--- description: The satirical late-night host is about to break character to succeed David Letterman, but not before he cracks some jokes about how hard it will be title: Stephen Colbert Praises David Letterman as Late Show Host image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6093c168903551be/69868a45e8524b029e602553/stephen-colbert-david-letterman.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Colbert on Replacing Letterman: 'I Do Not Envy Whoever They Put in That Chair' by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 11, 2014 11:40 AM CUT  Stephen Colbert and David Letterman during a taping of The Late Show in 2012. Stephen Colbert and David Letterman during a taping of The Late Show in 2012.John Paul Filo—CBS/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 11, 2014 11:40 AM CUT Stephen Colbert praised David Letterman during the opening of his show Thursday, calling the man [he’ll replace as _Late Show_ host](http://time.com/57935/stephen-colbert-david-letterman-late-show-host/ "undefined") someone who “has influenced every host who came after him and even a few who came before him.” “This man,” Colbert said. “He’s that good. “I do not envy whoever they try to put in that chair,” Colbert added during The Colbert Report, which he’s leaving next year to succeed the retiring Letterman at CBS. “Those are some huge shoes to fill. And some really big pants.” Colbert went on to praise Letterman’s run as a late night host, which he said spanned his “entire adult life.” “Late night premiered my freshman year of college. I learned more from Dave than I did from going to my classes,” Colbert said. “Especially the ones I did not go to because I had stayed up until 1:30 watching Dave.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/59326/stephen-colbert-david-letterman-late-show-host-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/59326/stephen-colbert-david-letterman-late-show-host-2/"},"headline":"Colbert on Replacing Letterman: 'I Do Not Envy Whoever They Put in That Chair'","datePublished":"2014-04-11T11:40:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:15:48.673Z","description":"The satirical late-night host is due to break character to succeed David Letterman, who's retiring next year, but not before he jokes about how hard it will be. \"Those are some huge shoes to fill,\" he said of Letterman's role, \"and some really big pants\"","url":"https://time.com/59326/stephen-colbert-david-letterman-late-show-host-2/","keywords":["Television","David Letterman","stephen colbert","Late Night Television","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6093c168903551be/69868a45e8524b029e602553/stephen-colbert-david-letterman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6093c168903551be/69868a45e8524b029e602553/stephen-colbert-david-letterman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FILE: Stephen Colbert To Replace David Letterman On \"Late Show\" Late Show with David Letterman","caption":"FILE: Stephen Colbert To Replace David Letterman On \"Late Show\" Late Show with David Letterman","creditText":"John Paul Filo—CBS/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/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/59326/stephen-colbert-david-letterman-late-show-host-2/","name":"Colbert on Replacing Letterman: 'I Do Not Envy Whoever They Put in That Chair'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Best of Stephen Colbert","description":"The next host of","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PNJDP9f3/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-10T21:49:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PNJDP9f3.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/59326/stephen-colbert-david-letterman-late-show-host-2/","duration":"PT4M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/59326/stephen-colbert-david-letterman-late-show-host-2/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```