David Letterman is signing off Wednesday night, and his fellow late-night TV hosts are showing their respects in various ways. Jimmy Kimmel is taking tomorrow night off, Jimmy Fallon did an on-air homage. Seth Meyers opened his show with a shot-by-shot (approximate) recreation of Late Night's opening credits in 1982, when Letterman launched the post-Tonight Show program. The announcer introduced Meyers as "a man who knows it's Letterman's show and he's just borrowing it." Which is a pretty good tribute.
But of course you can't turn back the clock to 1982, especially in midtown Manhattan. "The biggest difference between 1982 New York City and now, today's New York City: So, so many fewer pornography theaters," Meyers explained. "It's so sad, because people still bring families here for vacation, and I don't know where they go anymore." 1982 Letterman probably couldn't have said it better himself. —Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
