David Letterman Seems To Have Gone From Interviewing Obama To Being a Stop on MrBeast's Press Tour

In the very first episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, the late-night legend interviewed former President Barack Obama and visited important locations in civil rights history with the late Congressman John Lewis. 

Now, in Season 6, Letterman and his writers will have to think up some softball questions about the Saudi Arabian theme park Beast Land.

After retiring from The Late Show in 2015, Letterman apparently decided that his next project needed to be slightly more serious, more pared-down and more thoughtful than the nightly comedy format that made him a superstar. When he signed on to do a talk show for Netflix, Letterman slowed down his pace and went more in-depth with his conversations about politics, culture, art and history – and, of course, comedy, whenever he had an A-lister like Tina Fey or Howard Stern on stage.

However, in the newly released teaser for My Guest Needs No Introduction Season 6, Letterman seems to be falling into the same trap that has ensnared nearly every other late-night host in the business, which is following the Jimmy Fallon model of shamelessly pandering to internet culture and fishing for clicks.

In the new season, which is set to begin on December 16th, Letterman will speak to movie star Michael B. Jordan, comedy great Jason Bateman and YouTube king/TV-PG Jigsaw Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson ahead of the release of Beast Games Season 2.

Now, in all fairness to Letterman, Donaldson is, in every sense, and industry-leader and a cultural figure whose impact and influence is at least equal to some other My Next Guest interviewees. Donaldson's main YouTube channel boasts 452 million subscribers, making it the most popular account on the platform by a huge margin, and his candy brand, his fast food chain, his game show and his Saudi Arabian theme park are only engorging his already massive footprint on international commerce and culture.

But, really, what does the 78-year-old Letterman, once the zeitgeist's top iconoclast in terms of tearing down cynical, opportunistic attention-seekers, have to talk about with the 27-year-old whose entire brand is allegedly just being the YouTube equivalent of a Walmart with zero OSHA compliance? What insight do we possibly need Letterman to glean from Donaldson's maximalist exercises in overstimulation and public humiliation, some of which prompted nine-figure lawsuits against the content king from their contestants?

If Letterman doesn't ask Donaldson any serious, critical questions about the way the multimedia magnate has treated some of the civilians who participated in his chaotic, allegedly dangerous stunts and simply spends the whole episode wandering around Donaldson's sound stage mouth-agape like he does in the trailer, then what was the point of even starting a serious Netflix talk show?

Clearly, Donaldson is speaking to Letterman at least in part to promote Beast Games Season 2, which is slated to hit streaming less than three weeks after the start of My Next Guest Season 6. If this interview ends up being the puff piece that it appears to be, then, honestly, why do we still need Letterman when we already have Fallon?