Sneft another Turning Point or a Fork Stuck in the road time that you bother to direct you where to go snepd. The 90s represented being who you were. This is the kind of music im going to make and i dont care who likes it and doesnt like it and im not going to sound like anybody else. This is who i am. People were starving for authenticity, they were starving for what the real experience was, the messy experience of being human, and the 90s gave complete grand Prix Light Permission for that to be explored. You talk about this band and you go, oh, wait a minute, you Cant Talk about the 90s without this one and this one and this one. Theres so many monumental bands one after the other. Thats the 90s. Hanging on a shelf its something unpredictable i hope you had the time of your life and so it has come to this. I think that Johnny Carson came with the tv set. What the hell were you thinking . It was the new johnny for me. Im not exactly a computer. Slow down. It felt edgy before i was probably old enough to appreciate what edgy was. His name is letterman. Ill give it a shot. My heart dropped through my butt, exited my butt. Hole [ bleep ] [ bleep ]. It makes every hair on my body Stand Up. What . Nobodys a late Night Host until they are one. Tomorrow we will drown out the negative voices. Five people are dead. The end of an era. After ruling late Night Television for 30 years, Johnny Carson steps down tonight. Theres nobody in the place but You And Me this is what america knew for 30 years. There was that intimacy and john i know youre getting anxious to close johnnys got a Look on her face when she said john i know youre anxious to go, that made me tear up. They all wanted to give him a serenade. How cool was that . And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something i always wanted to do and i have enjoyed every single minute of it. Johnny carson was and is i think the high watermark. He was it. He was the only one. He was the one that i grew up with. He is Late Night. I bid you a very heartfelt good night. Thank you. [ cheers and applause ] and he walked out of the building and got in the helicopter and went away. I didnt know if anybody could pick up the flag and run with it. Live from the Nbc Studios in burbank, california, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The Tonight Show ended on a friday. We started on a monday. It was awkward. Lets see Highway Yall feel in 30 years. I started, i was doing johnnys show exactly the Way Johnny did it in Johnnys Studio but as the Tv Critic will tell you im not johnny. Who would not be nervous following the kingsessing of late knight, right . Youre coming to you live. As it happens were not on tape. This is live, live, live. Anyone who thinks they can host a Late Night show, you are an absolute idiot, because theres so much that goes into it. Please welcome billy crystal. [ cheers and applause ] this started out together as standups. Now here we are. Hes the host of the Tonight Show. The buildup for this. Its been tremendous. I just want to say im going to miss you. And Jay Lenos first few months, people didnt like him. They thought he was out of his element. From the beginning of the Vietnam War until today our military used more explosive than were used in lethal weapon one, two, and three combined. Unbelievable. Combined. Sometimes there was nothing to laugh at. You would Look and, thanks for that one. I did wonder at times if i had made a mistake, fighting for and believing in jay. One out of every three men is afraid of longterm commitment. You ask me, i think one out of every three Tv Networks is afraid of a lot of nerves, Behind The Scenes, it was dramatic. Jays manager helen was the Executive Producer to say helen was not collaborative is an understatement. That was war. Now Jack Kevorkian says hes going to get a new car. Hes sick and tired of driving his old van. It is nothing but a death trap. In the early years, it was Skiry Kpor those who had kids and families in houses. Im glad youre here. Hey, im glad im here. Ok. Yes. A story every day in the trades, will nbc dump leno. Leno ratings going down. Will leno be replaced. Where Will Dave Go . Dont mind me, im just a pitch. When Johnny Carson retired, it was an open field. Hence, the intense competition between Jay Leno and David Letterman. Suddenly it became about whos show is it. Leno got it and letterman was maybe i dont have a place in show business. He made it clear up front that his dream was to some Day Host the Tonight Show. It didnt make sense of having Jay Leno doing an hour of a Talk Show and i would come on afterwards and do an hour of a Talk Show. Maybe its my time to step aside. If they want to put you on at 12 30 after Jay Leno, youll kill yourself. I said, i have to get you an 11 30 show. And then the battle began. Dave letterman started getting offers