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Late Night Hosts: Does Anyone Get Out Alive?

by | March 4th, 2013

David Letterman must be exhausted.

In January he hosted, counting both Late Show and Late Night, his 5,600th show. Last March CBS extended his contract until 2014, thereby ensuring that next year Letterman will surpass Johnny Carson as the longest running late night talk show host in history. If Letterman extends his contract past 2014, David Letterman will easily achieve the 6,000 show milestone. David Letterman's even surpassed Oprah by over 1,000 shows.

As Splitsider wrote two years ago, David Letterman had hoped to retire by February 2013. After 31 years, who would have blamed him? Performing comedy every day for years is a grueling job; many talk show hosts even work when they're sick. And although Jimmy Kimmel's warm tribute to David Letterman at the Kennedy Awards last year was quite moving, it also bolstered the opinion many comedians have held for years: David Letterman is a comedy legend whose brilliance and patience has faded. READ MORE

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