Late Show With David Letterman had a big Wednesday night show on April 2, 2014. The guests were Bill Murray and Lady Gaga. The audience walked up 53rd Street in the middle of the show to watch Lady Gaga perform live from the famed Roseland Ballroom. Dave, Bill Murray, and Lady Gaga were seen in the commercial bumpers walking up the street along with the audience. Lady Gaga performed two songs live on that stage. Bill Murray took selfies. The staff was more than pleased with how this show came out. There were surprises, the show was full of energy, and Dave seemed to be having a great time. The next day, April 3, David Letterman called a meeting with his senior staff.

Photo courtesy of @Letterman.

Barbara Gaines  (Executive Producer): That day he called a bunch of us into his dressing room. We were in rehearsal and Dave wants to see us in his dressing room? What could this be? It’s the middle of the afternoon and Jude Brennan [executive producer] and I have got a lot to do. We went up to his room and Mary Barclay [Dave’s executive assistant] said, “Wait here. Other people are coming.”  

Bill Scheft (Writer): The day before we had done this great show with Lady Gaga and Bill Murray. It was really a kind of spectacular show. Dave was buoyed by that show. I was pretty sure that he was gathering the senior staff together to say, “Hey, that was great” and “Let’s do more of that.”

Barbara Gaines: We had done the Lady Gaga show, and it had been such a big, crazy show. It felt like we were rocking.

Sheila Rogers (Supervising Producer/Talent Booker): I was among those that were called into the dressing room. It would be unusual of him to hold a meeting of ten or twelve of us in his dressing room at that time of day. Normally he would meet with a couple of his top producers in his dressing room closer to showtime. I remember thinking, “Maybe he is calling us in to tell us what a great job we did the night before.” [Laughs] He would never hold a meeting to do that.

Bill Scheft: It happened once, at the beginning of the CBS show. We had been on for about ten weeks. He called us together. I thought we were gonna get yelled at, but he said, “This is great. I have never been number one. I know you are tired; I am tired. Keep doing it.” That was the only time we were called into a meeting with everybody. When you do 200 shows a year, you finish the show, you pat yourself on the back or you don’t. Then you do tomorrow’s show. It is like putting out a newspaper.

Kathy Mavrikakis (Supervising Producer): A call came in from Dave’s assistant, Mary Barclay. She said, “Dave would like you to come up to the dressing room.” I realized Jerry Foley [director] got the same call. So we both head upstairs and then other producers were there.

Steve Young (Writer): I got a call from Mary asking if I could run up to the dressing room. It was too early in the afternoon for Dave to be in the dressing room according to the usual schedule. So something seemed odd. I said, “I will get up there as soon as I can.” I was running around, not only with the monologue, but with the usual monologue videotaped pieces in the editing room. I didn’t get up to the dressing room.

Sheila Rogers: I think people had a sinking feeling. I was the eternal optimist. I really loved working there. I was very happy with my job and loved the people there. I never wanted it to end. 

Bill Scheft: I came in and there were people there already, maybe twenty. Jude Brennan, Barbara Gaines, Nancy Agostini [executive producer], Jerry Foley, Kathy Mavrikakis, and a few others. It was the senior staff. 

Barbara Gaines: We are like, “This is an odd group of people to be congregating at 1:00 in the afternoon.” We all come in and Dave was having his lunch. 

Sheila Rogers: Dave was sitting there and he made a couple of jokes.

Kathy Mavrikakis: Freakishly enough, he had cut himself shaving. He had a big bandage on his top lip. We were all like, “What happened to you?” He said, “I cut myself.” He was making jokes about it and being very funny. 

Barbara Gaines: He said, “I want you know that in an hour I am calling Les Moonves [president of CBS Corporation] to tell him I am going to retire. I wanted you to all know first. I am going to announce it on the air tonight.” We were like, “What? What do you mean?” I didn’t know he was going to retire. I didn’t find out till right then. 

Kathy Mavrikakis: Then somebody asked, “Is this something that you want?” He said, “This is my decision and I want to do this.” Someone said, “What is the time frame?” He said, “In about a year we will probably be finishing up here.”