from other networks. Letterman was the kingsessing. Youre pretty cocky in in the middle of the negotiations. You have the mid negotiation multimillion Dollar Glow about you. There were still a number of people within nbc who felt strongly that it was a mistake to let Dave Letterman leave. Theyin inagonized over the loss David Letterman. They still have letterman under contract for more than a year. They said maybe we should reconsider the original decision not to give dave the show. Before Dave Letterman jumped ship from nbc, they wanted to make one final move to try and get dave. Dave offered the Tonight Show but hes only going to get it in a year and a half when jays first contract is up. I said to dave, we cant go near that offer. Thats total bullshit, because theyll get out of it. And dave was really confused at that point. And he says, you know what, dave . Call johnny. And johnny said if they treated me the way theyre treating you, no. I would go to cbs. Tell them to go to hell. The announcement designed to keep you up at night has been made. David letterman is moving Lock Stock and stupid pet tricks. The deal that letterman wins is astronomical. Cbs lured him over with a salary more than four times that of helpo and giving him what he really wanted, the 11 30 time slot. There was so much Thiep And Buildup to watch both shows. Jay leno taking over from Johnny Carson. Leno getting the cbs spot. All eyes were on him. There was nothing that you could not do Lash Sensational Mascara from maybelline New York. Lashes go soft, supple and fully fanned. Exclusive fanning brush. Every lash sensational. Now in Midnight Black with rose hip oil. Lash sensational mascara. Only from maybelline New York. If youre 55 and up, tmobile has plans built just for you. Switch now and get 2 unlimited lines and 2 free smartphones. Lash sensational mascara. And now get netflix on us. Its all included with 2 lines for only 70 bucks only at tmobile. Good morning, mr. Sun. Good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. Im gonna grow big and strong. Yes, you are. Im gonna get this place all clean. Ill give you a hand. And im gonna put lisa on crutches wait, what . Said shes gonna need crutches. She fell pretty hard. You might want to clean that up, girl. Excuse us. When owning a Small Business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. And im gonna eh, eh, eh. Donny, no. Oh. When the show moved, it felt like a viking ship. All bets are credit to dave. Dave is charismatic. I would be in my office and all of a sudden, i would feel a jolt of electricity and i would Look back and he would be in my doorway. From the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York city, its The Late Show with David Letterman were now in the big room. We cant celebrate failure the way we used to. Weve got to be sure doesnt have mistakes. All i really did was take the summer off, if you think about it. At 11 30 letterman fans were worried that he wouldnt be the hip, subversive kind of nasty guy. Bill murray. Bill. Are you all right . I went to the other place. Bill murray took out the spray paint. This is nuts but its going to work. That was kind of a surprise to all of us. You felt a very edgy show in the making. Hi, everybody its Dave Letterman a lot of late Night Hosts have multiple personalities, and David Letterman was just one guy. It was always David Letterman. The next day Cbs Stock went up 19 points. And i remember being in Daves Office after the first show, dave Looking at me as if for the first time he realized what have we got for tomorrow . This is our friend rupert g. Who owns and operates the Hello Deli here. How you doing . Hi. It was so damn funny and irreverent. Put on the glasses and the hat. This is what is youll see him Looking like on the videotape. We tried to come up with ways that dave could interact with people. Id like to a quarter pounder. A quarter pounder. And a half pounder. And a half popped upper. And a pounder. And these people turned out to be funnier in many cases than if you had booked a Boldface Name that would have been on top of the marquee. Dave, yes, sir. I dont have that. With letterman, i felt like i was watching a thing that hadnt been on tv before. What would you like . I told you [ bleep ]. It felt edgy. Before i was probably old enough to appreciate what edgy was. And a burrito supreme with no meat, is that correct . Shes gone already, chief. Actually went to go see David Letterman. And now David Letterman and dave was great. Paul shaffer was awesome. I remember Looking at the cameras going hopefully it turns around and ill be on tv. And i remember taping it at Home And Id bring it to parties. Its like a white glur. Im like, thats me. Dude on television. Did you see me . All we were told was there was no way our show could compete with jays show but in the first