I’ll be honest. There is too much to write about what David Letterman and his Late Show has meant to me through my life and frankly, most people don’t visit this site to read long-winded breakdowns and memories of pop culture (that’s what is for). So in that spirit I will give you what I loved about David Letterman (I’m sure I am the 100,000th person to do this) in Top 10 form. Here we go.

#10. His Top Ten Lists

They weren’t always amazing but they had their moments.

 

#9. His bits and out of studio visits.

In one of the more memorable bits, Elaine Stritch played a woman who kept interrupting the show to demand David (her new pool boy and piece of eye candy) to give her attention.

Dave’s out of studio bits were the original cringe-worthy laugh in my opinion. Check out when he worked a McDonald’s Drive-Thru back in 1993 for example.

 

#8. His Bear Story

It is in fact a story about a bear and it’s pretty great.

 

#7. The CBS Mailbag

Dave hasn’t done this is a few years, but I used to love the Friday night show (mostly because it was the only one I could stay up late enough to watch) and watch a new installment of CBS Mailbag. It was pretty simple premise, people mailed Dave questions and he answered them…(cough)…look it’s a lot better when you see it.

 

#6. Jack Hannah

Anytime Jack Hannah was on it was awesome. You got to see some cool animals and Jack look more rattled at times than that part of a snake that rattles…ah I want to say it’s called the noise maker?…

 

#5. Paul Shaffer, Alan Kalter and Biff Henderson

David Letterman’s Musical director, Announcer and Stage Manager respectively had some great moments as well.

Paul Shaffer

Alan “Big Red” Kalter

Biff Henderson

 

#4. Dave’s ability to deal with bad or crazy interviews

To really appreciate his skills you should watch these in full but for now here are some highlights.

 

#3. Anytime Norm MacDonald was on

 

#2. Anytime Bill Murray was on

Bill was Letterman’s first guest back in the NBC days. For my money, he and Dave are one of the best interview combos in history.

 

#1. The Great/Iconic Moments (because #1 on the Top 10 was always the weakest)

Because I couldn’t decide on one, here are a bunch of moments that pop into my head when I think of David Letterman through the years…or at least the movements I could find YouTube clips of.

Dave returns from heart surgery

Michael Richards’ Apology

Dave speaks his mind about Jay Leno

Dave’s first show after 9/11

 

I can never express what this show has meant to me through the years, so I will simply say this: Thank you David Letterman.