David Letterman says ‘goodnight, Jay’ at end of ‘The Late Show’; Jimmy Fallon chimes in

Before we say goodbye to “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” we do still have a few other little stories to pass along about what some of the other members of the late-night community are doing to pay their own version of respects to the guy.

Obviously, you have to begin with David Letterman, who famously lost “The Tonight Show” to him despite the endorsement of Johnny Carson decades ago. As he closed tonight’s episode of “The Late Show,” Dave simply said “goodnight, Jay” to the camera. Reaction to that moment is somewhat split online; some say that he did it out of respect, whereas others read it more as him getting in a subtle jab that he was still around. Personally, we see it more as the former. These two have long had a complicated relationship; they don’t necessarily hate each other in the same way that Leno and Conan O’Brien do. It’s just complicated.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Fallon started up his edition of “Late Night” tonight with at least a little bit of an homage to Jay, joking that NBC realized that they liked the ratings for his farewell week so much, they decided to make it last for another week longer. We expect the numbers for tonight to be huge, mostly because this isn’t quite like him just moving to earlier in the night; he’s gone for now, and it’s hard to tell if there ever will be another late-night talk show in the future. In a way, it’d be better for his career in the long-term now to get rid of that reputation as they guy who never leaves, and try to do something different for a change.

What do you think about Letterman giving Jay a mention on his final show, and do you think it was a classy move for Dave? Share below, and also sign up if you want to get some more TV scoop via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: CBS