year it became the Number One show, so cbs was delighted. For the first time in the entire history of late Night Nbc is not in first place. Meanwhile, im trying to figure out who do we want in the 12 30 time slot after Jay Leno. They would have given it to Gary Shandling or dana carvey. Jon stewart was in play. A lot of talent just felt it was too frightening to try to step into the shadow of David Letterman who at that point was the hottest thing in show business. We dropped out a generation. When youre Looking at people 30, theyre very two people. So you go well, who are the best people i know right now. Lorne called me up. Conan had been here on snl as a writer. Hes truly funny. Since he was a boy literally had dreams of being a Late Night Talk Show host. When youre a kid, you naturally start running through your checklist im not a good athlete. Im anxious, i have a weird name. I found that i can make people laugh. And then he said what he really wanted to be was housed. He had no experience. I was kind of surprised that lorne went along with it. They pilgrimagingly agreed to a Screen Test and of course he didnt have a jacket. I met him at his car. He took out the trunk of his car a Rump Bld Sport coat. It was vaguely white, as i remember. A white linen jacket. Awful. Thank you for coming. How could i miss an opportunity like this. No. Ooilgts not often you get to share camera time with me. There you go. In the middle of the Interview Conan said people its tough to be like a model. You know what . No. Im not talking about it is. In that second, i thought to myself, this guys got it. Thats The End of my mock show. If thats all i ever get, it was a lot of fun. I had a good time. Thank you very much. Good night. All i remember, it felt right. There were flares. There was a spark. Couple days later i picked up the phone and it was my agent and he said you got 12 30. My heart dropped through my butt. It exited my butt. If we had been fully aware of the scrutiny, the pressure, you know, what was at stake, we would have gone bananas. Its hard. Can you imagine . Taking over for David Letterman. It was crazy. To this day, its one of the craziest things i think ive heard of in television. Swipe, lift, spin, dry. Slam, pan, still. Fresh move, move, move, Move Aaaaand still fresh. Degree. Ultimate freshness activated when you move. The first ingredient in this Clif Bar is brown rice syrup, ultimate freshness which is another name for sugar. In this kind bar, its hearthealthy almonds. With the taste of Dark Chocolate and 75 less sugar than the leading Clif Bar. Be kind to yourself. With armor all, a little bit of this. Protects you. From a lot of that. Keep your Car Cleaner longer. Armor all extreme shield plus ceramic. I think i can. I think i can. I think i can. I think i can. I think. I can. Discomfort back there . Instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders, try the cooling, soothing Relief Or Preparation h. Because your derriere deserves expert care. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. Tonight, ill be eating fried avocado tacos. [doorbell rings] [doorbell rings] thank you. Ooo. You gonna eat that at lesliepalooza . What . Whos coming to that . Everyones coming, everybody. You, her, me, all of us. Everyones coming, everybody. With visible, you get unlimited data for as little as 25 a month. But when you bring a friend, you get a month for 5. So im bringing everyone within 12 degrees of me. Bam, 12 months of 5 wireless. Visible. Wireless that gets better with friends. For 175 years, new York Life has been helping people act on their love. Okay . So they can Look back, and say, we did good. Look. If your Wireless Carrier was a guy, youd leave him tomorrow. Not very flexible. Not great at saving. You deserve better xfinity mobile. Now, they have unlimited for just 30 a month. 30 dollars. And theyre number 1 in customer satisfaction. His number . Delete it. Deleting it. So break free from the big three. Xfinity internet customers, take the Savings Challenge at xfinitymobile. Com mysavings or visit an Xfinity Store to learn how our Switch Squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. We made this Cold Open where this guys really in deep shit and hes actually doing a sketch about it. Obrian, big night tonight, huh . Oh, yeah. Lot of pressure. So they say. My suggestion was to have everybody that you say hi to say all right. Better be as good as letterman. Ill give it a shot. Happy music and then i go in my dressing room. Now do i have a minute . Right now. Ouch. The first night youre walking on air the entire show. Ear would on tv. Calm yourselves. Professional now. Act like youre too young to be on tv. Letterman was ironic and detached. That was the answer to carson. This show needs to be sillier. We give this bit where i play my favorite moment in my