NEWSDavid Letterman Calls Retirement 'Nonsense' and Just a 'Myth' 9 Years After Wrapping Up Late-Night Show
David Letterman doesn't like the idea of retirement, even after leaving late-night TV nearly a decade ago.
David Letterman is interested in continuing to work as long as possible.
After 33 years as the king of late-night TV, Letterman revealed he has no plans of slowing down, especially since he’s been keeping busy with his Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
With a 33-year streak, David Letterman holds the title of the longest-running late-night TV host.
“Retirement is a myth. Retirement is nonsense,” the 77-year-old TV legend told GQ in a candid interview. “You won’t retire. The human mechanism will not allow you to retire. What do [people] do? Sit there and wait for Judge Judy to come on?”
“As long as you are healthy, you still want to produce,” Letterman added. “And you will find ways to. Once I stopped doing the show, it took me a couple of years to figure out that, oh, this is a completely different rhythm. And without the rhythm that you’re accustomed to, largely unsatisfying. So you got to find something that’s important to you.”
Letterman holds the record for the longest-serving late-night talk show host in American television history, with 6,080 episodes under his belt, starting with NBC’s Late Night in 1982 and going on to host CBS’ The Late Show until 2015.
The TV legend won multiple Emmys for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program.
Even though he left the late-night scene, he admitted letting go of the pressure was a huge relief.
“I felt like whenever I would go out, there would be an expectation to which I could not live up. ‘Oh, here he comes. He’s going to do a show. He is going to be funny. We’re going to be entertained,'” Letterman said about his time on late-night television.
“And I kind of felt like that expectation takes quite a lot of energy, so I didn’t want to bleed it off before or after the actual show, which was always in desperate need of entertainment,” he added.
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David Letterman began his career as a weekend weatherman and announcer in 1969.
Letterman, who was once called out by news anchor Connie Chung for his “anti-social” behavior, admitted that his aloof off-screen persona was on purpose, as he needed to save his energy for the shows.
“You would either then spend time preparing, time ruminating about what may have gone wrong or trying to enjoy what may have gone right. And anything else didn’t matter. And that’s the mistake of having a career where it’s the same thing each and every night,” he said.
The TV icon launched his own 24/7 channel.
“Now, I still advise people not to retire, but it was so single focused. If we can make these three, 400 people laugh every night, that’s our responsibility. So the idea that it actually transported beyond that would always come as kind of a glaring surprise,” the TV icon continued.
These days, Letterman is staying active with the launch of his 24/7 channel, Letterman TV, packed with content from his iconic late-night run.
“I’m very excited about this,” he exclaimed. “Now I can watch myself age without looking in the mirror!”
