Full Coverage: David Letterman retires from ‘Late Show’

Would that we all got our favorite band to play our favorite song as we say goodbye to our greatest career achievement.

David Letterman’s final appearance as host of “The Late Show” averaged 13.76 million viewers, the CBS program’s best ratings performance since February 1994.

The late-night TV hosts who battle one another for audiences laid down their arms this week to pay tribute to their inspiration, David Letterman, as he finished his run on “Late Show.”

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning said he has numerous memories about David Letterman, but his favorite was a phone call the two shared that resulted in the “Late Show” host deciding not to air a joke about Andrew Luck.

A colleague came by my desk a couple of weeks ago to discuss the unexpected sorrow he felt while watching the final weeks of “Late Night With David Letterman.”

When David Letterman signed off on CBS’ “The Late Show” Wednesday night, a bunch of A-listers turned up to bid him goodbye.

It’s here -- David Letterman’s last Top 10 List.

David Letterman closed out his 33 years as a late-night host on Wednesday with a star-studded finale that ended with his favorite band the Foo Fighters playing “Everlong,” the song that welcomed him back after his heart bypass surgery in 2000.

Bill Murray, in all his quirky glory, stumbled out of an enormous goodbye cake on David Letterman’s penultimate episode of “The Late Show.”

Dave Letterman booked his favorite band to close out his three-decade-long run in late-night TV.

In his final weeks as host of CBS’ “Late Show,” David Letterman has recruited a cavalcade of bold-face names, including President Obama, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Tina Fey, Oprah Winfrey and even, rumor has it, former archrival Jay Leno.

As David Letterman counts down the months and weeks until his retirement from the “Late Show,” he’s becoming more nostalgic about the good times he’s had.

By Christy Khoshaba

David Letterman kicked off his last full week of “Late Shows” with an appearance from Howard Stern.

Nothing says David Letterman like a greasy, New York City pizza box strewn with leftover crust remnants and crushed beer cans.

The guest lineup for David Letterman’s final three episodes of “Late Show” has been revealed, and while there are many long-expected names, there’s still room for some surprises.

“Late Show with David Letterman” has seen it all. Click through the nostalgia.

President Obama stopped by “The Late Show” on Monday to pay his respects to David Letterman just a few weeks ahead of the host’s retirement.

The passing of the “Late Show” torch has officially begun.

CBS has scheduled Stephen Colbert’s new late-night show to start Sept. 8.

Close observers of David Letterman’s interactions with the musical guests on his late-night show no doubt remember his reaction last year to Future Islands, the Baltimore synth-pop outfit that more or less blew Letterman away with an earnestly wacky performance of its semi-hit “Seasons (Waiting on You).”

As the clock is running out on David Letterman’s long late-night career, CBS has decided to send him off with a prime-time special, examining his long broadcasting career.

Bill Murray was David Letterman’s first late night guest on Feb. 1, 1982, and he could be the last.

Bill O’Reilly stopped by “Late Show With David Letterman” on Tuesday for what’s possibly his final appearance with his sometime sparring partner.

Sportscaster Keith Olbermann is no stranger to being suspended -- he was briefly taken off his ESPN show last month after getting into a fight on Twitter -- so it’s not surprising that he has great sympathy for embattled newsman Brian Williams.

Heeeere’s ... Brian?

Bill Belichick did something on national television Wednesday night that some might suspect he’s been doing in private for the last month or so.

Embattled NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has pulled out of his scheduled Thursday appearance on “Late Show With David Letterman.”

Rapper J.

By Patrick Kevin Day and Jevon Phillips

In a flurry of unexpected tweets and hastily assembled blog posts, the news went out across America and the world that David Letterman is retiring from CBS’s “Late Show,” which he has hosted for 21 years, sometime in 2015, or as he put it “2015, for the love of God.”

The late-night circuit is usually a well-oiled Hollywood hype machine through which movie stars and hot-shot directors can safely plug their latest films.

The late-night TV landscape is about to once again undergo a massive seismic shift when David Letterman retires from his “Late Show” on CBS sometime in 2015.

After David Letterman announced Thursday that he would be retiring after more than three decades in late-night television, the news, though not exactly unexpected, sparked an immediate response on Twitter.

Production rivals New York and Los Angeles are engaged in a tug of war over the “Late Show.”

David Letterman announced an end to his three-decade career in late night on Thursday night’s “Late Show.”

Innovative TV host David Letterman announces he will depart CBS’ ‘Late Show’ in 2015.