Late Show with David Letterman

★ 7.0 15K votes 1993–2015 22 seasons · 3985 episodes Ended CBS

Talk & panelLong-runnerDry humorEpisodicWitty banter

Comedy Music Talk-Show

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Written by

David Letterman

Written by

David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman Episode Ratings Heatmap

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	Avg		E1	E2	E3	E4	E5	E6	E7	E8	E9	E10	E11	E12	E13	E14	E15	E16	E17	E18	E19	E20	E21	E22	E23	E24	E25	E26	E27	E28	E29	E30	E31	E32	E33	E34	E35	E36	E37	E38	E39	E40	E41	E42	E43	E44	E45	E46	E47	E48	E49	E50	E51	E52	E53	E54	E55	E56	E57	E58	E59	E60	E61	E62	E63	E64	E65	E66	E67	E68	E69	E70	E71	E72	E73	E74	E75	E76	E77	E78	E79	E80	E81	E82	E83	E84	E85	E86	E87	E88	E89	E90	E91	E92	E93	E94	E95	E96	E97	E98	E99	E100	E101	E102	E103	E104	E105	E106	E107	E108	E109	E110	E111	E112	E113	E114	E115	E116	E117	E118	E119	E120	E121	E122	E123	E124	E125	E126	E127	E128	E129	E130	E131	E132	E133	E134	E135	E136	E137	E138	E139	E140	E141	E142	E143	E144	E145	E146	E147	E148	E149	E150	E151	E152	E153	E154	E155	E156	E157	E158	E159	E160	E161	E162	E163	E164	E165	E166	E167	E168	E169	E170	E171	E172	E173	E174	E175	E176	E177	E178	E179	E180	E181	E182	E183	E184	E185	E186	E187	E188	E189	E190	E191	E192	E193	E194	E195	E196	E197	E198	E199	E200	E201	E202	E203	E204	E205	E206	E207	E208	E209	E210	E211	E212	E213	E214	E215
S1	6.9		7.7	5.3						7.2
S2
S3
S4	5.3																																																															5.8																																																																																																													4.8
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9	6.2																																																																																																																																																																																																														6.2
S10	6.8																																																																																																																																																																									6.8
S11
S12	4.2																																																																																										8.7					5.6	8.1			2.2																				4.0																													7.8																	5.8										1.4
S13	6.4																																																																																																																																																																																								6.4
S14	5.9							7.6	4.9		5.2
S15	7.3																																					6.0													8.0				7.2		6.4							5.5																							6.2										7.1				8.3
S16	7.8		5.8																																														7.3																																										8.8
S17	4.9														6.2																																																																																																	1.7																																																																									6.2
S18	7.1											6.6	8.0																																																																								3.0																																																								9.0
S19	7.4																																										8.4			9.0																																																5.0																																																7.2
S20	8.6		8.8																																																						8.3
S21	6.7																																																																																																																																		8.3																												5.0
S22	8.5																																																																																																																																												8.0				8.3	8.9				8.5	7.9	8.8	8.6

About

"Deadpan subversion that quietly redefined late night comedy"

For 22 years, David Letterman held court on CBS with a nightly mix of celebrity interviews, absurdist comedy bits, musical guests, and his signature Top Ten Lists. What made it special wasn't polish but attitude: Letterman's dry, needling sarcasm and genuine boredom with showbiz niceties turned a formulaic format into something sly and unpredictable. Some nights it's a great interview, other nights a ridiculous stunt with a monkey or a guy in a suit made of Alka-Seltzer. The pace is loose and nightly, built for dipping in rather than binging start to finish.

Watch it for

the dry, needling sarcasm that turned a standard talk-show format into something genuinely subversive.

Maybe skip if

you want tight, binge-friendly storytelling rather than a loose nightly variety format.

Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.

All Seasons

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Season 11993

6.9878478h 51m

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Season 21994

—0211200h 27m

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Season 31995

—0213202h 21m

▶

Season 41996

5.330199189h 3m

▶

Season 51997

—0209198h 33m

▶

Season 61998

—0204193h 48m

▶

Season 71999

—0208197h 36m

▶

Season 82000

—0198188h 6m

▶

Season 92001

6.221204193h 48m

▶

Season 102002

6.815194184h 18m

▶

Season 112003

—0189179h 33m

▶

Season 122004

4.2241176166h 37m

▶

Season 132005

6.415189179h 33m

▶

Season 142006

5.953196186h 12m

▶

Season 152007

7.3353168159h 36m

▶

Season 162008

7.875196185h 54m

▶

Season 172009

4.958185175h 45m

▶

Season 182011

7.176180170h 35m

▶

Season 192012

7.454180171h

▶

Season 202013

8.628120114h

▶

Season 212014

6.730137130h 10m

▶

Season 222014

8.5225145138h 8m

Full Cast & Crew

Cast

David Letterman Self - Host, Self, Various

Paul Shaffer Self - Musical Director, Self - Band Director, Musical Supervisor

Alan Kalter Self - Announcer, Various, Self - Annoncer

Biff Henderson Self - Stage Manager, Self, Self - Quality-Assurance Questioneer

Barbara Gaines Self - Executive Producer, Self, Self - Executive producer

Regis Philbin Self, Self - Guest, Self - Cameo

Tony Mendez Self - Cue Card Boy, Self, Goat Herder on 'Que Pasa USA!'

Al Chez Self - Horn Section Yay-Sayer #2, Self - CBS Orchestra: Trumpet, Self

Jack Hanna Self, Self - Guest, Self - Animal Fun Facts

Rupert Jee Self, Self - Host's 'What's on the Ipod?', Self (segment: May I Taste Your Dinner Please?)

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External Links

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