David Letterman Is Retiring...About A Decade Too Late

When I heard the news this evening that David Letterman had announced he was retiring, my first reaction was one of relief. I mean, I love Dave but he's way beyond the point where he really had any influence on the next day's water cooler talk. Because he didn't have anywhere else to go (and because he wanted to outlast long-time rival Jay Leno), Letterman has seemed to sleep walk through most of the past decade. He did a few half-hearted monologue jokes, did a bit or two that was old in 2004 and only seemed to rouse himself on those rare occasions when he had a guest on the show that sparked his interest.

I don't enjoy saying this and I'm not trying to be contrarian just to get some attention. I felt the same way about Johnny Carson's final years hosting "The Tonight Show" and he is the reason I became a stand-up comic back in the stone ages. But hosting a late night talk show requires an enormous amount of energy and drive and ultimately it's a young (or at least middle-aged) man's game.

I first saw Letterman at The Comedy Store back when he was wearing flannel shirts and sporting a beard. I've always been a fan and his impact on late night television can't be underestimated. Which is why it's been so difficult in recent years watching him comedically punching a clock until it was time for him to go. He became the type of host that he mocked in his early years and it was often depressing spectacle. I don't begrudge his desire to stay on the job. I just didn't want to see it. Watching the "Late Show" in recent years has more often than not resembled those times when some Las Vegas casino hired a former heavyweight champ as a greeter. I respected Letterman's skills, but it pained me to see lumbering around onstage, trying to muster up a bit of the faded old magic.

I've already read a few pieces trying to parse out the most-likely replacements for Letterman and the truth is that there aren't any good fits for the job. Unlike the deep talent pool left by Johnny Carson, both Leno and Letterman's ego and reluctance to give any potential rival a shot as a guest host means that there isn't anyone around with recent talk show hosting experience. Craig Ferguson doesn't seem suited to an earlier time and many of the other names being bandied around - Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Ellen Degeneres - seem unlikely to be willing to devote the time necessary to do the job well.

The flipside of this question is also just what type of talk show will replace Letterman's "Late Show." The temptation is to play it safe and just plug someone funny into a show that doesn't look all that different than Dave's show. But no matter how talented the new host, no matter how inspired the decision, the new show will only work if it's substantially rebooted in order to compete with the viral-friendly Fallon and Kimmel shows.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Today is for remembering Letterman's many accomplishments and the impact he's had on late night television. And it's also a time for being thankful that he's decided to move on.