More than 40 years into his late-night hosting career, David Letterman isn’t planning to call it a night anytime soon.
At age 77, the 8x Emmy winner recently shot down the potential of retirement while admitting he’s “surprised” that he still finds himself hosting up to three shows a night for Netflix‘s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
“Retirement is a myth. Retirement is nonsense. You won’t retire. The human mechanism will not allow you to retire,” Letterman told GQ.
“But you know what I’m saying. As long as you are healthy, you still want to produce,” he added. “And you will find ways to, once I stopped doing the show, it took me a couple of years to figure out that, oh, this is a completely different rhythm. And without the rhythm that you’re accustomed to, largely unsatisfying. So you got to find something that’s important to you.”
The comedian, who first hosted Late Night with David Letterman on NBC in 1982, continued to evade the question of retirement as he was pressed once again.
Norm MacDonald, David Letterman on the Jan. 7, 1998 episode of The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection)
“I don’t know. Like I said, I’m surprised at the number that I’m still doing it at now,” he explained. “I think if I start in the middle of talking to a world famous guest – I fall asleep.
“I was doing some show for Netflix a couple of years ago, and the schedule was ridiculous. We were doing three shows a night, twice and then three shows another night twice. And it was just insane. And the stage manager came up to me between one of these production shows and she said, You’re going to have to sit up straight. Look, I know you’re exhausted, but can you just sit up straight? And I just thought, well, maybe that’s a sign. Maybe that’s a sign,” said Letterman.
Letterman has hosted his Netflix talk show since 2018, debuting Season 5 this June.
