Before Stephen Colbert took over The Late Show in 2015, he had a meeting with his predecessor, the venerated maestro of the Ed Sullivan Theater, David Letterman. The two comedians looked back on that conversation on Monday night, as the retired host returned to his old haunt for the first time since he left the show. It turns out, Letterman had already forgotten most of that old talk—but as Colbert reminded him, there was one thing he said he’d wished he’d tried before he left, and Colbert made sure to incorporate it when he took over.
It’s been eight years since Letterman left The Late Show and, two years later, launched his Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, which has run for four seasons. But in news that’ll surprise no one, Letterman still seems right at home at Ed Sullivan—even if he readily admits he’s already forgotten most of that old talk with Colbert.
“One of the last things I asked you was, ‘Is there anything you wish you had done that you didn’t do while you were here?’” Colbert reminded Letterman. “And you said, ‘Yes, I would have liked to try the desk on the other side of the stage.’ ... Because Johnny [Carson] had his desk on this side of the stage.”
“That’s right,” Colbert’s predecessor recalled. “Johnny’s configuration was exactly as yours is. And I think, you know, thinking about it, who gives a good god damn?”
The late-night legend Carson came up again when Colbert reflected on how helpful it is, in the unique and strange world of late-night, to have mentors and peers you can call on—like, in Colbert’s case, his former boss Jon Stewart and his buddies on the Strike Force Five podcast, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, and Jimmy Fallon. When asked if Carson was such a person for him, however, Letterman laughed and gave a simple, “No.”
“Johnny is, was, the Mount Olympus,” Letterman said. “You didn’t just call Johnny and say, ‘Hey Johnny, how’s it going, should I do this? What about the color socks? ... So no, I was pretty much alone; I was orphaned in the talk show world.”
As for the meeting he and Colbert shared before the latter took over The Late Show, Letterman said he recalled only two things: Teaching Colbert how to operate the freight elevator and riding it up and down “about nine times” and the moment when Colbert said, “Do you have in this building, like a hidey-hole? I hadn’t heard ‘hidey-hole’ in forever. And I’m thinking, ‘What kind of show is this guy gonna do?’”
Colbert decided to check his predecessor then and remind him that he did, in fact, have an answer—even if he couldn’t remember where it was. “I’m not gonna tell you because then my producers will know!” he said. “You said, ‘It’s great because it’s close enough to where the producers are that you can hear them calling for you and they won't know where you are.”
Letterman largely avoided sentimentality during his appearance—he made a face when the audience let out an “aw” at his comment about being “orphaned” in late night—but he did share a few cherished memories of musical guests who went out of their way to be on the show, including Foo Fighters, who performed “Everlong” during his final episode, and The National, who were the featured band in Monday’s installment. And before he left, Letterman also sent a shout-out to one frequent former guest—one who Colbert also noted gave him his first job in network television.
“I just wanted to say a quick hi to Dana Carvey—that’s all,” Letterman said as Colbert echoed that sentiment. “... He and I had the heart surgery in common, and whenever he would be on the show, I always felt a great empathy and sympathy back and forth because of that. So just, hi to Dana Carvey.”
