--- description: President Barack Obama summed up the feelings of a nation in one tweet as David Letterman ended his 33-year run as a TV legend title: President Obama Tweets Goodbye as David Letterman Signs Off image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcba67e8feac24bbd/6988511835ba6f75a7c0d63c/472256908.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read President Obama's Simple Tribute as David Letterman Signs Off by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 21, 2015 3:34 AM CUT  President Barack Obama was CBS Late Show host David Letterman's guest during May 4, 2015 taping in New York. President Barack Obama was CBS Late Show host David Letterman's guest during May 4, 2015 taping in New York.CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 21, 2015 3:34 AM CUT President Barack Obama summed up the feelings of a nation in one tweet as David Letterman ended his 33-year run as a late-night legend on Wednesday night. Obama has appeared as a special guest on the _Late Show_ on three different occasions. The two appeared to establish a rapport. During his final appearance on the _Late Show_ two weeks ago, the President [suggested](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqtO5UI8hR8 "undefined") meeting up with Letterman after he left office for a game of dominoes or a trip to Starbucks to swap stories. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3891865/president-obama-david-letterman-tweet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3891865/president-obama-david-letterman-tweet/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Simple Tribute as David Letterman Signs Off","datePublished":"2015-05-21T03:34:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:30:44.742Z","description":"Letterman ended his 33-year run as a late-night legend on Wednesday","url":"https://time.com/3891865/president-obama-david-letterman-tweet/","keywords":["Television","twitter","David Letterman","President Barack Obama","late show"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcba67e8feac24bbd/6988511835ba6f75a7c0d63c/472256908.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcba67e8feac24bbd/6988511835ba6f75a7c0d63c/472256908.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Late Show with David Letterman","caption":"The Late Show with David Letterman","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images","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/3891865/president-obama-david-letterman-tweet/","name":"Read President Obama's Simple Tribute as David Letterman Signs Off"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Losing Letterman Means Losing the Late Night TV Formula","description":"We’re all a little anxious about losing the Top 10 List, but Letterman also potentially takes with him something much simpler: the old formula of late night TV.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZqzMjurF/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-19T21:09:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZqzMjurF.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3891865/president-obama-david-letterman-tweet/","duration":"PT2M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3891865/president-obama-david-letterman-tweet/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```