His announcement comes a little more than a month after longtime rival, Jay Leno, handed the Tonight Show reins over to Jimmy Fallon.  NEW YORK (AP) — David Letterman says he's retiring next year as host of "Late Show."
– David Letterman is signing off after more than 30 years in the late-night business, reports TVLine.com. The host said during the taping of tonight's show that he will step down in 2015, reports AP. Bassist Mike Mills of REM, who appears on the show, first broke the news on Twitter: "Dave just announced his retirement," he wrote. Letterman has hosted CBS' Late Show for 21 years, after 11 years at NBC's Late Night. Letterman told the audience that he phoned CBS chief Leslie Moonves before the taping, "and I said, 'Leslie, it’s been great, you’ve been great, and the network has been great, but I’m retiring,'" according to the Hollywood Reporter. As the audience gave him a standing ovation, Letterman added, "We don’t have the timetable for this precisely down—I think it will be at least a year or so, but sometime in the not too distant future, 2015 for the love of God, in fact, Paul and I will be wrapping things up.” The announcement comes just weeks after Jimmy Fallon replaced Jay Leno at NBC. Business Insider reports that Craig Ferguson is believed to have the first right of refusal to replace Letterman in the 11:30 time slot. Letterman, who turns 67 next week, recently passed Johnny Carson as the longest late-night host in TV history.