The New York Times has a great new interview with David Letterman out today, where the former Late Show host reflects on late night, retirement, what TV comedies he watches (no late night shows, but he’s a big Veep and Portlandia fan), and his struggle to figure out what to do next. Here’s what he said about keeping his Late Show retirement beard:
The beard is a good reminder to me that that was a different life. I’m hopeful that I will either find something else, or something else will be presented to me.
On being a late night host:
I don’t miss late-night television. And I’m a little embarrassed that, for 33 years, it was the laser focus of my life.
On trying to figure out what to do next:
I keep saying, jeez, I still think I can do something. I want that epiphany that others have had. It’s the same epiphany that I had about wanting to do a TV show when I was, like, 17. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and I envy people who, in humanitarian pursuits, have had this realization.
On the current late night hosts:
The people that are doing late-night now all seem to be buddies. They all seem to be, “Well, I’ll do your show for a week, and then you can do my show for a week.” It’s like, wait a minute — what’s going on here? What happened to the late-night wars?
Read the rest of the interview over at The New York Times.
