A: Something applicable to these times? A: First of all, you can’t hurt my feelings because I’m dead inside. Six, eight months into it, you go on talking as though things are normal, and then it’s, oh, no, we can’t do that because of the pandemic. I think they still do enough business to keep people happy. That may be part of the dynamic now. A: I really did, until recently. I don’t get it. People keep reminding me that, at my age, I’m particularly vulnerable. (Publicist answers: “You did it.”) I’m being told I did it (laughs). And it will be a huge victory. And I think we — I think I, screw everybody else — I put her on the map. It may not happen in the first five minutes, but in every one of these experiences, there’s always a conduit for mutual experience. A: I know that people have been hugely successful with it. We’re all in show business, but that’s as close a comparison as you can make, culturally. Q: Do you ever have moments in these interviews where you feel as if you don’t have a shared frame of reference to talk to some of these guests? I have no solution other than to do what is told: Take care of yourself and your family. Q: Because of the pandemic, this episode has no audience — it’s just the two of you talking in her home studio. Really. A: I think it’s every parent’s concern, regardless of the age of their kids. “It looks kind of unfinished,” he said through a fabric mask that barely held back his unruly beard. Q: Please don’t mistake this for a suggestion, but do you ever think about packing it in as a broadcaster entirely? I’m way overdue. Well, one time I choked on a peanut-butter sandwich and nearly died.” You have to make everybody a good interview. A: I thought we were done for good. But truth be told, Letterman was in a more melancholy than mirthful frame of mind. Q: Do you think that late-night television, a genre that you helped to pioneer, has been diminished in recent years — that so much of it has become political comedy that doesn’t really move the needle and crowds out everything else? I won’t comment on the ease of being married to Kanye West. These are edited excerpts from that conversation. What is it like for you now? [Most read] Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposes 10 p.m. curfew on city bars, restaurants and nonessential businesses as coronavirus cases spike: ‘It’s like we’re back in the spring’, [Most read] Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Lightfoot imposes curfew on nonessential Chicago businesses as state reports another record high number of daily COVID-19 cases — 4,942 new known infections, [Most read] Illinois averaging 4,000 COVID-19 cases per day over past week as latest daily count of confirmed infections hits new record high — nearly 5,000, [Most read] Some restaurants in Illinois are defying closure orders as ban on indoor service spreads to Chicago suburbs, [Most read] Trump posts unedited interview with Lesley Stahl ahead of ‘60 Minutes’ broadcast on Sunday, [Most read] Watch live: Gov. No, it was all of the moment. We’re looking at a quarter of a million people dead soon. When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to host his own late-night show on CBS, opposite The Tonight Show at 11:30 p.m., called the Late Show with David Letterman. A: Past material (laughs). We did them within a very short period of time, and then we came home. It’s outdoors. But there’s other people more capable. For guys Harry’s age and older, it might be a setback. Is that why you went back to her now? So I think that’s what (late-night shows) worked toward. In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans believed that Letterman would become host of The Tonight Show. By that point, there were protocols in place from the production company and from Netflix that we had to observe, gladly, and we got through it OK. Q: Kim Kardashian West, who is now a prized guest on your Netflix series, was a frequent target of mockery in your “Late Show” days.