--- title: David Letterman: Watch Bob Dylan's Performance on 'Late Show' description: Bob Dylan was the final musical guest ever on The Late Show with David Letterman, hitting the Ed Sullivan Theater on Tuesday night for the first time since 1993. canonical: https://time.com/3890500/bob-dylan-music-david-letterman/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-20T13:49:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:20:03.448Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Watch Bob Dylan Performing 'The Night We Called It A Day' for David Letterman og:description: The grand musical finale og:url: https://time.com/3890500/bob-dylan-music-david-letterman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc1ea3fc558fcfb4/698850e6428a9eec58ccd53d/ap579237020593-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: In this photo provided by CBS, musical guest Bob Dylan performs on the set of the "Late Show with David Letterman" in New York City on May 19, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Bob Dylan Performing 'The Night We Called It A Day' for David Letterman twitter:description: The grand musical finale twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc1ea3fc558fcfb4/698850e6428a9eec58ccd53d/ap579237020593-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Bob Dylan Performing 'The Night We Called It A Day' for David Letterman by [Christopher Rosen/EW](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christopher Rosen/EW May 20, 2015 1:49 PM UTC  In this photo provided by CBS, musical guest Bob Dylan performs on the set of the "“Late Show with David Letterman" in New York City on May 19, 2015. In this photo provided by CBS, musical guest Bob Dylan performs on the set of the "“Late Show with David Letterman" in New York City on May 19, 2015.Jeffrey R. Staab—AP by [Christopher Rosen/EW](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christopher Rosen/EW May 20, 2015 1:49 PM UTC Bob Dylan was the final musical ever on _The Late Show with David Letterman_, hitting the Ed Sullivan Theater on Tuesday night for the first time since 1993. “I spend a lot of time, like everybody does, driving around with my son Harry. Sometimes you feel like you take an opportunity to teach him or reinforce things for him,” Letterman said in his introduction of Dylan. “I say, ‘Harry, what are the two most important things to know in the world? There’s really only two things you need to know.’ He says, ‘One, you have to be nice to other people.’ I said, ‘That’s right. And what’s the other one?’ He says, ‘The greatest songwriter of modern times is Bob Dylan.’ That’s all you need to know in life.” Rather than play one of his own songs, however, Dylan performed the appropriately melancholy “The Night We Called It a Day” (off his 2015 album of pop standards, _Shadows in the Night_). “Beautiful,” Letterman said when it was over. Watch it below. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/20/bob-dylan-david-letterman-performance) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com)_._ ### Paul Shaffer The colorful Canadian bandleader was really two sidekicks in one: an Ed McMahon—Doc Severinsen hybrid with the talent to back up A-list guest musicians and the ability to banter with Dave as an equal. Perhaps more essentially, Shaffer served as the simple syrup to Letterman’s bitters, undercutting the host’s grumpiness with wacky irreverence. ### Larry “Bud” Melman (Calvert DeForest) A celebration of oddness, actor Calvert DeForest was an awkward, unassuming Truman Capote lookalike and soundalike who came off like a stranger trying to befriend you on a bus—the guy you’d prefer to avoid but can’t help liking. As Melman, he was Dave’s clutch hitter, used for everything from serving as New York’s official greeter at the Port Authority to appearing in commercial parodies for Toast on a Stick. Whatever strange errand he ran, his warm humanity was always apparent. ### Dave’s Mom When a man is as uncomfortable in his own skin as Letterman, few things are more squirm-inducingly funny than watching him deal with his mother. Dave’s mom Dorothy Mengering was a frequent guest, baking pies on the show every Thanksgiving and serving as a correspondent for three Olympics. Viewers lapped up her small-town charm, and she explained her appeal like this: “People enjoy seeing a mother and son together.” ### Chris Elliott _Late Night_ writer Chris Elliott was the incarnation of the show’s sense of the absurd. His characters, like the Guy Under the Seats, were often just thin disguises of his own frustrated and bitter showbiz-failure persona, made brilliant by the crumbling of Elliott’s cheery facade. ### Rupert from the Hello Deli Letterman smartly deputized Times Square denizens as co-stars, and Rupert Jee, owner of the Hello Deli, was up for any game or prank, including approaching strangers with a hidden earpiece and repeating whatever Letterman said. His unassuming manner lent great comedic contrast to Dave’s bizarre instructions, leading to such moments as Rupert posing as a newsstand vendor and offering to remove his pants with every purchase. ### Richard Simmons Simmons was the show’s Tasmanian devil, a cheerleading dervish delivered to earth in inappropriate short shorts to make Dave cringe. Dave’s insults and Simmons’ defensive yet loving incredulity gave the pairing an opposites-attract spark. ### Mujibar and Sirijul The Bangladeshi souvenir salesmen became Letterman’s roving correspondents. Stiff yet friendly in ill-fitting suits, they gave halting responses to his queries that helped serve Dave’s deconstruction of the conventional wisdom about what constitutes entertainment. ### Tony Randall One of the _Late Show_’s most frequent guests, with 70 appearances, Randall would stop by for a chat or surprise the audience by popping off a quick joke from the cheap seats. Randall’s acquiescent warmth created a wonderful, watchable bond with the host. ### Alan Kalter (announcer) A kinetic presence with psychotic tendencies, _Late Show_ announcer Kalter became a powerful character. Kalter’s fictional (we hope) dark side kept a hostage in a metal locker and cursed Dave for ignoring him. As Letterman grew warmer and more personable, Kalter’s character insured that the show’s bitter aspects remained part of the mix. ### Harvey Pekar Letterman and comic-book memoirist Pekar had an uneasy bond. They didn’t seem to like each other much, turning insult-filled interviews into compelling can’t-turn-away TV. Letterman once banned him from the show, but given their chemistry, it’s unsurprising that the ban didn’t last. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3890500/bob-dylan-music-david-letterman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3890500/bob-dylan-music-david-letterman/"},"headline":"Watch Bob Dylan Performing 'The Night We Called It A Day' for David Letterman","datePublished":"2015-05-20T13:49:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:20:03.448Z","description":"The grand musical finale","url":"https://time.com/3890500/bob-dylan-music-david-letterman/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","David Letterman","celebrity","Late Night Television","Bob Dylan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc1ea3fc558fcfb4/698850e6428a9eec58ccd53d/ap579237020593-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christopher Rosen/EW"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc1ea3fc558fcfb4/698850e6428a9eec58ccd53d/ap579237020593-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"In this photo provided by CBS, musical guest Bob Dylan performs on the set of the \"Late Show with David Letterman\" in New York City on May 19, 2015.","caption":"In this photo provided by CBS, musical guest Bob Dylan performs on the set of the \"Late Show with David Letterman\" in New York City on May 19, 2015.","creditText":"Jeffrey R. 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