A few days after Jimmy Kimmel decided not to air a new episode opposite David Letterman’s big finale, Jimmy Fallon decided to give his own tribute to the late night legend. Anyone who pays attention to the late night circuit may have seen it coming, but The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon segment is sweet, nonetheless. Catch the full tribute, below.
Fallon begins his fond memories of Letterman by talking about what it was like to be a kid and watch David Letterman shape the 12:30 timeslot on NBC. He “grew up” watching Dave, and when he was a schoolboy, one of his teachers even predicted he would eventually find success and take over Letterman’s timeslot, a prediction which came true when Fallon took over The Late Night timeslot in 2009. (Although, by the looks of things, I'm not sure how sound the rest of those predictions ended up being.)
He also recounts the story of the last time he visited The Late Show with David Letterman, talking about how he had never interacted with Dave prior to an episode before. However, during his final visit, Letterman wanted to say hi beforehand, so Fallon peeked out just in time to see Dave waving and grinning like a madman. Fallon’s often at his best when he is telling stories like this, and you should really give the video a watch if you have the chance, rather than take my word for it.
This isn’t the first time NBC’s late night host has paid tribute to Letterman. When Letterman first announced his retirement back in April of last year, Jimmy Fallon had the perfect reaction to the news. Well, perfect depending on how you look at it. Fallon actually totally ripped off Letterman’s “Top 10” list for a bit on the top reasons the great late night host decided to retire, which included funny lines about Jay Leno and The Amazing Race. It still holds up more than a year later if you want to give it a watch.
The Late Show with David Letterman will officially end after Wednesday night’s broadcast on CBS. In the time following, Stephen Colbert will get ready to take over The Late Show at the network. The late night landscape will certainly be different without Letterman, but it’s nice to see those who have come after have certainly been influenced by the veteran.
