David Letterman is a comedian, host and producer who is one of the longest-running names in the late-night talk show genre on American television. He is known for his shows that ran for a total of 33 years on NBC and CBS.
He was born on April 12, 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated from Ball State University in 1969 and that same year began working as an anchor and weekend weatherman at WLWI in Indianapolis. After gaining attention with his humorous weather presentations, he moved to Los Angeles in 1975; While he was on stage at The Comedy Store, he also wrote scripts for television.
Late Night and Late Show
His real break came on Late Night with David Letterman, which premiered on NBC on February 1, 1982. The program lasted until 1993. Letterman, who moved to CBS the same year, launched the Late Show with David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York on August 30, 1993. The last episode, broadcast on May 20, 2015, became the most watched broadcast of this program.
It presented a total of 6,080 episodes on two channels. The company Worldwide Pants, which he founded in 1991, produced other productions in addition to his own programs.
After leaving the screen, in 2018 he launched My Next Guest Needs No Introduction on Netflix, a program based on long interviews. He has won numerous Emmy awards throughout his career; He was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor Award in 2012 and the Mark Twain Award for contribution to American humor in 2017.
His style, based on irony and absurd humor, influenced many late night show hosts who came after him.
