Looking back on his three-decade long career as a late-night TV host, David Letterman offered the following perspective:

You believe that what you are doing is of great importance and that it is affecting mankind wall-to-wall. And then when you get out of it you realize, oh, well, that wasn't true at all. It was just silliness. And when that occurred to me, I felt so much better and I realized, I don't think I care that much about television anymore. I feel foolish for having been misguided by my own ego for so many years.