Tear Jerker / The Late Show with David Letterman

• It may not be Jon Stewart's post-9/11 monologue on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but Letterman's is going to get your waterworks going too.
  • This was the episode that saw Dan Rather, then-anchor or the CBS Evening News and coming off nearly a solid week straight of anchoring CBS' coverage of the terrorist attacks, choke up on the air.
• On October 30, 2002, Dave dedicated the entire hour talking to songwriting legend and friend of the show Warren Zevon, who had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Zevon also performed three songs that night, which turned out to be his final public performance. During the interview, Zevon said he learned to appreciate how to enjoy every sandwich.
  • A double tear jerker occurred one year later when Dave and Paul announce Zevon had died.
• Dave's tribute to the late Johnny Carson, January 31, 2005, with Peter Lasally, producer of The Tonight Show, as a guest. Dave let the audience know that many jokes over the years had been written by Carson himself (notably, the entirety of his monologue on that episode). In a montage of Johnny's highlights in Late Night and The Late Show is showed the memorable bit of Mr. Carson (actually his last appearance on tv) taking the host's seat just for a moment, leaving it immediately. Finally, musical guests Doc Severinsen, musical director of the Carson's show, Tommy Newsome and Ed Shaughnessy (from the old Tonight Show Band) play with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra Johnny Carson's favorite song, "Here's That Rainy Day".
• David's announcement in April 2014 about his intention to retire, which some believed marked the End of an Age in late night television.
• David's tribute to Robin Williams following the latter's death in August 2014.
• The last weeks previous to the Late Show finale are plenty of moving moments about David's departure:
  • Norm Macdonald, of all people, does a stand-up routine that becomes an emotional and tearful tribute to David, just check it out.
  • Ray Romano thanks Letterman for having changed his life giving him the chance to star in Everybody Loves Raymond after performing his stand-up act in the Late Show stage; Dave asks Ray if he wants to stand one more time at the right spot of the stage where his career took that turn. Sob alert, fellow friends.
  • Jimmy Kimmel in his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, gives a tribute to Letterman telling the audience how he has been a huge fan of David Letterman since his teens, explaining also why the day of last Dave's show on CBS (May 20, 2015) he will put a rerun of his own show to no rival with his idol's finale, and he will be crying while watching the farewell anyway, here.
  • On his own show, Conan O'Brien wished Dave well and reflected on how Dave both inspired him and helped him maintain a career by showing up as a guest shortly after Conan had taken over Late Night (at a time when Conan was still finding his groove and people were reacting to his show with disdain). Seen here.
  • Not only Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel paid tribute to Letterman, but also Jimmy Fallon, James Corden, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and Ellen DeGeneres also gave tribute to Dave. A testament to the influence that Dave has to modern late night comedy and to modern late night talk show format in general.
• The final episode on May 20, 2015. At the end, Dave thanks everyone responsible for the success of the show, and then signs off by simply saying "Thank you and goodnight".
  • The story surrounding the final song is a bit of a tear jerker too. Dave mentions that the song is very important to him because it helped him recover from his open heart surgery in 2000. Furthermore, Dave mentions how he specifically requested the band play that song on his first show back. Unfortunately, the band was on tour in South America. Fortunately, they cancelled the tour and flew back to New York to fulfill Dave's request. We close out Dave's late night career with a montage of his NBC and CBS shows, backed by what Dave called in 2000 "My favorite band playing my favorite song;" 'Everlong' by the Foo Fighters.
  • Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl would pay this honor back in 2017 by dressing up as Dave in his Halloween guest hosting of Jimmy Kimmel Live!