Howard Stern on David Letterman: “He probably could have dumbed it down and done a long meaningless monologue that would have made for better ratings, but he stayed true to himself. That takes an unusual strength.” Lots of great stories and quotes in John Koblin’s NYT piece: David Letterman, Prickly Late-Night Innovator, Counts Down to His Exit.

+ Some of Letterman’s best musical guests. As a younger man, I once sat in the NBC studio while Lou Reed rehearsed Dirty Boulevard with Paul and the band. That was a good day.