whole career. What you got in that mug . You wouldnt be interested, mr. President. Its some hot cocoa. Cream of coco, i love it. Lets have some. The kind of idiocy we couldnt have done on Saturday Night live. Here you go, mr. President. All right. Sometimes you just need conan Obrien And Andy richter doing something goofive. You want to make him angry. Stop it, andy, its not funny. I didnt know how to do it. He didnt know how to be a Talk Show host. He was not a yes man. Anticipated goes for the joke, and if youre insecure about being the Funniest Person out there dont have an andy regehr. Whoops. I just loved everything about that. Still do. Conan was the voice of a new generation. We werent really even watching Letter Bhan anymore. That was for older people. It was for the Tv Krit igs, it didnt speak to. The first six months conan Looked like a fighter. It was like ripe was taking Body Blow after Body Blow. I saw some pretty crumby stuff about myself. It says talentless lump of shit. Wow. Its me. Were only getting 13week renewals. They wanted to do less than 13 weeks. They were renewing us in oneweek chunks. What are you doing . That is the unfunniest show on tv. What i thought was this guy is in big trouble and this is not going to last. And i kept saying leave it alone. Hes getting better. The point where we really turned a corner was complete unannounced surprise. Ladies and gentlemen, David Letterman. Everybody watched that show because, oh, dave is coming back to nbc, but hes not doing anything with jay. I think you really have done a good job to carve out a wonderful identity for yourself and i really preach that. I think you did a nice job. Thank you. Our Big Brother Dave came in and stuck up for us. Oh. Turning point. Audiences got better. Finally, we got a longer renewal than 13 weeks. And then somebody who worked the network went to visit his kid in college and realized that everybody was talking about that show. Im hearing from College Kids this is their guy. Conan obrien. They love him. And slowly, very, very slow licon an started to find it. But jay is still getting his yaz handed to him. I was scared to death. Dave beat our brains out for two years. There were certainly questions on the part of my colleagues on nbc, what are we going to do about Jay Leno. I was really worried that the show was not going to make it. Let me ask you a question. When Police Officers watch shows like cops, do you think they root for the criminal . Oh, man. On the worst day of the Tonight Show and the worst horrible conditions, youre still writing a joke and youre laughing, and i say, all right, lets see what we have to do to bring this thing out of a hole. Jay has this ability to plow forward like nobody ive ever seen. I have to hand it to Jay Leno, that hes the one that says were going to win this thing and im going to work harder. At that point, Helen Kushner had been fired and we promoted debbie vickers. Its another example of a woman Behind The Scenes who really is the formative person in the show. Jay and i have in common the fact that we are both hard workers and we will do whatever is in our power to get better. Jays strength was the Monologue And Joke telling. And Jay Felt in studio, the audience was too far away from him, the band was too far away, so we got a new set design. Jay now is working closer to the audience. Weve extended the monologue because thats why jays muscles are. I cant help thinking, if youre a peeping tom, right, of all the people you could go after, why pick madonna. What part of this woman havent you seen already . I Cant Jay was roaming. It was tonight i felt like i was in a club, he was doing standup. Jays show had gotten really good. He was really strong. The people werent sampling it yet. Then there is the night where Hugh Grant comes on. That night turned the whole tide of late Night Television around and it never stopped. Supple and fully fanned. Exclusive fanning brush. Every lash sensational. Now in Midnight Black with rose hip oil. Lash sensational mascara. Only from maybelline New York. The light. It comes from within. It drives you. And it guides you. To shine your brightest. As you charge ahead. Illuminating the way forward. A light maker. Recognizing that the impact you make comes from the energy you create. Introducing the allelectric lyriq. Lighting the way. Welcome to allstate. You already pay for car insurance, why not take your home along for the ride . Allstate. Here, better protection costs a whole lot less. Youre in good hands. Click or call to bundle today. Its very hip to be on the internet right now. I ask you to join me and the president in working for fundamental change in Americas Health Care system. If it doesnt fit, you must acquit. Hugh grant was arrested early this morning in hollywood for allegedly pickling up a pruitt on sunset blld. The