After nearly 6,000 broadcasts over more than 30 years, David Letterman is saying goodnight to his late-night audience one last time this month. To help say goodbye to the Top 10 list and Stupid Pet Tricks, CNN's Jake Tapper will pay tribute to the late-night legend in the one-hour CNN SPECIAL REPORT David Letterman Says Goodnight, airing tonight, May 19th at 9:00pmET.
Tapper will look back on Letterman's tenure as a critically acclaimed host, examining how he redefined the talk-show genre and battled for the late-night crown against his NBC rival, Jay Leno. Tapper provides an in-depth look at Letterman's career, with hilarious video clips from Dave's best moments, as well as through interviews with his peers, many of whom found their comic inspiration by watching Letterman. Tapper talks to the following: Paul Shaffer, Letterman's band leader and sidekick throughout his late-night career who says he had a "dream job, working for a dream boss who encouraged me to do what I wanted." Jimmy Kimmel, the ultimate "Letterman Fanboy," who jokes that he remembers more about "Late Night" than his own life and that the show was the "most formative thing in his life." TBS late-night host CONAN O'Brien, whose dream job was to become a writer on Letterman's show after college in 1985 and who, in 1993, replaced Letterman on NBC's "Late Night." A virtual unknown when he started, CONAN was truly honored that Dave paid an early visit to him as a guest on his new show.Videos