TomOpus

It's time for him to retire. Not sure if it's just me but he didn't seem as funny anymore. Even his Top 10 has been pretty bad for quite some time. But I don't watch him as much as I used to, I will say.

dex14

Maybe it's not a coincidence Chelsea Handler is leaving E!

Deftones

She said on the Stern show she was sick of dealing with E! and wasn't going to renew her contract with them. My guess is it is a coincidence.

dex14

Hadn't heard that. But no surprise there.

dan30oly

Conan will replace him.

JeffTheAlpaca

He stopped being funny once he left NBC. I always thought he was the lamest of all the talk show hosts currently on the air. I only tape his show if he had a good guest or musical act.

Conan would be good but CBS might not let him do the show he wants to do.

What if they wanted to shake it up and hire Tina Fey?

CBS did have the first female news anchor among the big four networks with Katie Couric before she bombed but maybe Tina might not want to do if she has to compete with Lorne Michaels late night block on NBC.

SuperJim88

Some fun video clips, but it's kinda sad that after 20 years these are considered the wildest.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...ews-video.html

JeffTheAlpaca

Louis CK will replace him

robin2099

Not surprising. I think the two things that caused Letterman to keep going where: 1. Seeing how bored Johnny Carson became after retiring. 2. Making sure he lasted longer than Jay Leno.

As for who should replace him? Conan would be the logical choice but he seems happy at TBS and is under contract with them for a couple more years. I agree that NBC is going to skew younger though as they will want to be part of the new late night generation.

TomOpus

I say find a young female comic that's slightly edgy.

Rypro 525

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sauce07

Chelsea Handler wouldn't be a bad choice, they have to do something other than white guy.

JesseCuster

I thought he was always at least solid after the slide to CBS. He did have to refine himself for the masses (i.e. old f*ckers) coming off Late Night. I'll tell you though, the best period of late night TV I've ever seen was Letterman in the year or so he had left on his NBC contract. He was in full slow burn mode. Pissed off 24/7, surly, rude and fracking hilarious. He made young actresses cry and did not give two shits.

Perkinsun Dzees

Letterman deserves a lot of credit for reinvigorating the talk show format for a new generation by dumping the boring, staid, ass-kissing interview format for a hipper, edgier style where anything could happen and sometimes did.

During his NBC run it was truly entertaining to see his clear disdain for certain guests when interviews weren't going well and to watch him openly mocking them. He did not shy away from provoking a negative reaction out of his guests and wasn't afraid to poke a hole through their massive egos. The comedy skits were also very creative and helped to make Chris Elliott a comedy icon.

Over the last several years (after his move to CBS and his subsequent health problems) the show steadily deteriorated and became the lazy mix of stale comedy and dull, lightweight interviews that the NBC shows craftily avoided.

So, yeah, it's definitely a good decision by Letterman to hang it up as he's basically been going through the motions for awhile now, though his early brilliance cannot be denied.

Rypro 525

i had never seen this before, Norm McDonald as Letterman on SNL prob circa 95 or 96, but its spot on
<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/15243552" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Uhhhhh got any gum? from s meltzer on Vimeo.

Shannon Nutt

Get ready for The Late Show with Chris Hardwick.

TGM

JasonF

Lena Dunham!!!!

Coladar1

Seems the general consensus mirrors my own - it's past time, and I won't really miss it at all. Like the Simpsons, some things were great for a long time... a long time ago. Dave has earned his due, but the show just ain't what it was. What are the feelings about the reasoning behind this? I actually just looked up the ratings earlier today by happenstance, seeing week six and Fallon has nearly double the viewers over Dave. How much was this his decision, and how much the network realizing that NBC was going to dramatically win late night moving forward?

Replacement? Ferguson... although my absolute favorite of them all, I doubt he'll get it. And I'm really not sure he should. It just wouldn't skew well bumped up an hour for a different audience.

Handler? Good god no. That'd be a disaster of epic proportions. She has her thing, and it ain't a "half hour monologue, half hour interview" every night show. I fear the timing coinciding means they might just try it, and woe if they do.

Stewart? I'm not a fan, for many reasons. That being said, he's probably the most natural heir and best suited for the job. He skews younger, just what CBS wants, and he could handle the gig well as the Daily Show to Late Night really wouldn't be a huge alteration in format/skillset required.

I'll just add my usual two cents in these sorts of threads: Tom Green. I still say he'd be perfect for this. His comedy has toned down over the years, he's matured, he's an insanely gifted interviewer the likes of which few can hold a candle to (Don't believe me, check out AXSTV tonight. Dr. Drew will be his interviewee, someone who's not a comedian or even entertainer. Somebody who even has had (or still has? Is his show on Headline News still on?) his own "interview random idiots" show, and usually folks who are used to doing the interviewing themselves make the most difficult guests, mainly preventing them from taking control of the conversation. And even though it'll be live, meaning who knows how it'll go, I'll bet it's another excellent job on Green's part - his Dan Rather interview still stands out as one of the best I've ever seen.)

Plus, Green did have the MTV late night talker for a few months (With Ed McMahon), and he handled the monologue/skit side extremely well. This having been over a decade ago, surely he'd have only improved since then. It'll never, ever, happen, but it would be an excellent choice. (And no, once again, I am not Tom Green. I'm also not his mother, lest that be the next guess.)

Personally though, I still am rooting for one of the networks to take a huge gamble and blow things up. Destroy the late night talker concept - a rotating host, duo/group, even skits or whatever. No reason 11:35 has to be the monologue/interview someone hawking their latest project. I'm still partial to my idea of having scripted, mature-rated shows that mirror the gritty, adult content of HBO/Showtime/etc. An extra hour of quality scripted dramas each week would be a dream (meaning zero reality BS). And that's all it'll ever be - a dream.

Josh-da-man

Sarah Silverman

JeffTheAlpaca

I like Tom Greens show on AXS TV and he would be a good choice but probably everyone would get the wrong impression and still think he does the crazy bits from MTV and suck milk from cows.

Rypro 525

i can already see the outtrage from some if Tom Green does get the gig

Jimmy James

Aziz Ansari...I really think this would work crazy well. His standup stylings seem to be the perfect type to translate well to small talk with celebs.

Does Jim Parsons have a high enough profile to negotiate for this job as a sort of BBT exit plan? I'd think CBS loves him.

TomOpus

Yes. That's who came to mind at first but wasn't sure if she would do it. Maybe CBS would give her some leeway to do her thing.

PenguinJoe