Hollywood Stars Share Memories Of David Letterman
Watch the final Late Show with David Letterman, Tonight at 11:30 on KPIX Channel 5
(CBS NEWS) -- As a tribute to David Letterman's legacy of laughter, some of Hollywood's biggest names looked back on his 33 years as a late-night host.
"He brought a brand of comedy and humor to our culture that he did and only he did and only he could do," Oprah Winfrey said.
Julia Roberts said he was "the one guy who seemed to be hearing a different beat."
"You just felt like he was running his own situation," she said.
Letterman has reigned as the king of late night television for longer than anyone before him.
Jimmy Kimmel said there was something about the show that spoke to him. "That show was very smart and very stupid at the same time," he said
One of the show's biggest hits were its segments, the "Top 10 List" and "Stupid Pet Tricks."
"Because of him. the whole culture has its own top 10 list," Winfrey said. "Because of him we do stupid pet tricks with our own pet."
Roberts, who has made 26 appearances on "Late Show" said "it really was a crapshoot if you would click with him or if he would filet you like the daily special."
For Roberts and all of his fans, he was one of a kind.
"I don't think it's possible to emulate him," she said. "You see the guys you see now because there was a David Letterman."
Winfrey said even though was a jerk sometimes, everyone still wanted to flirt with him.
"There's the sweet and the sour. He can be wickedly funny but he can also be warm and heartfelt," Alec Baldwin said.
For many comedians who followed in his footsteps, Letterman was viral before there was viral. "Everything we do, at least everything I do, is heavily influenced by him," Kimmel said.
"Whatever he does. There's just no one [that] does what he does," Baldwin said.
Winfrey described him as, "fearless, original, always himself."
"I think that is the absolute secret to connecting with an audience," she said. "That whatever it is, you are bring 100 percent of yourself. He didn't suffer fools and he was always pretty honest."
What will Roberts and Baldwin miss?
"I'll just miss his face, I'll miss his smile and I'll miss his goofy laugh ... and I will miss the opening every night and hearing what he has to say about the world and what's going on in it because he's really part of my cultural compass," Roberts said.
"Letterman is truly -- in show business, there is no one like him ... and it's doubtful there will be anyone like him again," Baldwin said.
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