most important element of Hugh Grant showing up on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno is that he showed up. We all assumed he would cancel the appearance. Jay answer that and jay called Hugh Grant and said i think ultimately this story goes away if you dont hide. Please welcome, larm, Hugh Grant. Instead of having our usual whatever was Four Million viewers, we had over ten million. Let me start with Question Number one. Everyone wanted to know what is Hugh Grant going to say. What the hell were you thinking . Oh, my god. You couldnt have said it better. Now you know. The Hollywood Community was shocked that this type of thing was going on. Jay kills it. The whole show. Well, i mean, obviously, so many bad things about it, i dont know where to begin but one of them was the embarrassment i caused the people ive been working with. When you embarrass Tom Arnold at that point in july 1995, he became the voice of the viewer, carsonlike. And from that day on. Jay leno and the Tonight Show are Number One. The late Night Crowd is back on nbc. Dave hated losing. He became more and more tied up in what the ratings are. Its a Life Size Dave Letterman doll. Look at that beauty right there. Isnt that good . There you go. Jays crossed us. This had a very big impact on the mood of dave and the show in general. It was the only time that i ever thought he was uncomfortable on the air. I felt he thought people didnt want him there anymore. I said, youre Johnny Carson today. When you tune in to johnny, you expect him to stand there confidently and tell jokes. Time to fly the cards. I think that he started to realize, you know what, yes, this is not getting me anymore. And i went through this for about six months and oh, my god. How were you able to work every day being depressed . I had to push through it. Could you be funny . As funny as you can when youre depressed. Nobody ef disliked anybody. Dave did a lot of jokes about me and i did some about him. Its fine. If its funny, everythings off. As long as the joke is funny, thats cool. Well be right back. Dont go away. In the 90s, the networks are still the powerhouses, the titans what the change is sort of inevitable, and if you dont watch out, it will come and bite you. Competition was coming at you from all directions, and what we have is an explosion of late Night Television. We were seeing why do we need more of these shows . Dont we have enough . There was a Chevy Chase Show that lasted a week. A accept owe was on Top Of The World in syndication and One Day he was gone. I wasnt the guy that was supposed to do it straight through. I was supposed to go away and have other experiences. And i loved Tom Snyder. It just gave me a real love for the art of conversation. In 1991, you were quoted as saying, if i or Little Richard were white, there never would have been an elvis presley. I still believe that. He was doing Politically Incorrect on comedy central. Thank you. Thank you. Stop i789. They started to do 24hour News And Fox was coming in, cnn 24hour news. They nevada took cable all that seriously. Were going to try to get i was in a bar and it was the night of the first Gulf War and all of the tvs were on the war. And like there was Theme Songs and graphics. There was all these hot people reporting on a war. A very divided congress over the weekend gave President Bush the permission to Eject Iraqing from kuwait. Are they reporting on a war or trying to sell me on a war. What if we pretend were i was like sold. Way. I think were geniuses, like we knew that eureka, we had found it, the daily show. Needles. Essential for sewing, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. Because there are options. Like an unjection. xeljanz. The first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. Before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. Tell your doctor if youve had Hepatitis B or c, have flulike symptoms, or are prone to infections. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and Blood Clots have happened. Taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. Tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. Needles. Fine for some. But for you, theres a pill that may provide symptom relief. Ask your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. Xeljanz. An unjection. Germ Proof your car with marmor all disinfectant. O. Kills 99. 