David Letterman Raves About The National: “I Wish I Could Be Matt Berninger”

In a new video posted to his YouTube page, former late-night host David Letterman is sharing his thoughts about the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame class with longtime colleagues Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay. While he reacts against Warren Zevon getting snubbed (“I’m disappointed but not angry”), he positively gushes over the National, calling them “your saddest friend’s favorite band.”

“Oh, I love the National,” raved Letterman, seemingly prompted by a question around the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductees. Letterman also talked about how much he loves the band’s 2022 one-off “Weird Goodbyes,” which is not on their just-released new album First Two Pages Of Frankenstein.

“They had this song called ‘Weird Goodbyes,’ which is not on the new album, he’s singing about the weird goodbyes, ‘I don’t know why I don’t try harder,’” Letterman says, quoting directly from the song. “He is a man who is preoccupied, it’s been a sad parting of the ways [with] family. ‘I don’t know why I don’t try harder.’ That’s preoccupying Matt Berninger…”

Letterman continues, poking fun at the lyrics: “And now here comes the punch: ‘I feel like throwing towels into water.’ Woah, Jesus, what a mad man! Call the police! The guy’s gonna throw towels into water! But I say that because I love the National, and I wish I could be Matt Berninger because nobody’s cooler than Matt Berninger, and they ought to be in the Hall Of Fame.”

Watch Letterman gush about wanting to be Matt Berninger below.