'Great Admiration for What You've Done': David Letterman Surprises 'Nite Show' Live Audience to Help Send Off Retiring Host David Letterman made the trip to Bangor, Maine, after the program's host announced his retirement.
By Erin Davis
Danny Cashman, 47, has been hosting "The Nite Show" at Husson University in Bangor, Maine, for 15 years. The local program airs on several Maine television stations on Saturday nights (and has a YouTube channel). It's set up like a traditional late-night variety show, with an in-house band, an opening monologue, sketches, interviews with live guests, and musical performances.
Cashman's top inspiration for his show was "The Late Show with David Letterman," according to the Portland Press Herald, and he's asked the now-retired Letterman, 78, to be a guest on his program for many years. On Saturday night, it finally happened.
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Dubbed a "mystery guest," no one in the audience knew Letterman was actually going to appear. So it was a huge surprise when he walked out and joined Cashman at his desk to be his final live guest for one of the last episodes.
"This is a self-made man," Letterman said, after receiving a standing ovation from the crowd and sitting down in the guest chair. "This is the product of his life for the last 20 years."
Despite being a local program airing against NBC's Saturday Night Live, Cashman told Letterman that his show has remarkably high ratings during the time slot. Still, Cashman said it was time to put down the microphone. (He told News Center Maine that it just felt like "the time was right to do some other things.")
"This is no small accomplishment, because I'm guessing this is not network supported, it has not been syndicated supported, I have great admiration for what you've done," Letterman said.
Letterman also talked about the struggles he has faced since leaving his own show.
"It's not easy, it took me quite a long time to break the daily routine," Letterman said. "Now people treat me differently."
Here's the full episode.
