How Did The Late Show with David Letterman Say Goodbye?

After 33 years, David Letterman has officially retired. Find out how he said goodbye!

By Lauren Piester May 21, 2015 5:19 AMTags
David Letterman, Paul Shaffer, Late Show with David LettermanJeffrey R. Staab/CBS

"It's beginning to look like I'm not going to get The Tonight Show." 

Gosh darn it, that was hilarious.

We didn't want it to be, because we thought that would make it easier to say goodbye. Unfortunately for us, David Letterman's last show was filled with good jokes, hilarious old clips, sweet montages and loving tributes to the people to made The Late Show work all these years.

It's possible that we'll never be able to hear the Foo Fighters' "Everlong" without tearing up a bit, and we're OK with that, though it will be a bit weird to close our eyes and see pictures of David Letterman and his various guests over the years imprinted on the back of our eyelids, but that is probably what will happen thanks to us watching that ending several times over already.

From the opening clips of former and current presidents saying, "At last, our long national nightmare is over," to all our faves (Tina Fey, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Julia Louis Dreyfus, etc etc) showing up for the final top 10 list to everyone giving Dave's wife and son a standing ovation, that was pretty perfect. It wasn't anything like the fanfare and endless parade of celebs who sent Stephen Colbert off in style, but it was very Dave.

We lost it during the montage of Dave interacting with children, and we could barely keep it together as a 1996 Letterman attempted to work at Taco Bell with not much success.

Towards the end, Dave claimed there was nothing he could do to ever repay his audience for all that they have given him, but in truth he's already given us thirty-three years of comedy of strangely beautiful and beautifully strange comedy and pop culture moments we'll never forget.

The Letterman love didn't even stop with Dave's show tonight—James Corden spent his entire opening paying tribute to his iconic lead-in, including a lovely top 10 list of things he'll miss about David Letterman. It was beautiful, but it did nothing to dry our tears.

Thank you Dave, for everything.

Now, listen to this song and cry with us, then head to the comments to share your favorite Letterman moment!