David Letterman

Letterman was married to Michelle Cook from 1968 until their divorce in 1977. He has been married to Regina Lasko since 2009. They have one child, a son named Harry Joseph Letterman, who was born in 2003 and was named after Letterman's father, Harry Joseph Letterman.

Harry attended his parents' wedding and began college in 2022. Letterman has spoken about wanting to remain close to his son and described Harry leaving home for college as a difficult transition.

Letterman has tinnitus and has described hearing a constant ringing in his ears. In 2000, a routine checkup revealed a severely obstructed artery, leading to emergency quintuple bypass surgery. He also had a severe case of shingles in 2003.

After graduating from Ball State University in 1969, Letterman worked as a radio talk-show host and as an anchor and weatherman at Indianapolis television station WLWI. His unconventional delivery included congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane and predicting hailstones the size of canned hams.

Letterman moved to Los Angeles in 1975 and performed regularly at the Comedy Store. He wrote jokes for Jimmie Walker's stand-up act alongside comedians including Jay Leno, Paul Mooney, Louie Anderson, Elayne Boosler, Byron Allen, and Steve Oedekerk. His appearances on variety and game shows led to regular appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where Carson became his mentor and invited him to serve as a guest host.

NBC gave Letterman the daytime program The David Letterman Show in 1980. Although the critically praised show won two Emmy Awards, it was canceled after several months. NBC then placed him in the late-night time slot, where Late Night with David Letterman premiered in 1982.

Late Night became known for its ironic and offbeat humor, including the Top Ten lists, "Stupid Pet Tricks," "Stupid Human Tricks," unusual audience interactions, roving cameras, and sarcastic exchanges with bandleader Paul Shaffer. The program ran until 1993 and earned five Emmy Awards from 35 nominations.

When NBC selected Jay Leno to succeed Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show, Letterman left the network for CBS. Late Show with David Letterman premiered in August 1993 from the Ed Sullivan Theater, with Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band following him to CBS and becoming the CBS Orchestra.

The show initially drew more viewers than Leno's Tonight Show, although Late Show lost its ratings advantage in 1995. Letterman hosted the 67th Academy Awards ceremony that year, an appearance that received mixed reviews. He also underwent emergency heart surgery in 2000 and returned to the program the following month after guest hosts filled in during his recovery.

Letterman announced his retirement from Late Show in 2014. His final episode aired on May 20, 2015, with Bill Murray as the final guest and Foo Fighters performing. The broadcast attracted 13.76 million viewers, and Letterman finished his network late-night career after hosting 6,080 episodes of Late Night and Late Show.

Letterman founded the production company Worldwide Pants in 1991. The company produced his programs and helped produce The Late Late Show, as well as the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. During the 2007-2008 writers' strike, Worldwide Pants negotiated an agreement with the Writers Guild of America that allowed Late Show and other programs under its control to return with writers.

Letterman is also a co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Bobby Rahal and Mike Lanigan. The team won the Indianapolis 500 in 2004 with Buddy Rice and in 2020 with Takuma Sato.

His honors include multiple Emmy Awards, the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors, the 2011 Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence, and the 2017 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Ball State University named its communication and media building after him in 2007 and created an annual telecommunications scholarship in his name.

After retiring from Late Show, Letterman served as a celebrity correspondent on the documentary series Years of Living Dangerously. He traveled to India for an episode examining the country's energy expansion and interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In 2018, Letterman returned to television as the host of the Netflix interview series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. The program combines long-form interviews with field segments and has featured guests including Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian West, Robert Downey Jr., Dave Chappelle, Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Letterman has also appeared in films and television programs including Cabin Boy, Man on the Moon, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and Between Two Ferns: The Movie. In 2022, his Ball State collaboration Clear Reception with David Letterman explored the art of glass with university students and artists.