culturally important. When the attacks of September the 11th happened...it was Dave people watched. When Dick Cheney shot a man in the face? People tuned in to see what Dave had to say. When McCain bailed on Letterman's show in 2008 during his election campaign...Dave won the night because people knew he'd have something to say about it. Dave was the guy who's opinion on the big events in the world you really wanted to hear. Jay Leno may have had a half-decent monologue and more frequent A-List guests...but his show is all but completely forgotten a mere year after his retirement. Dave's show will live forever because he's the one who created the true watershed moments. I also think it's worth pointing out that while Leno won in viewers...Dave was still raking in 2, 3, 4 million viewers a night. So it's not like he wasn't wildly successful in his own right. Plus Dave discovered Ray Romano and brought him into the CBS fold, giving CBS a show that would go on to make hundreds of millions of dollars for the network and deliver some of the biggest sitcom ratings of it's time. So while he didn't get Leno's ratings...he may actually have been directly responsible for CBS becoming more profitable than NBC.

[@gallery7596]

switchbuckle5th "... he was the perennial second. That's not as bad as people make it out to be though." Yeah, but tv is a business so it's a pretty important consideration to stockholders and advertisers.

[@switchbuckle5th]

actually it's really not. If Jay Leno had been getting Dave's numbers the NBC affiliates and advertisers would still have been extremely happy. being number 1 is only important in terms of bragging rights for the network

[@gallery7596]

Agreed it's not simply being #1, but rather getting high enough ratings to please advertisers who are willing pay big money to run ads during your show, and that's what Jay was able to do. I point out that Jay was #1 in all demographic categories when NBC pulled him in order to keep Conan. However, Conan was soon getting second place numbers, and (despite the decent- though fractured- 18-49 factor) the network was not happy to see their flagship late night show lose viewers and not draw the kind of numbers that advertisers had been assured he would bring them. Conan losing in the ratings to a guy in his 60's must've shocked them, too.

[@at1212b]

Gall ery When they gave the show to Conan in 2004, Conan's trajectory was super high which kind of mirrored Letterman in the early 90s (so they tried to appease both), while Leno stalled a bit. Leno actually picked up his game and ratings around 2008 again as NBC thought he would have really declined then, while Conan in 2008 was flat to declining a bit (he was coasting more, since he knew he had the Tonight Show, and his crowd which was hot in the early 2000s grew older). So it really put NBC in a bind when decision time came. They over did ironically what they were trying to avoid in 92/93. What really didn't help and many people forget was Conan took over the show during the WORST economic depression since the Great Depression. Advertisers were pulling their marketing, going bankrupt, etc in 2009 and 2010 right when Conan took over. So Conan had very little rope. I do think and predicted Conan like Letterman wouldn't have fared well at 11:30. 2009 was the worst year for it to happen What NBC needed at that time was a steady Jay Leno while the world around was collapsing in 2009. Also ironically, Letterman addressed that scandal in the fall of 09, which sparked interest in Letterman and further making Conan look out of place and awkward.

[@bowmanbrent419]

6:47 I think I see Jay Leno hiding in the rose bushes 😮

[@Tizzo1982]

So much great memories.

[@deanmartin252]

Dave Letterman and Johnny Carson. Gosh what an era

[@mediaglitch]

Great video. Dave was awesome!

[@Theo-hc5ob]

He is The King, there will never be another like him. Often imitated, never duplicated. I just get repulsed when I hear Leno's voice. I miss Dave terribly. Now there's no reason to watch TV after the late news, unless there's a Gunsmoke I haven't seen on whatever channel.

[@shirleybleazard8049]

Kimble is the next best thing to Letterman! 😂 I consider that a compliment 🎉

[@chipgriffiths3655]

I always loved Leno on Letterman. I always knew why NBC chose Leno. I never watched Leno. I always watched Dave. He was more my type of tea. The tea bag was for Leno.

[@gallery7596]

I remember reading a comment that went like this: "the best talk show ever would be hosted by Dave Letterman with Jay Leno as his only guest."

[@rosalieepperson3353]

I get misty eyed watching that genius... missing him...

[@globe255]

The man that can laugh without laughing.

[@joec8079]

He was for me. He still is for me. Always Letterman!

[@MountainFisher]

I have watched Letterman and Conan 10x more than any other late night show.

[@astropilotred]

Simply the Best, Better than all the rest :) Thanks!

[@fordskool]

I miss Dave so much. Like if you do aswell!

[@FastEddie95]

+fordskool I miss him terribly. Not to be over-dramatic, but I almost feel like a part of me died on May 20, 2015.

[@Gam3Junkie]

+FastEddie95 If you thought that was bad you should have been here in -92 when Carson's last episode aired. Now that was sad. I miss Dave though. Luckily Colbert does a good job.

