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IPFS News Link • Entertainment: Television (TV)

David Letterman talks exit, 'the Jimmys' and why CBS had reason to fire him

• http://www.today.com, Ree Hines

But now that the end of his "Late Show" run is nigh, the host is opening up about his 33 years in the business, including scandal, his successor and whether or not "the Jimmys" drove him out of his job.

"No, they didn't push me out," he told The New York Times of his youthful competition, "The Tonight Show's" Jimmy Fallon and the host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live." "I'm 68. If I was 38, I'd probably still be wanting to do the show. When Jay [Leno] was on, I felt like Jay and I are contemporaries. Every time he would get a show at 11:30, he would succeed smartly. And so I thought, 'This is still viable — an older guy in a suit.' And then he left, and I suddenly was surrounded by the Jimmys."

Ultimately, Letterman simply felt it was his time to step down, even though the impending end leaves him feeling "awash in melancholia." But he's not planning a sentimental send-off, à la former "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson.


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