Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s touching tribute to David Letterman (video)

It should not be a secret to anyone at this point that Jimmy Kimmel loves David Letterman. Jimmy has long considered him to be an inspiration, and of the primary reasons why he is even on the air in the first place. It is for this reason that he decided to not air a new episode of the show on Wednesday night against “The Late Show.” Instead, he will go dark, and he even told his studio audience last night (see the video below) to go watch Dave’s final show rather than sitting down for a rerun of a previous broadcast of his.

Based on how emotional Kimmel gets just talking about Letterman, it’s probably a good idea that he is not doing a show. He probably would not be getting through it otherwise. This is an emotional time for him, as Jimmy recalled in the video growing up and watching “Late Night” while he would work on one of his early life’s passions in drawing.

Also, it seems that it was Kimmel’s time appearing on “The Late Show” that helped to lead to ABC hiring him for a show of his own. Obviously, he feels indebted to him, much in the same way that someone like Ray Romano (who teamed up with Dave for “Everybody Loves Raymond” after appearing on the show) or Conan O’Brien” (who succeeded Dave on late-night) would.

We’re going to be watching and covering tonight’s “Late Show” finale later. Stay tuned for some coverage of that.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=364&v=y29ELOsXSI0