--- title: David Letterman Late Show Finale: Dave Works at Taco Bell description: The late-night host featured a blast from the past on his final show canonical: https://time.com/3892160/david-letterman-late-show-finale-taco-bell/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-21T12:28:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:33.242Z og:title: Watch David Letterman Work at Taco Bell og:description: The late-night host featured a blast from the past on his final show og:url: https://time.com/3892160/david-letterman-late-show-finale-taco-bell/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66ce6aea8688ca67/69885114428a9e2802ccd580/david-letterman3.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 image released by CBS, David Letterman appears during a taping of his final "Late Show with David Letterman," on May 20, 2015 at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch David Letterman Work at Taco Bell twitter:description: The late-night host featured a blast from the past on his final show twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66ce6aea8688ca67/69885114428a9e2802ccd580/david-letterman3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch David Letterman Work at Taco Bell by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 21, 2015 12:28 PM CUT  In this image released by CBS, David Letterman appears during a taping of his final "Late Show with David Letterman," on May 20, 2015 at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. In this image released by CBS, David Letterman appears during a taping of his final "Late Show with David Letterman," on May 20, 2015 at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York.Jeffrey R. Staab—AP by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 21, 2015 12:28 PM CUT In his final episode of the _Late Show_ on Wednesday night, David Letterman featured a blast from the past. The clip below shows a much-younger Letterman take a stab at running a Taco Bell drive-thru, with hilarious results. None of the frustrated customers seemed to recognize Letterman’s voice, though one woman thought he sounded strangely familiar, asking, “Are you Howard Stern?” The clip was a bittersweet reminder of what we’ll be missing out on as Letterman brings his 33 year late-night career to a close. Watch it below. ### Photos: David Letterman’s Early Career  One of David Letterman's earliest roles before he made it as a television host was as a guest star on Mork & Mindy. CBS/Getty Images  Before he received his own show, Letterman was a regular guest host for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Above, he is seen interviewing Betty White. Paul Drinkwater—NBC/Getty Images  In 1980, Letterman finally got his own morning comedy show, The David Letterman Show. Above, he is seen interviewing Truman Capote. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  After the cancellation of his morning show, Letterman was given a new show and time slot, Late Night With David Letterman which immediately followed The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The first version of the Late Night franchise, debuted on February 1, 1982 and would eventually be succeeded by Conan O’Brien, seen above. Al Levine—NBC/Getty Images  Letterman left NBC for CBS to start the Late Show with David Letterman when NBC gave the reigns of The Tonight Show to Jay Leno instead of him after Johnny Carson's retirement. The first show debuted on August 30, 1993, with Letterman's retirement announced for 2015. 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