When David Letterman left the Late Show in 2015, it felt like a generational changing of the guard. After over three decades as a late-night host, the comedian was stepping away, letting Stephen Colbert reinvent the show while Letterman enjoyed the free time to do, well, nothing — other than grow a really serious beard. So when Netflix announced last year that he would be coming out of retirement to host a talk show, it raised a couple of questions. What could Letterman do outside the limitations of network television that he hadn’t already done, and would a David Letterman series still seem relevant given that the late-night world has moved on?
The first episode of the show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, is out now, featuring President Barack Obama. As it turns out, there’s quite a few things that Letterman is able to do outside the bounds of network TV. And when compared to the quick-turnaround, snarky tone that permeates so much late-night material today, Letterman’s honesty and degree of emotional introspection don’t just make him still relevant; they make him absolutely essential.
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