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Home / Entertainment

Final Top Ten to farewell Letterman

AAP
21 May, 2015 05:00 PM3 mins to read

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After 33 years and 6028 broadcasts, David Letterman filmed his final Late Show yesterday. Photo / AP

After 33 years and 6028 broadcasts, David Letterman filmed his final Late Show yesterday. Photo / AP

Audience in tears as retiring late-night host feted by four presidents who declare ‘an end to our nightmare’.

David Letterman was ushered into retirement yesterday by four presidents declaring "our long national nightmare is over" and a succession of stars delivering a final Top Ten list of things they always wanted to say to the late-night host.

The taped intro of President Barack Obama and former Presidents George Bush Sr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush referenced President Gerald Ford's declaration to the country when he took office following the 1974 resignation of Richard Nixon. Letterman sidled up to Obama to say, "you're just kidding, right?"

Ten stars from Steve Martin to Tina Fey delivered the final Top Ten list of "things I've always wanted to say to Dave".

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Letterman said goodbye after 33 years and 6028 broadcasts of his late-night shows on CBS and NBC. The final Late Show broadcast ran long, some 17 minutes over its usual hour, and CBS planned to let the show air without cutting it.

Letterman joked in his monologue that he's been on the air for so long that the hot show when he started was Keeping Up with the Gabors.

He said Stephen Hawking figured out that the 6028 broadcasts included "about eight minutes of laughter".

"You want to know what I'm going to do now that I'm retired?" he said. "By God, I hope to become the new face of Scientology."

Letterman, whose wife Regina and son Harry were in the audience, was serenaded at the end by the Foo Fighters. They sang Everlong, the same song they played when he returned following heart surgery in February 2000.

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Several audience members who filed out of the theatre after the show had tears in their eyes.

"It was really incredible," said Will Landman of Long Island, New York. "It was the best way he could go out."

Things I have always wanted to say to Dave

The Top Ten list on David Letterman's final show

Alec Baldwin.
Alec Baldwin.

10. Alec Baldwin: "Of all the talk shows, yours was the most geographically convenient to my home."

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9. Barbara Walters: "Did you know you wear the same cologne as Muammar Gaddafi?"

8. Steve Martin: "Your extensive plastic surgery was a necessity and a mistake."

7. Jerry Seinfeld: "I have no idea what I'll do when you go off the air. You know, I just thought of something. I'll be fine."

6. Jim Carrey: "Honestly, Dave, I've always found you to be a bit of an over-actor."

5. Chris Rock: "I'm just glad your show is being given to a white guy."

Julia Louis Dreyfus.
Julia Louis Dreyfus.

4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus: "Thanks for letting me take part in another hugely disappointing series finale."

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3. Peyton Manning: "You are to comedy what I am to ... comedy."

2. Tina Fey: "Thanks for finally proving men can be funny."

1. Bill Murray: "Dave, I'll never have the money I owe you."

AAP

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