9 of bacteria and viruses. From the moment i laid eyes on you this is what i said, i said i see it and i like it and i want it yes, i do do, do, do i need it to make me happy baby, yes i do mean you i see it and i like it and i want it yes, i do woo [ footsteps] [ Suspenseful Music ] hey, you wanna get out of here . Ah ha. Weve got you. During expedia travel week, save 20 or more on thousands of hotels. Just book between June 8th and 12th to plan your escape with expedia. Expedia. It matoh, i had never seenwith. A picture of her until i got on ancestry. It was like touching the past. My great aunt signed up to serve in the Union Army as a field nurse. My great grandmother started a legacy of education in my family. Didnt know she ran for state office. Ended up opening her own restaurant in san francisco. Paralee wharton elder, lupe gonzalez, mary sawyers, margaret ross. Theres a lot of life that she lived. Who are the strong women in your family . Hello and welcome. My name is craig and i have soft features. Craig kilborn was a trip because he was so smug. He isnt the first Action Star to throw his hat into the ring. You might remember Love Songs for mouth breathers. And coerced duets with belgian prostitutes. In other news what we had was the sort of adolescent awkward bones of the daily show. The show did pretty well. Then One Day we were shoblgd to learn he was going to be leaving. Eventually, Tom Snyder retired and worldwide pants David Lettermans Production Company hired Craig Kilborn to be the host of the late late show on cbs. And now we start all over. Then One Day i got a call from a comedy manager. He said, hey, man, you think about John Dorve for this thing . Jon stewart had an edgy Late Night Talk Show that started on mtv. Hes rad. I think im falling for you. He had that important thing which is why he broke early. He had charisma. This is the daly show, with Jon Stewart. Jon had vision. Jop had a point of view. Youre out of order. This whole trial is sexy. He was a departure in style and tone. It was a political show. And the show always stood out adds just the place to get the news in a weird kind of way. Today witnessed the start of the united nationsed millennial summit. Getting in Touch O Prejudice disses they didnt know they had. Nobody knew there was a void. Election day, the day to choose a new president for a new century. The 2000 election. The daily show broke into a new threshold. Stand by as cnn is moving florida back to the too close to call column. It would only just have egg on our face, we would have omelet all over our suits. It could go Gores Way or bushs way. They went to bed not knowing who won the president ial election and theyre going to wake up that way as well. It has been an historic evening. Weve seen nothing change. Theres no outcome to the election. You ever seen anything like this before . Hold on. Im getting some Breaking News here. From my wife. It seems that my little girl just took her first steps. And i wasnt there. The bush gore recount, we had a month of that. Like, for example, election officials Looking at happening chads, thats inherent lip funny. We had a bet about how close it was on the supreme court. What can you tell us about this supreme Court Decision . My bit was that it was 54 but in kennedys mind it was incredibly close. As you can see, gore locked up the Justices Certificate Bell lum and orbital orpebuduncle. If you Look at the Southeast Portion Right here, you can see justice kennedys allimportant Occipital Lobe with simply too close to call. Horrifying, just horrifying. They had to pretend it was normal, whereas we dealt in absurdity. This was in our sweet spot. Suddenly Jon Stewart is topping lists of trusted journalists, which is very weird. He was doing comedy with a genes of a journalist. A more serious world demanded a more serious style of comedy. Really tackling what was going on. And. Dave was getting older. He was getting older and deeper around becoming a more serious guy. Wait till you hear what happened to me. In 2000, letterman had a heart attack. So i was five weeks ago today that these men and women right here saved my life and he became even more open to things as a person. And i think that translated to work, he became a different guy. And he was a sarcastic, biting guy. I couldnt be more proud. He used his pessimism, his emotional darkness and transformed it into comedy. When something terrible happens. These guys have to come on that night and do a show unless its just something off the charts terrible. ■5 o[niniw3 co people were so afraid at the time that we werent going to be able to be funny. co jt so horrific had happened. I know for theu first Few Das we were wondering if wez ver do a show again. The decision to go back on television after 9 11 was extremely difficult. No one knew what to do. The one that people turned to was David Letterman. Q exclusive fanning brush. Every lash sensational. Now in Midnight Black with rose hip oil. Lash sensational mascara. Only from maybelline New York. Lash sensational mascara. Visible is wireless that doesnt play games. Its powered by verizon for as little as 25 a month. But it gets crazier. Bring a friend every month and get every month for 5. Boom 12 months of 5 wireless. Visible, wireless that gets better with friends. For 175 