i was to follow ted koppel, and it was the first of many times i had to follow ted koppel, and that isant to be. he is very, very funny. as i said that night, maybe a little too funny for a news man. charlie: for 30 plus years of doing something you love, that is a nice way to go. david: it is. that is great, good luck. i know a lot of people are never really quite sure of what they want to do, what path they want to follow. maybe they make themselves happy with whatever path they end up on, but there was no question in my mind from the time i was 17 what i wanted to do, and i have pretty much done it every day of my life, everything i ever wanted to do. i was in television in 1968. i have been doing this a long time, and it is still just fun. all it is is you showing off her you bring in a bunch of people who really don't want to be here. charlie: and hope they will be entertained. david: we have been lucky with the people who have come to see us. charlie: there is a story that you did not particularly like college that much, and then you took a public speaking course, and you said, t

and i remember, i was to follow ted koppel. it was the first of many times i had to follow ted koppel. and that's no not where you want to be. because he's very very funny. and as i said that night it may be a little too funny for a newsman. >> there's also this. you get this award and there have been others. but for 30 plus years of doing something you love. >> right. >> that's a nice way to go. >> well it is. and i think how fortunate that people are when you know what you want to do and then you find a way to do it, and then you continue to do it for as long as you want, that's great good luck. that's great good luck. because i think and i know a lot of people never really quite sure what they want to do. not really quite sure what path they want to follow. and maybe they make themselves happy with whatever path they end up on. but there was no question in my mind from the time i was 17 what i wanted to do. and i pretty much have done it every day of my life everything i have ever wanted to do. and i was on television when i

abc had "nightlight workup mark: letterman respected ted koppel.d by a but react with cbs. they had chevy chase and joan rivers. those failed. they were looking for something like letterman. i do not think letterman, at that stage, would have gone to not as solid as fox as that time. i think he would gone to cbs, a much more established network. transitionabout the with the times. the audience tends to be more conservative. younger folks are up at local and 30, not folks our age. so you're talking about a conservative, maybe skewing midwestern audiences, at 10:30. johnnyhat is one thing carson told lorne michaels with "saturday night live," saying it is 10:30 in the midwest when they do the monologues. but he adjusted eloquently. he looked a little more professional. 11:30s able to woo the audience with more viewers and more established or older viewers. mark: talk about the deal he made with howard stringer. he got to keep some rights. said thisny carson deal with nbc in the early 1980's. when letterman was being wooed by cbs, that was one of the