David Letterman recently returned to CBS' The Late Show… as Stephen Colbert's guest.
Both Letterman and Colbert shared how nervous they were hosting the iconic show, music's importance to the late-night program and what Letterman missed the most about hosting, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Letterman returns
Letterman's guest appearance on The Late Show was his first since he retired from his 22-year run in 2015. After he walked out to the audience's thunderous applause, he thanked them and turned to Colbert, “Oh my. God, Stephen, control your people.”
“I will say this is the most enthusiastic audience I've been near since the night I announced I was quitting,” he said to the laughing Colbert.
Letterman started out by pointing out their differences in hosting style. He then congratulated the current host and his team for the show's success.
“It must be very, very gratifying. And, as a handful of people recognize, it's not easy but you make it look very easy,” he told Colbert.
“I will pass that on to the entire staff, but you and I both know it's really the host,” Colbert jokingly replied.
Letterman proceeded to note the changes made to the Ed Sullivan theater, saying that it now looks like a mall or Beverly Hill's Rodeo Drive.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is television of the future,” he announced to the audience.
“They have snacks in the dressing room. And a menu,” Letterman added.
He shared one regret during his time at The Late Show: that he never sat on the other side. In 2019, Colbert started a segment on the show, Flipped Interview, where some of the guests took turns in interviewing him. Notable guests on the segment were Jon Stewart, John Oliver and Trevor Noah.
The host of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction recalled Colbert's question on whether there were hidey holes in the building, after they had ridden the theater's freight elevator about nine times.
“I asked if there was a place to hide — it w as some place I could hide from my producers,” Colbert explained. There was one.
“They've never found me. But the secret might be they're not looking. They might not care if I show up,” he elaborated.
To which Letterman replied, “My problem. was I couldn't hide from anybody, and it shortened my life.”
Later in the interview, the two discussed their. different experiences in the world of late night television. Letterman confessed to feeling that he was “orphaned in the talk show world.”
Community and the Strike Force Five
Colbert, on the other hand, shared how he was able to build a community with the other late night hosts like Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. They even created a podcast during the WGA strike, calling themselves the Strike Force Five.
This prompted a collective “awww” from the audience. Letterman curmudgeonly replied, “I don't appreciate the sarcasm.”
However, he returned to cheerfully respond to Colbert's question about what he missed most about hosting.
“I miss everything. Mostly it's fun and very few things in life provide on the opportunity,” Letterman replied.
The conversation turned to music and its impact on the show. He recounted how he was the one to bring The National on to perform his return to the theater. Due to his request, the band temporarily stepped away from their tour to appear on the show. The only other band Letterman could get to do that during his time as the show's host was the Foo Fighters.
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