years, new York Life has been helping people act on their love. Okay . So they can Look back, and say, we did good. At capella university, we know smart comes in many forms. Good boy so we made flexpath the kind of smart that keeps up with you. With flexpath, you can earn your Masters Degree in 14 months for 14,000. Thats the kind of smart i like. Capella university dont just learn. Learn smarter. Jeffs been to the bottom of the ocean. The tops of mountains. And wherever this guy runs off to. A life well lived should continue at home. With home instead care, older adults can stay home, safe, and happy. Home instead. To us, its personal. Late night at first struggled with how to confront 9 11. David lettermans a New Yorker. His show is in New York. And so for him it felt very personal. By 9 11 he had all this respect because you had these younger lateNight Hosts who grew up with him. He was this father figure. And dave said i think well come back monday, september 17th. On that day he said to me how much time do i have for this . And i remember saying as much as you want. Its terribly sad here in New York city. Weve lost 5,000 fellow New Yorkers. And you can feel it. You can feel it. You can see it. Its terribly sad. Terribly, terribly sad. He didnt tell you what to think. He didnt explain away this tragedy. Dave honestly hurting and making it a little easier for all of us. He became a voice for us in a different way. And its very simple. There is only one rerktd for any of us. And that is to be courageous. Because courage, as you might know, defines all other human behavior. And i believe because ive done a little of this myself, pretending to be courageous is just as good as the real thing. It was the first time that i can remember that a monologue made you cry. There was nobody better to share what we were all feeling. And he opens up Late Night. He opens it back up. Were going to try to feel our way through this, and well just see how it goes, take it a day at a time. After 9 11 when David Letterman came on the air, and i think that made it like us feel like it was okay to continue with our lives. It definitely altered i think the tone of the way people thought they could talk to their audience. And ive never, ever felt more unsure or more at a loss than i do tonight. I just i wanted to tell you why i grieve. But why i dont despair. You saw a lateNight Host being sort of raw and human. But then Bill Maher really takes it up a level. Earlier abc brought Bill Maher over with his Politically Incorrect show. We have been the cowards, Lobbing Cruise Missiles from 2,000 miles away. Thats cowardly. And that offends so many people. In the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it, not cowardly. Maybe a few years later he could get away with saying that. But he said it right after 9 11. His show was Politically Incorrect but that was a little too incorrect for abc. If i had to choose between losing my soul or losing my show im glad i chose losing my show. I never sold out. Getting into political waters is never from the Network Perspective what you want a latenight haute to do. This was really about what type of artist was the right talent for abc going forward. Abc had a bluecollar identity. And Jimmy Kimmel fit that profile extremely well. I was a little surprised when i learned that Jimmy Kimmel was going to take the Latenight Slot at abc. The host of the man show, Jimmy Kimmel Jimmy Kimmel did the man show. I never thought like, well, One Day my career might go to this place and i might have to be careful. You know, im a busy guy and sometimes i just dont have time to get loaded. Thats why i love shotgun beer. There was an Everyman Category to jimmy. There was a likability to jimmy. And these were all qualities that i felt were enormously important. And in a Blink Of An Eye i was on stage. Were on it didnt make a whole lot of sense. But i guess none of it does really. I mean, nobodys a lateNight Host until they are one. There are no nude women in the film . Yes. Are you so tired of hot naked starlets that it doesnt even faze you anymore . Nobody wants to see that, lets put more Sam Rockwell see more male ass. When you get a latenight Talk Show, you want to make it different. Which is the first mistake. I dont know why that format still works, but it does. And i think that when people break from it it doesnt. I didnt Stand Up and do a monologue. I didnt wear a tie. Everything we did was wrong. Im not sure were ever going to top this one. Guinness book named him the hairiest man in the world. Edelweiss edelweiss every morning you greet me we let the audience drink. The first night in the middle of the Show Someone threw up. Is it asking why do they call the town embarrass, minnesota . I dont know why they call it. All right. In the first months of the kimmel show it was a rough road