David Letterman says he never told Les Moonves to look for someone to replace him on “The Late Show,” contrary to a conversation Stephen Colbert had with the former CBS head. The two late night legends cleared the air about the murky bit of TV history on the latest episode of the “Strike Force Five” podcast.
According to Colbert, who took over “The Late Show” in 2015, his manager told him in November 2013 that Moonves wanted to meet with him in his Park Avenue apartment.
“He starts talking about how he likes [‘The Colbert Report’], and they’re thinking about 11:30 and what they’re going to do after you,” Colbert told Letterman. “I said, ‘I need to just stop right here and say that’s lovely you would want to talk to me. This was never in the plan for me. But if we’re really going to have this conversation, I need to know that Dave knows about it. I can’t have this conversation if Dave doesn’t know that these conversations are going on.’”
According to Colbert, Moonves reassured him that Letterman knew about the conversation and that the late night host had called him recently. “[Letterman] said, ‘I know there’s going to come a day where you’re going to have to start talking to people. Well, you’re going to have to start talking to people. That day has arrived,’” Colbert recalled Moonves telling him.
Moonves could not be reached for comment.
Though Colbert was under the impression Letterman knew what was happening, he started to doubt himself when he was told in April of 2014 not to mention that November conversation. According to Letterman’s account, Colbert was right to doubt that everything truly was above board.
“I would have conversations with Les from time to time about how much longer I would be at the network, but they were always general,” Letterman said. “I don’t recall ever talking to him about ‘Please start the search, begin talking to people.’ I’m certain that that part didn’t happen. He probably inferred that from our general conversations.”
Letterman also revealed he had a “quite similar” conversation when he was approached about potentially taking over “The Tonight Show” from Johnny Carson. Originally, Letterman was pitched as hosting a couple of nights a week with Carson taking over the rest of the week.
“Stephen, exactly like you, I said to them, ‘Have you spoken to Johnny about this?’ And they said, ‘No, not exactly,’” Letterman said. ‘And I said, “OK I can’t sign on here.’” Jay Leno would go on to host “The Tonight Show.”
In the same episode, Colbert revealed that he never originally wanted to take over “The Late Show.” Around the time Colbert was offered the job, he saw himself as more of an actor than a host. He was coming to the end of “The Colbert Report” and, following the loss of his mother, questioning why he was even doing comedy.
“Why am I doing this if mom’s not there to call and say, ‘I saw the show’ every so often?” Colbert recalled.
Instead of anything having to do with late night, Colbert wanted to pursue a narrative series that followed his “Colbert Report” character after the show. It was only after his manager, James “Babydoll” Dixon, emphasized to his client how rare the late night call is that Colbert called his sister Mary to help him make his choice.
He remembered telling her, “If this show works out, if ‘The Late Show’ ends up being a success with me at the desk, CBS should really send you flowers. Because I’m going to do it because you smiled.”
Thursday marked Episode 8 of “Strike Force Five,” Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver’s podcast. The proceeds of the collaboration go to support the five hosts’ out-of-work staffs. Shortly after the deal between the WGA and the AMPTP was made publicly available and writers were told they could return to work, all five shows announced they would resume production.