Barbara Gaines: Why now? Then he told us the story about spending the day asking about the bird—the story he told that night on the air—that clearly he wasn’t involved like he used to be and it was time to go.

Sheila Rogers: He told us that he had decided that it was time to end, to quit, to retire, as it were. I just felt like I got punched in the gut, because I didn’t want to accept it. I was very sad, really sad. . . . It was just sad, honestly. And fear: What’s gonna be next for me, personally? 

Jerry Foley (Director): It was not something that was particularly pleasant. I was deeply affected by it. My coworkers and these people that I saw every day were very warm, supportive, and funny. I was concerned about my future and appreciative of my association with them and our friendships.

Kathy Mavrikakis: I just remember standing there, and the stereo was playing Pharrell’s song “Happy” in the background. And he was basically saying that in a year we are all getting divorced. So now every time I hear that song, it brings me right back to that moment.

Bill Scheft: Dave didn’t talk for very long. He wasn’t very specific about the timeline. Then Kathy had the presence of mind to start applauding.

Kathy Mavrikakis: After he said that we all started clapping to give him a “Well done, you’ve chosen what you wanna do. We will support whatever you want.” Then we kind of stumbled back to the control room, but couldn’t tell other people because he was gonna do that during the taping. We got back with our coworkers and kind of did our jobs and pretended we didn’t know anything.

Steve Young: It was a nice gesture on Dave’s part. He wanted to personally inform some of the senior staff. It was nice that I was on that list of people that he thought he would tell ahead of other people. Such was the pace of work that I couldn’t take advantage of that.

Bill Scheft: I only had two thoughts. My first thought was, “We are all gonna make it to the end of the show.” There were a lot of us who had been there a long time. The second thought was, “This is so great, because unlike anybody else he is gonna get to end it on his own terms. Unlike Johnny Carson or anybody, he gets to decide.” I was very happy for him that he had made the decision. It wasn’t made for him.

Jay Johnson (Media Content): I was in the studio to rehearse a comedy bit that I had been cast in. When I finished my rehearsal, Jude asked to speak with me. She pulled me behind the set. I thought, “Something is up, because she is pulling me off stage.” That is how I found out. It was stunning. I think the comedy bit I was in got cut after rehearsal. We always knew the day was coming. Everybody talked about it. It was a favorite topic of conversation among the staff: “How much longer will Dave keep doing the show?”

Lee Ellenberg (Writer): It was always a parlor game of guessing when Dave was gonna retire. I was a page in August ‘94 and a staffer in ‘95. Since that day in ‘95, staffers would try to guess when he would hang it up. That is twenty years. 

Joe Grossman (Writer): You were always wondering how much longer this was going to last. We knew it would not go on forever. I always felt like Dave could show up one day and say, “By the way, tonight is my last show.” And we would never see him again, or he could go on for another fifteen years. You never knew.

Jay Johnson: I always thought that “when the day comes, it will arrive as a surprise. We know that it is coming, but we will never know when. It’s not gonna be something obvious, like the result of a contract negotiation.” I just knew when we would find out it would be unexpected. It turned out I was right. It was a strange day. Everyone was walking around in a bit of a daze. We all knew it was coming, but the reality of it really kind of hit hard.

Eddie Valk (Stage Manager): At some point before the show we always met in the control room for a debrief. Jerry Foley would have his camera meeting for the crew. In that meeting, Jerry relayed to us that Dave would be making an announcement on the show, but he wanted us to know before we found out on the air.

Randi Grossack (Associate Director): I was not happy. I was hoping Dave was gonna go for another five years. The show had changed drastically since it first started, but I liked it. Once he announced, he kind of relaxed and became more like himself again. I was happily plugging along. I liked the people I worked with. I liked the show he put on. I was content. I was like, “Holy shit, now what?”

Janice Penino (Human Resources): Kathy called me and told me that he was going to announce that night. I was working from home that day. I just remember there was a “before” and an “after.” I was like the mom of that family in a lot of ways. For many years all we talked about is, “When is Dave going to retire?” We lived with this knowledge that it would happen. That year he had only signed to go one more year. So it seemed real. I had worked there for twenty-two years.

