US chat king David Letterman makes surprise retirement announcement

Legendary Late Show TV host David Letterman will retire in 2015; when his current contract expires.

17:04 04 April 2014

US chat king David Letterman has made a surprise retirement announcement during a taping of Thursday’s show. The 66-year-old confirmed that he would step down in “at least a year or so.” 

 

He said: "The man who owns this network, Leslie Moonves, he and I have had a relationship for years and years and years, and we have had this conversation in the past, and we agreed that we would work together on this circumstance and the timing of this circumstance.

 

"And I phoned him just before the programme, and I said 'Leslie, it's been great, you've been great, and the network has been great, but I'm retiring.’

 

"I just want to reiterate my thanks for the support from the network, all of the people who have worked here, all of the people in the theatre, all the people on the staff, everybody at home, thank you very much."

 

Letterman’s announcement came just weeks after Jay Leno, his longtime rival, has retired from NBC’s tonight show. 

 

Letterman has been a late night broadcaster for more than 32 years and has hosted 6,000 episodes. His show Late Night received a Peabody in 1992 and Letterman became a Kennedy Centre Honoree in 2012.