June 25, 1993
On this day, Late Night with David Letterman aired its final episode. After years on the stand-up comedy circuit, offbeat comic Letterman made his first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1978. He went on to serve as the program’s guest host 50 times but was passed over by NBC for Jay Leno, who took over the hosting duties on The Tonight Show after Johnny Carson’s retirement. Letterman left the network to launch a rival show on CBS during that time. He launched the Late Show later in 1993. According to the ratings, he beat Leno every week for the show’s first year. Today, both Leno and Letterman continuously battle among fans for the crown of King of Late Night TV.
