Jimmy Kimmel will air a rerun during Letterman finale out of respect, tears

Jimmy Kimmel is showing a rerun during David Letterman&#039;s last show — (Image credit: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Variety)

David Letterman's last CBS Late Show will air on May 20, and his ABC competitor, Jimmy Kimmel, is taking that night off. "I have too much respect for Dave to do anything that would distract viewers from watching his final show," Kimmel told The New York Times. "Plus, I'll probably be crying all day, which makes it hard to work."

While Jimmy Kimmel Live will be a rerun on May 20, Letterman's other competitors — Jimmy Fallon at NBC and Conan O'Brien at TBS — are airing new shows that night. All of them owe "a spiritual debt of gratitude" to Letterman, says Dave Itzkoff at The Times, but Kimmel is the one with the least connection to the late-night legend: Conan, then Fallon, succeeded Letterman at Late Night, "the late-night institution that provided an early launching pad for Mr. Letterman's career (before it broke his heart)," Itzkoff notes. Comedy Central's rival shows, The Daily Show and The Nightly Show, are in reruns all that week.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.