David Letterman has a message for “our good friend” Seth Meyers in the wake of President Donald Trump calling for him to be taken off the air.
“The president of the United States now wants to fire Seth Meyers,” Letterman said Tuesday on the Barbara Gaines Show. “And I thought, ‘This is just delightful. How do you think that’s going to go?”
Letterman noted that he’s “never been more proud” of Meyers, who now hosts the late-night NBC program that he once hosted.
“That’s our old show, as a matter of fact,’ Letterman noted. “We used to do that show, and he does a magical job. But just remember, Seth, things happen. You know what I’m saying?”
Letterman was riffing off of Trump’s exact words on Nov. 18, when the president was questioned by a reporter about his dealings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Letterman noted that “we had a lot of fun with that one.”
At one point, Letterman mused that watching the administration is “just a wonder of idiocy. It’s just fantastic. It knows no bounds. And never-ending. He’s our current — he’s our dictator. He’s not going anywhere.”
Letterman, who’s made it clear that he’s not a fan of Trump, said, “It’s like 18 times the worst behavior one has witnessed ever anywhere. Think of the worst thing that you’ve ever seen humans accomplish. This is so much worse. Oh, it’s delightful.”
Meyers himself has had a back and forth with the president following Trump’s Nov. 15 social media post insulting on him.
“NBC’s Seth Meyers is suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). He was viewed last night in an uncontrollable rage, likely due to the fact that his ‘show’ is a Ratings DISASTER,” Trump wrote. “Aside from everything else, Meyers has no talent, and NBC should fire him, IMMEDIATELY!”
David Letterman pictured in 2025.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty
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Trump took issue with Letterman himself in September, after Letterman had defended friend Jimmy Kimmel when his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, was briefly taken off the air.
“You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian and criminal administration in the Oval Office,” he said at the Atlantic Festival. “That’s just not how this works.”
Trump responded by asking, “Whatever happened to the very highly overrated David Letterman, whose ratings were never very good, either? He looks like hell, but at least he knew when to quit. LOSER!!!”