Eddie Valk: Initially I was kind of shocked. I knew the day would come at some point, but it was definitely a blow to finally hear that it was going to happen. Although we still didn’t know exactly when.

Lee Ellenberg: We were in our offices and the writers were told to meet in the conference room. Matt Roberts [head writer] wanted to meet with us in the middle of the day. Now, we don’t have meetings in the middle of the day. I think everyone was wondering what it was about. 

Jill Goodwin (Writer): Immediately everyone knew something was up. We wondered, “Oh, God, is someone ill?” 

Lee Ellenberg: I was sitting across the table from Matt and he looked a little stressed. He had a serious expression on his face. He just seemed like he had something of weight that was about to be told. We waited till the final writer came in, and Matt said, “In five minutes, Dave is going to call Les Moonves and tell him he is retiring.” There is that great line in The West Wing, “Is it possible to be astonished and, at the same time, not surprised?” That is how it felt.

Steve Young: I was in the room where Matt said, “This evening on the show, Dave is going to announce his retirement.” There was a silence of surprise. 

Jill Goodwin: I remember there being a calm in the room. I think the head writer thought there was gonna be a “WHAT?” It was not that surprising, but also so huge to take in at the same time.

Jeremy Weiner (Writer): We were all like, “Wow, this is really going to be it.” It was weird to have that lead time. You normally don’t get that in TV. You are usually told you are canceled and you are done. You don’t usually get to prep for it. I think everyone took it in stride.

Joe Grossman: We were surprised, but not shocked. It is tough, because your job is going away.

Steve Young: A silence took place for twenty seconds. I broke the silence by saying, “But Paul’s not leaving, is he?” 

Mike Barrie (Writer): Well, it’s not like it was Pearl Harbor. I don’t remember where I was at that exact moment. [Laughs]

Vincent Favale (Executive of Late Night Programing, CBS): My office at the time was at CBS Black Rock, so I was a block away. I would be there every morning for the production meeting. I would be there every evening for the taping. Jude called me and said, “Whatever you do, don’t be late tonight.” The network was told above me, but I didn’t know. I was surprised. It was a yearly thing where it was Dave’s call if he wanted to go for another year. I had had conversations with Les Moonves that maybe this year might be it. When it was announced, I remember thinking it was like when Johnny Carson announced. It drops like a bombshell, but it was still a year away. As we got closer, it was so weird because it is like a death. But we know it well in advance. 

Steve Young: I remember feeling that “this seems about right.” We knew the show had to end someday. It was probably time to head to the finish line.

Bill Scheft: Dave had cut himself shaving. The cut opened up when the band came in, so it looked like he had been in a fight. He is bleeding while telling the band. Then he sent the band out. Now we are a little behind on the day. I haven’t even gone in to do the monologue with him yet. He went into the dressing room and then he opened the door. He said to me, and I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I am gonna tell you because it meant a lot to me. He poked his head out and said, “Hey, what if I start drinking again?” I stopped drinking a long time ago and he had stopped drinking after the morning show. He knew I didn’t drink. It was his way of saying, “What if I made a huge mistake?” I said, “That is what I am here for.” He said, “That’s what my shrink said to me.” And we laughed. That was the only time we mentioned it. It has been two and a half years and I haven’t thought about that until this moment. It meant a lot to me because it was a connection that we had.

Photo courtesy of @letterman, CBS publicity photo.

That evening on the show, David Letterman addressed the studio audience: “Earlier today, the man who owns this network, Leslie Moonves—he and I have had a relationship for years and years and years—and we have had this conversation in the past, and we agreed that we would work together on this circumstance and the timing of this circumstance. And I phoned him just before the program, and I said, ‘Leslie, it’s been great, you’ve been great, the network has been great, but I’m retiring.’” The audience is silent for a moment and then there is a bit of nervous laughter. Paul says, “Do I have a moment to call my accountant?”

