David Letterman Will Host Tom Hanks, Tina Fey And George Clooney In Final Shows

David Letterman has been a staple of late night television for the past 33-years. Next month, he will end his reign. And he has some pretty good guests to help him, as Billboard reports.

“Starting Monday night (April 13), there are only 28 more broadcasts of The Late Show With David Letterman to go before the late-night mainstay ends his 33-year reign. CBS unveiled part of the lineup for his final run of shows, and it features some of the biggest names in Hollywood — George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Hanks, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell — as well as some substantial names in music.”

David Letterman has helped create some of the most buzzed-about late night moments in pop culture history. One of those was an awkward interview with Joaquin Phoenix in 2009. The Guardian described the awkward appearance.

“The twice Oscar-nominated actor avoided eye contact and gave mostly monosyllabic answers on Letterman’s show, one of the longest-running and most watched in the US, waking from his reverie only to dispose of his gum on the host’s desk. Letterman did well to stagger through possibly the longest 10 minutes of his career with some increasingly bemused quips.”

In 1995, Drew Barrymore gave David Letterman a “special” birthday gift. Zap2It described one of the most hilarious moments ever on late night television.

“After telling Letterman about the ‘nude art performance dance place’ she sometimes goes to, and, in honor of the host’s special day of the year, Barrymore turned the host’s desk into a dance area and started to shimmy around. During all of the shimmying, the actress eventually lifted up her ‘I’m bananas’ shirt — which many claim was a pre-planned stunt — flashed Letterman, and then gave the shocked host a kiss on the cheek.”

Not all of David Letterman’s best moments were comedic. In January of 2005, he gave a touching tribute to his formal rival and mentor Johny Carson, who had just died the day before. CBS recounted David Letterman‘s speech.

“As a performer, I never wanted to impress anyone more than Johnny Carson…Johnny had that special quality of grace, charm and dignity in the public arena. He was an incredibly polite man and when you were invited into his house, this show, you knew you were an honored guest,” Letterman said.

Stephen Colbert will be David Letterman’s replacement and a lot of people are excited. However, it will take a lot to fill the shoes of David Letterman, who has become one of America’s biggest cultural icons.

[Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images]