David Letterman Signs Off From Late Show

Four US presidents, Hollywood stars and comedians joined David Letterman as he signed off from the Late Show after 33 years.

The show featured no sit-down guest interviews but instead relied on clips of the television veteran going all the way back to the 68-year-old's 1980s morning show on NBC.

It opened with news footage of former President Gerald Ford saying, out of context: "Our long national nightmare is over," referring at the time to the Watergate scandal.

Then, in succession, presidents George H and George W Bush, Bill Clinton and finally Barack Obama all repeated Mr Ford's pronouncement verbatim, with Mr Obama adding: "Letterman is retiring."

A variety of top names turned up for one of Letterman's signature segments, the nightly Top 10 list, which was entitled: "Top 10 things I've always wanted to say to Dave."

Barbara Walters, Jim Carrey, Peyton Manning, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Alec Baldwin, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, Tina Fey and Steve Martin all took aim.

"I'm just glad your show is being given to another white guy," was Rock's contribution - a reference to Letterman's successor Stephen Colbert who takes over in September.

Notably absent was long-time rival and former Tonight Show host Jay Leno, although Letterman quipped in his monologue: "I'll be honest with you - it's beginning to look like I'm not going to get The Tonight Show."

More of his trademark self-deprecation followed when he observed that he had done more than 6,000 shows, then joked that British physicist Stephen Hawking had calculated "it works out to about eight minutes of laughter".

Letterman took time to thank his staff and audience and even introduced his wife Regina and son Harry as the lights briefly came up in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in Manhattan's Times Square district.

The show ended as Letterman told viewers "thank you and good night," and gave the stage to his favourite band Foo Fighters who performed Everlong to a montage of clips.

In a final image, he blew a kiss to the cheering audience.

Several audience members who filed out of the theatre after the show had tears in their eyes.

"It was really incredible," said Will Landman of Long Island, New York. "It was the best way he could go out."

Letterman "was guarded but you could tell it was really hard for him," said John Bernstein, who flew in from Los Angeles to see the finale.

"You could see his emotion," he said. "But I think he's feeling a lot more than he's showing."