David Letterman

Norm Macdonald and Jay Leno made the double homicides such a constant topic that refraining from jokes the way David Letterman did was noticeable.

Trish Bendix, who writes the Best of Late Night column, reflects on years of watching and covering talk shows that air after dark.

Eight years after retiring from the CBS show, the former late-night host sat down with his successor, Stephen Colbert.

The comedian has visited many shows in the past eight years — but not, until Monday night, the one he hosted for 22 years.

The Times’s comedy critic discusses his 2017 biography, “Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night,” and the Times Magazine writer Sam Anderson talks about Oklahoma City and his 2018 book, “Boom Town.”

Far more than just an announcer, he contributed all sorts of outlandish, incongruous comic bits to “Late Show With David Letterman.”

For more than 20 years, he wrote and flipped cards for Mr. Letterman’s “Late Show.” He was also a member of the show’s troupe of quirky onscreen characters.

The veteran TV host is back with more episodes of his Netflix interview series and a perspective that has been altered by the coronavirus pandemic.

As a teenager, I thought his ‘Tonight Show’ was a bland, uncool relic. Now I appreciate his deadpan humor and the loose weirdness of his interviews.

In an interview, he describes it as “the greatest professional embarrassment I’ve ever endured.” But we’d argue he was actually one of the better hosts the ceremony has seen.