[@FastEddie95]

+Gam3Junkie I was there in '92 when Johnny called it quits - he was the best ever but I watched Dave for so long he became my favorite. Feels like I lost a close family member (although he's not dead I don't expect to see him much, if ever, on TV again.

[@Mrgolfboy24]

+fordskool Me too!! Now Fallon is the only show running in my country, and he sucks!

[@clue104]

fordskool he's back

[@DM-wj4gg]

Excellent video!👏👏👏👏👏

[@goodfella1401]

David Letterman is iconic. In the 1980s he was basically the Adult Swim of late night TV for NBC. Johnny Carson on the Tonight show doesn't "steal" David's real old banged up pick-up truck if it wasn't for Late Night with David Letterman. In American late night show history there are two eras. Before David Letterman and after David Letterman. You don't have a Conan O'Brien, Arsenio Hall, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers, Jimmy Kimmel or Craig Ferguson without David Letterman and his writers starting to break the late show rules in the early 1980s and differentiating their show from the pack

[@powerpopjoey]

When I was a teenager, I remember staying up late in the early 80's and discovering his show. I thought "have I stumbled into an alternate universe?" Haha. No disrespect to Johnny Carson, but the Letterman show had a kind of crazy energy. It was always exciting, inventive, a little bizarre, and of course funny. Looking back, it's more than a TV show, it's a window into an amazing era. Carson is legendary. Letterman is legendary. Conan is often hilarious and carved out his own place in history. Both Conan and Kimmel owe a great debt to Letterman. I've never been a fan of Leno, except the early guest appearances on Late Night. As the host of the Tonight Show he was bland, not very funny, and a terrible interviewer.

[@jedfra9172]

As a screwed up 13yr old I spent many evenings smoking, taking drugs and rebelling against society in general. When I got home I would retreat to my room after getting a cussing from my parents only to watch Letterman and it would make me think that perhaps some of mainstream society was on the same page and that my rebellious attitude was nonsense. I truly think Late Night with David Letterman kept me somewhat grounded and stopped me from losing my excrement entirely.

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales41]

David Michael Letterman (12 de abril de 1947) es un presentador, comediante, escritor y productor de televisión estadounidense.

[@emmaduncan2991]

the banter between Dave and Paul was what Leno envisioned that he would have with original music director Branford Marsalis, but Branford is not only a great musician, he is also a very proud man, and had zero interest in being Jay's comic foil.

[@huohization]

People talk about ratings, in a world where Larry the cable guy makes tens of millions ratings don't mean shit.

[@brettrhyno255]

+Kusinuppi Clearly they do mean something, because the higher the ratings the more of a star you become and the more money whoever is showing it makes. People like Larry The Cable Guy because they find him funny. I don't like him much, but hey, To each their own. David Lettermen was a legend at what he did because he was consistently good at it.

[@Musique61414]

I'm surprised that they didn't show Norm more.

[@OneVoiceMore]

Kinda surprised about his ratings against Leno. I don't think I watched Leno a half dozen times. Not funny.

[@donnie8032]

Me too. I mean what was the appeal for all those people???

[@jbbiden2896]

David Letterman was and is the best as is, The Great Beatles as musicians!!! 🍅❤️🍅❤️🍅❤️

[@blindsurgeonc]

Leno's shows followed other great shows like friends and ER, which is probably the reason he had more views than letterman

[@gallery7596]

@@blindsurgeonc However, when "Friends" and "ER" were gone and *NBC* was almost hitless in prime time, Jay's "Tonight Show" continued to be #1 against Dave's show. They asked Dave why he couldn't beat Jay and he said "the answer's clear: the audience prefers Jay to me."

[@haroldwhitney6130]

I completely agree. Leno never caught my attention. Lettermen was really brilliant.

[@tomsurber2293]

There's Johnny and there's Dave. Nobody else comes close.

[@Seabluemalachite]

Was Dave purple burpee fancy pants. I luv u haha

[@painterdood2484]

Dave will always be the Best!

[@phizap]

omg,so many hilarious memories in here ! dont bite my head off, but, shaffer has always given me the creeps !

[@phizap]

didnt know kimmel was such a huge fan....

[@chado3000]

C'mon. Paul is harmless, lol.

[@daboys1215]

Don't judge a show by the ratings. It's a useless, overrated, outdated system that networks use to charge advertisers.

[@sethflix]

Quality over quantity!

[@daboys1215]

@ It's essential to the advertisers and thus the networks. My point is to not judge a show based on a random numbers game.

[@somejackball]

Dave was KZbin before KZbin!

[@jedfra9172]

Absolutely. There is a channel that made their name entirely from dropping things from a great height and of course Dave and his crew did it first.

