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After more than eight years since his retirement as host of The Late Show, David Letterman was welcomed back to the Ed Sullivan Theater on Monday with a huge standing ovation.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my guest tonight certainly needs no introduction,” announced his successor, Stephen Colbert, just before the audience began chanting “David.” Letterman beamed as the crowd grew louder and quipped, “Is there going to be trouble?”
Elsewhere in the interview, Colbert commented on Letterman’s remark that late night chair was a “weird job that a lot of people don’t understand.” He continued: “I’m lucky to have my friend John Stewart to talk to about this strange job, and my friends at Strike Force Five… Was there anyone who was there for you when you were in the chair who told you that you could do this? with? Someone you could call and just talk about it. Could you call Johnny? [Carson]?”
Letterman responded that while he had “great respect for these guys,” he was “orphaned in the talk show world.” While his response drew unanimous sympathy from the crowd, the former host interjected, “Well, I don’t appreciate the sarcasm.”
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To close the evening, The National delivered a heartfelt performance of “Space Invader” to welcome back the late night legend. Before the band’s performance, Letterman told Colbert that this was “the second time in my life this has happened here tonight” – referring to the Foo Fighters’ historic performance on his final episode of The Late Show. “These two groups, I will love them forever,” Letterman said.
While Letterman has appeared on late night television before since his departure from The Late Show, he was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night With Seth Meyers, as well as the most recent episode of The Late Late Show With James Corden earlier this year – on Monday This episode marked his first return to the show he started on CBS in 1993.