David Letterman believes that the biggest career mistake he made was staying on TV for "way too long."
In fact, the former CBS’ "Late Show" host said he should have left TV 10 years ago — if only someone had the guts to fire him.
"Here’s the mistake I made," a self-deprecating Letterman said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," according to Deadline. "I stayed on television way too long."
The reason he didn't retire when he should have?
"Turns out nobody had the guts to fire me. I should have left 10 years ago," he said.
Letterman first hosted the "Late Show" from 1993 right up until 2015, when he finally decided to call it quits. Chatting with DeGeneres, the 71-year-old said he lacked her energy in wanting to pursue various projects — another career mistake by his own admission.
“You want to make sure you have some energy to direct toward other things," he noted, according to Deadline. "Now, you — nothing but energy — are doing other things while you're on television, so that's great. I did not," he continued.
"All I cared about was myself. And then the show was gone, and so I had to realize, 'Oh, I've been lookin' through the wrong end of the telescope.'
With time to ponder his next move after exiting the "Late Show," Letterman decided to focus on new endeavors, just like DeGeneres. The result was the six-episode “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman” on Netflix —a series of interviews with various high-profile names including Barack Obama, George Clooney, and Jay-Z, People noted.
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