--- ---  # Watch David Letterman's Final _Late Show_ Entrance by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 21, 2015 12:13 AM UTC  In this photo provided by CBS, David Letterman appears during a final taping of the “Late Show with David Letterman,” on May 20, 2015 in New York. In this photo provided by CBS, David Letterman appears during a final taping of the “Late Show with David Letterman,” on May 20, 2015 in New York.John Paul Filo—AP by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 21, 2015 12:13 AM UTC David Letterman’s band staged an extra warm welcome for his last _Late Show_ entrance on Wednesday. The legendary host entered the stage of his show for the final time to a thunderous chorus of notes. After running from one side of the stage to the other, Letterman delayed his entrance to the stage for an anticipation-building 15 seconds and was greeted by a seemingly endless note held by his band. Forty-three seconds, to be exact, an amount of time that will push even the most capacious musical lungs to the limit. _Read next:_ [_Everything You Need to Know About David Letterman’s Final Show_](http://time.com/3890918/letterman-final-show/) David Letterman's Last Show: Watch His Final Entrance ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3891774/david-letterman-final-late-show-entrance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3891774/david-letterman-final-late-show-entrance/"},"headline":"Watch David Letterman's Final Late Show Entrance","datePublished":"2015-05-21T00:13:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:30:35.180Z","description":"His final episode as host airs Wednesday night","url":"https://time.com/3891774/david-letterman-final-late-show-entrance/","keywords":["Television","David Letterman"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f955d36d802691a/698851133c163969f6457ff8/david-letterman-final.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f955d36d802691a/698851133c163969f6457ff8/david-letterman-final.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, David Letterman appears during a final taping of the “Late Show with David Letterman,” on May 20, 2015 in New York.","caption":"In this photo provided by CBS, David Letterman appears during a final taping of the “Late Show with David Letterman,” on May 20, 2015 in New York.","creditText":"John Paul Filo—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3891774/david-letterman-final-late-show-entrance/","name":"Watch David Letterman's Final Late Show Entrance"}}]}] ```