Looking back on Letterman’s legacy as talk show host leaves late night

NEW YORK CITY, NY. (NEWS1130) – One last time.

David Letterman is preparing to cap off a 33-year career on late night television tonight.  With his final show airing on CBS, we are looking at Letterman’s legacy in a genre that has changed a lot since he first walked on stage back in 1982.

“In a landscape where there were a lot of rule-followers, Letterman set out to break them all,” says Thor Diakow, Breakfast Television’s entertainment reporter.

“He wasn’t a guy who was all that likeable or easy to digest, like a lot of late night hosts were and continue to be. You think of Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, they love to flaunt their ‘insiderness’ and the fact they are bumping elbows with all these celebrities,” adds Diakow.

“But Letterman seemed to have this acerbic ingratiating attitude about himself — he was sincerely self-deprecating — and I think that is what drew people to him. Letterman was an ‘every man’ that everyone could relate to. I think that will be his legacy.”

However, that sometimes abrasive-style may have ruffled a few feathers in Letterman’s early days.

“We had seen the late night circuit as a place where celebrities could come and feel comforted. They could let their hair down and, at the same time, get these softball questions. It was a big love-in,” says Diakow. “But Letterman really turned that idea on its head. If he was bored about something or he wasn’t into it, it showed visibly. He wasn’t going to pander to the masses or to these celebrity-types and, again, that’s what drew people to him. You never really knew what you were going to get.”

And don’t forget all the running bits like “stupid human tricks” and his fun with all the vendors and businesses around New York City.

“The Big Apple was a big character on Letterman’s Late Show. There are some huge shoes to fill for Stephen Colbert.”

David Letterman will walk out onto the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York for the final time at 11:30 p.m. on CBS.

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