David Letterman's touching tribute to Robin Williams

David Letterman and Robin Williams were friends for nearly four decades. On Monday night, Letterman spent over ten minutes paying tribute to his late friend and sharing his thoughts and memories of the comedic genius of Williams.

Letterman described the night that he first saw Williams perform at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, 38 years ago. Letterman was a budding comic and recalled his reaction to seeing one of Williams' early performances: "We came on like morning dew, he came on like a hurricane."

"He finishes and I thought, 'That's it, they're gonna have to put an end to show business, because what can happen after this?'" he added.

Image: YouTube

The late night host told the story of Williams' meteoric rise to stardom and how he never acted differently towards those he grew up with in the comedy business.

Did you know that David Letterman appeared on "Mork and Mindy?" He credited Williams with convincing the producers to give him the spot on the hit show. It was a very brief appearance that Letterman said he could not bear to watch for years.

Image: YouTube

As Letterman's career grew and spanned more than two decades across NBC and CBS, Robin Williams made more than 50 appearances on his shows.

The segment closed with a montage of some of Dave's favorite moments from Williams' visits. The clip was posted on YouTube less than 24 hours ago and has gone viral, generating more than 1.6 million views.

Watch the clip:

(H/T: @Letterman on Twitter)

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Follow Mike Opelka (@Stuntbrain) on Twitter.