“I’ve talked a lot over the years about how much I love Dave [Letterman]—On his impact on me as a comedian and a talk show host,” Jimmy Kimmel said at the beginning of his show on Tuesday night. “And Dave is here tonight to ask me to stop doing that. He is annoyed with it. “
Well, for the second consecutive show airing out of Brooklyn, New York, Kimmel welcomed his hero, David Letterman, to Jimmy Kimmel Live! couch. And Kimmel wasn’t exaggerating. The late-night host grew up worshiping Letterman — he joked about losing his virginity in bed with Late Night with David Letterman sheet— and was constantly singing his praises while captures his rival, Jay Lenofor the shady behind-the-scenes plots of the major manga involving both Letterman and Conan O’Brien.
After discussing how Howard Stern apologized to him after years of bonding, allowing the two to eventually become friends, Letterman opened up about his significantly closer friendship with NBA superstar Kevin Durant . The athlete and comedian have appeared on each other’s shows, with Letterman famously harassing Durant during the press conference for his Netflix series My next guest needs no introduction.
“You spend enough time talking to someone about a lot of things, and intimacy grows…and I feel the same way about Kevin,” Letterman said. “Kevin is a great athlete, a wonderful and fascinating person. And he was always at a high level.”
“He told me that the first thing he did when he got out of bed was lit a fire for a business, and then he was working. And I thought, wow, it’s like I have twins,” the comic added.
According to Letterman, after the two talked on his show about a year ago, he “this warmth, this connection, this gratitude for the relationship here,” so the comedian went to Durant and said, “I want us to always be friends—because I think we can be friends.” And Durant said, “Yes, I agree.” And then, as Letterman recounts, the two embraced.
He then recalled the time he texted Durant before the Brooklyn Nets’ season opener against the Celtics:
“Before we started – since I had his texting number – I texted him, ‘Kevin, Dave… Good luck and have a great game, and congratulations on everything.’ And after the game was over, I got a text there and I went, oh, it’s Kevin Durant! And he said, ‘Thanks, man.’ I haven’t heard from him since! “
