“Through all of the heartache, and the attention and the embarrassment, I still feel like I did the right thing.”

Walking out to enormous, sustained applause (someone shouted out, “We love you Dave”), Dave seem to shuffle a little awkwardly, said “Thank you,” a few times, while the audience applauded even more. Then he stopped, and suddenly grinned — which made the audience laugh along with him, all before a single joke was told.

A pause, and then: “Did your weekend just fly by?” So much contained in that sentence — the definition of subtext, the punchline present only in the unsaid. “I’ll be honest with you, folks, right now I’d give anything to be hiking on the Appalachian trail.” To all the people who spoke of the hypocrisy of Letterman joking about the indiscretions of others, well, here you go — he turned it right back on himself: “I got into the car this morning and even the navigation lady wasn’t speaking to me.” Ouch.

Letterman also apologized to his staff and wife tonight, which you can see here. Video below:

Actually, not a terrible ouch — one wonders what was left behind in the writer’s room — and the jokes they came up with that they’d never tell their boss to their face. We definitely need another panel.