Dave at Peace: The Rolling Stone Interview : Rolling Stone

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It's likely that this time next year, you'll be facing off with Conan. Have you envisioned that competition?
I haven't given it much thought, but I guess it's because I still find it hard to believe that Jay won't be there. It's only until recently that I felt this thing had traction. It just seemed so preposterous to me. It will be weird to see Conan at 11:30, don't you think? Which is not to say he can't succeed, but, no, I don't know what the competition will be like. I hope we're able to do OK.

How do you feel about Craig Ferguson? The sense I get from your folks is that he's been a pleasant surprise.
Well, all credit to [former Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson producer] Peter Lassally — it was his recommendation, and we went with Craig because of my regard for Peter, and I will guiltily tell you that I didn't pay much attention to him. And then I started finding myself up late — I guess it was during the writers' strike — and I realized that here is a guy who has tremendous energy doing the same thing that everybody else is doing, but he's doing it so differently that it doesn't seem like it's the same thing. He has no budget, has no real resources that everybody else has and, jeez, I think he does a tremendous job. I started calling people and saying, "Have you seen..." and everybody else had the same feeling.

Your contract is up in 2010 — do you have a sense for which way you're leaning, Packers or Jets?
[Laughs] Boy, what's the deal there? Honestly, really is that what [Brett Favre] wanted to happen, the poor guy? A friend of mine said he'll never get off his back — every game flat on the turf.

Well, the way I feel now, I would like to go beyond 2010, not much beyond, but you know, enough to go beyond. You always like to be able to excuse yourself on your own terms. If the network is happy with that, great. If they wanna make a change in 2010, you know, I'm fine with that, too.

So you are motivated to keep doing this.
Yes. The way things are, the way I feel physically, I would love to continue, so we'll just see what happens.

Jon Stewart's name comes up as a possible successor, if and when you decide to step down. If you were running CBS, would he be someone you'd take a look at?
Absolutely. I don't know this for a fact, but I have a feeling that all of that has been taken care of or discussed. I would be surprised if there's anything like what is happening at NBC taking place at CBS. People have had a lot of time to consider this in a cooler environment.

They don't bring you in on that conversation?
No. There may have been a time where I wanted to be involved in that, but I just feel like, "Thank you and goodnight," and everybody parts friends is what I'm looking for.

What will you do when you stop doing this?
Well, I have Regina and I have Harry, and we have a little couch and a little desk in the living room. I can continue to do the show at my house for quite some time, until they absolutely refuse. And I control the money, so they really can't refuse. So I don't see a need to ever actually stop.

Who would be the first guest on the home show?
Of course, it would have to be...I guess it would be Regina. I'm not saying she would be the best guest, but she'd be the first guest.

Hearing you talk like this, about fatherhood, about your job, I get the sense that there is real hope and things that are heartening for you. There are many things to get up out of bed in the morning for.
Yeah. For the first time, two days ago, my son got up on a horse, and now we can't get him off. I don't know if that exactly fills the category you're describing, but for me, that was more than enough to get out of bed the next day, because there was great hope.

[From Issue 1061 — September 18, 2008]

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