David Letterman announced that he will retire in 2015. The Late Show will never be the same without that gap-toothed, middle-American New York fixture. David Letterman, who would have followed Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show if Johnny had his way, is moving aside for a new talk show generation.

Following Jay Leno's departure, this is changing of the guards. David Letterman talked about stepping down in about a year during Thursday's taping of "The Late Show."

According to a transcript given out by Letterman's PR rep, the man who was discovered by Mary Tyler Moore said "The man who owns this network, Leslie Moonves, he and I have had a relationship for years and years and years, and we have had this conversation in the past, and we agreed that we would work together on this circumstance and the timing of this circumstance. And I phoned him just before the program, and I said 'Leslie, it's been great, you've been great, and the network has been great, but I'm retiring.'

"I just want to reiterate my thanks for the support from the network, all of the people who have worked here, all of the people in the theater, all the people on the staff, everybody at home, thank you very much. What this means now, is that Paul and I can be married.

"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 audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater gave David Letterman a standing ovation at the end of his announcement.

Letterman signed a two-year deal with CBS last year.

Letterman will hit the 22-year mark as host of CBS's "Late Show" net year. He hosted NBC's "Late Night" for 11 years before that.