Late Night Reacts to David Letterman's Departure

With David Letterman saying goodbye to late-night television, his colleagues have started paying tribute to the comedy icon. From sharing personal stories to thanking him for revolutionizing nightly talk shows, his peers have shown just how respected Letterman is.

Jimmy Kimmel’s admiration for Letterman is so deep, in fact, that he’s not even competing with him the night of his last show. But that decision doesn’t sit well with some comics; Conan O’Brien tells Charlie Rose he doesn’t think Kimmel’s idea is all that it’s cracked up to be. “That’s just a lazy excuse. Anything to get the night off,” O’Brien joked.

Regardless of O’Brien’s speculation, it doesn’t sound like he will be putting up much of a fight on Letterman’s final night either, saying, “What I’d like to do is say something very nice about David Letterman, [that] I think, comes from the heart. And then we come on a little before he does, and then tell people to turn the channel.”

The final Late Show With David Letterman airs Wednesday, May 20 at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.