3 takeaways from David Letterman's final appearance on 'The Late Show'

Almost 33 years after first stepping on to the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theater David Letterman stepped back there for one last time on Thursday night's "Late Show with Stephen Colbert." The CBS late-night franchise ends next Thursday. This occasion would seem to merit three takeaways, don't you think?

Dave was in a good mood

That's not always a given with him, and on this particular occasion — the end of an iconic franchise so long associated with his name — not even expected. Instead, he dusted off some old jokes ("Why do you keep this place so cold?") and inserted a Dave-esque quip or two ("A guy comes backstage and says he's from CBS and then he fires me."). He resisted the urge to get teary ("I came very close") mostly because he's been so busy doing lots of other stuff on the outside, like catching up with "Wheel of Fortune" ("Don't know what they've done to Pat Sajak but he looks completely different now.") The latest and soon perhaps the last tenant of the Ed Sullivan Theater, Stephen Colbert had no choice but to settle in for the show — Dave's very last, as it would turn out. Letterman knew he was attending a wake — his own to an extent — and no reason to get too mordant about the whole affair. Instead, he got out some pictures of his new dog, Doc, with one redundantly labeled "old man, new dog." Then he broke some news — his son, Harry, is about to graduate college. Where did the time go?

Dave got off some shots, mostly of the rim variety

Letterman long ago perfected the comic art of corporate contempt — those "lying weasels" at CBS, or those "pinheads" at General Electric (who owned NBC when "Late Night" aired there) — but for the most part laid off all of that Thursday night. He did close out his final appearance with a shot directed at CBS (to paraphrase Edward R. Murrow, "Good night and good luck, mother [expletive]." But that was about it. Letterman assured Colbert that "You can take a man's show but you can't take his voice." (Meaning? Who knows?) Yes, both current and former host did wantonly destroy some cushy chairs from the set (and Colbert's own swivel chair, which he said he'd sat in for over 1,000 editions), by tossing them off the roof of the Sullivan onto the street below. A few watermelons followed, then a wedding cake (emblazoned with "The Late Show 1993-2026") after that. All for old time's sake. It was funny, but also bittersweet, because we'll never see those flying melons again.

Dave remembers his mom

The best part of this final appearance was a memory — dear old mom, or just "Mom," and for a time the most famous mom on television. Dave's mother, Dorothy Mengering (who died at home in Indiana on April 11, 2017, at age 95) had become an important Letterman foil during the early years of "Late Show," a humanizing element who revealed far more about her famous son by what she didn't say than by what she did. Dave's Mom was certainly laconic, or "Miss America Taciturn 90 years in a row," as Dave put it Thursday night. His favorite "Late Show" memory? "I guess the connection to my mother [because] I think my mother and I only became close when she was part of 'The Late Show' production and we sent her to Norway [for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics]. People to this day always tell me they love my mother more than they did me on the show, and that still [expletive] me off."

After the Norway trip, he recalled asking Mom whether she'd seen any fjords. " 'Yes, she said. 'They were beautiful.' "

" 'Did she see any Chevys?' " (Letterman then affects a flatline.)

Goodbye to all that forever, and in another week, goodbye to "Late Show" forever too. Bittersweet indeed.