[@danna22]

my fav late night host

[@frippertonics6421]

Dave's days on Late Night leave Kimmel, Myers, Colbert and the others in the dust. The only one who came close was Conan O'Brien.

[@colerieger7300]

Letterman was a thing I found as a kid, E! was running repeats of Late Night. I was like 10 so I really got none of the jokes, but it was funny, it was just something I knew, this was funny. I miss his show so much.

[@cosmojonesmusic]

There's Letterman, and then there's the random expendable pretenders.

[@1burnman]

The end of an era no doubt

[@kenhenderson7999]

The Hugh Grant interview was a factor but what REALLY brought Leno back to #1 was the O.J. Simpson trial. Night after night Leno would lampoon the media circus surrounding it (remember the "Dancing Itos"?) while Letterman wouldn't touch it. People would watch just to see what Leno would say about each day's events.

There was also a major shake-up with CBS affiliates in some major markets who became FOX affiliates. CBS had to scramble to find new ones and in some cases ended up on lower-powered UHF channels.

[@thefonzkiss]

Carson, Letterman and Conan. Then the rest. Arsenio was okay.

[@stevemcdowell6661]

David Letterman is and always will be the best ever!

[@JFKBungart]

As someone once pointed out, Leno was a joke teller. Dave was a broadcaster. Dave was superior

[@Lindeman08]

The clip av 19:30 where Dave is on Carson it had already been decided that Jay was taking over. That's what they were talking about.

Yep. Carson even asked him "Just how pissed-off are you?"

[@orlaspring363]

OK. When people talk about the greatest late night hosts, who says, "Leno?" No one.

[@chrisz5z]

Wish i could have seen Dave's shows in the 80s. I've always thought Conan was the funniest, but now i see his show was inspired by Letterman

Dave's first 10 years were far-and-away his greatest. Entertaining, exciting (you never knew what he was going to do), and most of all, FUNNY AS HELL!

[@jacksonmorganfroghin4815]

And believe it or not, Letterman was inspired by Steve Allen and Ernie Kovacs. Early on, Dave decided to do exactly the opposite of what Carson did even tho he was a huge fan of Carson. In stead of making guests feel comfortable he made them feel uncomfortable and so on. Steve Allen and Kovacs we're probably inspired by the Three Stooges who studied under Bozo and Clarabelle and they watched Chaplin and on and on ad infinitum ad nauseam.....I'm getting nauseous even now.

[@bobkohl6779]

Nope Letterman vs Leno was very dirty. At ABC we fought for Letterman, but Koppel was in the way. CBS rolled over and gave him everything

[@charlenemack7040]

I watched the morning talk show. This is coming from someone who loves David Letterman…His morning talk show had a lot of authors…He needed more celebrities is what I’m saying. His morning show kind of really sucked I hate to say that.

[@gabrielbarboza5620]

He always be the one only DAVID LETTERMAAANNN..Loved the stupid human tricks..back when he used to do his live feeds from location

[@charleysturbos7320]

Also remember it's New York vs LA or West Coast vs East. And most loved warm weather and also very few channels on rabbit ears. So could of just been those things for ratings. I always liked David letterman over Leno for sure.

[@DrPanetto54]

A great one!

[@rachelled6763]

I never really knew who Jay Leno was. I watched him for about 5 minutes a few times and turned him off. Letterman was the only guy for me! With love from Australia.

[@mikejennings4495]

People would come into the bar, and if a game was on from the West coast someone would say " it's time for Letterman". I always changed the channel.

[@BoomBox02]

19:32 this was taken completely out of context. Dave knew at this time Leno was going to replace John. I miss the Carson show. It use to air in Australia. I have many fond memories of times when i was too young to worry about any responsibilities and both my parents were still alive. Never liked the show as much after Leno took over.

[@johnking5174]

Why didn't they give Jay Leno the late night show at 12.30am, and have David on at 11.30pm. If they really wanted to keep both, this would have been ideal?

[@Zashayer]

Fact is they want the tonight show to be the show and the late night to be the anti-show, they think Dave's character doesn't fit the tonight show though

[@kenhenderson7999]

It's all in Bill Carter's book. Leno had a standing offer from CBS. Had NBC put Letterman on at 11:30, CBS would have immediately had Leno on at the same time. That's why NBC went with Leno, they were sure that Leno would do better at that time period. CBS viewed getting Letterman as the consolation prize, their first choice was Leno as well.

[@donnie8032]

@@kenhenderson7999 Oh shit. I hope Dave doesn't know that.

[@dianewinters8628]

We miss you we love you

[@connro]

Can anyone point me to the episode that the clip at 0:50 came from?

[@Seabluemalachite]

A church secretary that’s do sweet

[@tylersims6937]

Shout out ta Conan too! lol

[@judyroks]

Jay was so boring . I liked Dave!!!!!