NEW YORK: Hollywood stars Steve Martin and Tina Fey, comedians Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld and a host of US presidents joined the band Foo Fighters on Wednesday to bid farewell to David Letterman as the veteran “Late Show” host signed off for the last time.
The show as expected featured no sit-down guest interviews, relying heavily on clips of Letterman shows going all the way back to his 1980s morning show on NBC.
It opened with news footage of former President Gerald Ford intoning, out of context: “Our long national nightmare is over,” referring at the time to the Watergate scandal.
In succession, presidents George H. and George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and finally Barack Obama all repeated Ford’s pronouncement verbatim, with Obama adding, “Letterman is retiring.”
A bevy of top names turned up for one of Letterman’s signature bits, the nightly Top 10 list, which was entitled “top 10 things I’ve always wanted to say to Dave.” Barbara Walters, Jim Carrey, Peyton Manning, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Alec Baldwin, Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, Fey and Martin took aim.
“I’m just glad your show is being given to another white guy,” was Rock’s contribution, a reference to Letterman’s successor Stephen Colbert who takes over in September.
Tributes also came from long-running television shows including “The Simpsons” and “Wheel of Fortune.”
Notably absent was longtime rival and former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, although Letterman quipped in his monologue “I’ll be honest with you — it’s beginning to look like I’m not going to get ‘The Tonight Show.’“
More of his trademark self-deprecation followed when he observed that he had done more than 6,000 shows, then joked that noted physicist Stephen Hawking had calculated “It works out to about eight minutes of laughter.”
The 68-year-old host, famed for his quick wit, sarcasm, offbeat humor, often snarky attitude and silly stunts, hosted top stars and presidents in his final weeks, much as he did during 33 years on late night television at NBC and CBS.
‘Thank you and goodnight’ TV legend Letterman signs off
‘Thank you and goodnight’ TV legend Letterman signs off
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
