Jimmy Fallon tributes David Letterman on ‘The Tonight Show’

Offering up a tribute to David Letterman is something that seems at this point to be omnipresent. Jimmy Kimmel has already decided to go dark on Wednesday during the finale of “The Late Show,” while Conan O’Brien is encouraging his own viewers to say goodbye to Dave. Meanwhile, even Jon Stewart gave his own well-wishes to him last week before “The Daily Show” went on hiatus.

So last night on “The Tonight Show,” we had a tribute like no other courtesy of Jimmy Fallon. In many ways, this one may feel especially significant to Dave. Fallon is one of four people to ever host “Late Night” on NBC. Letterman was the first one, and then it was Conan O’Brien, Fallon, and now Seth Meyers. Letterman also has a complicated history with “The Tonight Show,” given all of the controversy when it comes to Johnny Carson and Jay Leno so many years ago.

There are two moments that we feel are especially poignant about Fallon’s segment below:

1. Fallon showing an eighth-grade yearbook, one in which one of his teachers proclaimed that he was someday going to replace Dave hosting “Late Night.” (Clearly, this is someone who is almost like Nostradamus!)

2. Jimmy then sharing a story of one of the times he appeared on “The Late Show,” and how there are so many interesting parts of production and how it is such a unique experience.

Jimmy closes with reading a message from Dave that he shared following September 11, 2001, where he was one of the comedians who helped the country move forward and start to realize, as “Saturday Night Live” once said, that it was okay to start laughing again.

If you do want to see some other tributes right now when it comes to Letterman, head over to the link here! Also, you can sign up right now to get some other TV updates on all we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)