Late Show with David Letterman: Host Gives Set to Ball State

Photo: Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS ©2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

In a “Top Ten List of Well-Known David Letterman Trivia,” the talk-show host’s devotion to his alma mater might feature as number one. The latest evidence: Letterman is donating a set and more to Indiana’s Ball State University. Per IndyStar, Ball State president, Paul Ferguson, says Letterman will donate “Emmy Awards, a talk-show set and other memorabilia from [his] career in television.”

Letterman’s donations will form “The David Letterman Experience.” The exhibit will be displayed at Ball State University’s David Letterman Communication and Media Building. According to IndyStar, no one said whether the furniture will come from Letterman’s old NBC TV show, Late Night with David Letterman, or his CBS TV show, Late Show with David Letterman. The latter premiered on CBS in 1993 and ran for 22 seasons, before ending earlier this year.

At a recent Ball State appearance, Letterman made some classic Dave-style self-deprecating remarks about himself and his donation.From IndyStar:

David Letterman marveled at the filmmaking skills of Spike Jonze and Bennett Miller on Monday night at Ball State University, and the retired talk-show host poked fun at his own “acting career.” […]

Once Letterman arrived onstage, sporting a voluminous white beard he’s been growing since the final “Late Show” telecast on May 20, he joked about how meaningful something titled “The David Letterman Experience” might be: “So you can sit at a desk and pretend to talk to an actor?”

On a related note, Hulu is bringing its free “Seinfeld: The Apartment” exhibit from to Los Angeles — in time for Festivus.

What do you think? Do you miss the Late Show with David Letterman TV show? Do you think it could have gone on with Dave in the chair for a 23rd season, or did he leave at the right time? Would you visit “The David Letterman Experience” exhibit?