Jerry Foley: I had the opportunity to attend my own funeral when that happened. So I got to read my own obituary. It was something that in hindsight I was privileged to be a part of because I know it has a happy ending. I looked at everybody differently after that.

Sheila Rogers: It was hard. Then Johnny Depp [one of that night’s guests] was dealing with sad people. He probably didn’t know what was going on. “Why is everybody acting so morose?” We all watched him on TV announce it. Again, it was just sad. He said it was gonna end, but we had no sense of when it was happening. So I think the uncertainty was very difficult. It was a real camaraderie and great group of people and great working for Dave. I really respected him so much, and his talent. 

Randi Grossack: Then it became, “Crap, we’ve got to prepare for what is coming with the show.” We have to do a nightly show. I have to figure out what happens to all the tapes. How do we close things down after all these years? How do I shut off all these same jokes that I tell people at work over and over? Because they know the punch lines. 

Jill Goodwin: We couldn’t really comprehend it right away. We didn’t have any answers either. “Is next week going to be the last show?” There was a lot up in the air. “Wait, is he sure? Has he really thought this over?” [Laughs] 

Lee Ellenberg: That whole week, I thought, “Wow, this is over.” It was the first time in my two-plus decades of working there that I knew it was ending. It had become real.

Kathy Mavrikakis: It was a gradual thing, because we had a year. We still didn’t have a final day. It was still being discussed between Dave and CBS. I feel like we didn’t have a final day until maybe December. It didn’t seem real until we finally had the date of May 20.

Vincent Favale: These final shows were going to be emotional, and it was going to get more intense. I was with the network, so I still had a job. I was very mindful of that fact, because a lot of people weren’t going to have a job after that date. I was a rookie at twenty years. Can you imagine the weight that Dave must have felt thinking, “I am responsible for all of these people as an employer”? It was an emotional time. 

Kathy Mavrikakis: For me, I was working on an archive program to digitize all the episodes and all the paperwork that went with the episodes. It just meant I had to start immediately in making sure that was all done because it took a year to digitize all the video and all the paperwork that came with those episodes.

Janice Penino: I had no trouble getting interns for that spring semester. It was the most coveted time to be an intern, to see how it was gonna end and what was going to happen. There were a few people who got offered work who had to go, but not very many people did. Most people stayed till the very end.

Vincent Favale: I didn’t envy what Barbara and Jude had to do. They had to look forward and behind at the same time. Me, thinking as a network person, I thought we should be planning a prime-time special in conjunction with the 11:30 farewell tour. That is where we had some friction at the end.

Steve Young: I do remember that as 2014 wore on, we weren’t entirely sure when the final show was going to be. I think the bulk of the year after Dave made the announcement that there was very little in the show reflecting the impending retirement. I think it was only in the last six weeks.

Sheryl Zelikson (Music Booker): It was sad that the show was ending, but it was the most creative time for music. So, the work itself was enjoyable for me because it almost used a different part of my brain. It really allowed me to go back in the history of the show and look at artists and think about not just putting on a song from an artist’s new album. Dave wanted to hear particular songs, and trying to find those artists that would work, artists that have a history with the show that would make something special. This was really a very creative part of the end of working at the show. I wanted to do it for Dave. I wanted to do it for the viewing audience.

Jerry Foley: They were some of the easiest shows we have ever done because there was an outpouring of affection and good will. There was unparalleled cooperation from everyone involved. Performers, publicists, musicians, producers—it was riding that wave. The key factor in that was that Dave was super-focused on the show in ways he hadn’t been in a long time. There is a routine from grinding out that many shows. You become a slave to routine, and that is what gets you through. But those last twenty-eight shows, Dave knew that was all evaporating. So Dave was really exercising his talents as a producer and writer. After we all get through patting ourselves on the back and you get through deconstructing why the shows were what they were, I can assure you that the single biggest factor was that Dave was in complete control of the creative aspect of those shows, and that is why they are as memorable as they are.

Barbara Gaines: The last six weeks of the show were no doubt a highlight of my career there. I started on the morning show. I was there thirty-five years. The last six weeks? I love the last six weeks.

The following chapters document the final six weeks of Late Show with David Letterman.