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David Letterman retires: Watch the interview with Madonna that became the most censored in US talk show history

The expletive-filled 1994 show was every dubbing man's worst nightmare

Jenn Selby
Thursday 21 May 2015 09:35 BST
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It’s the end of an era.

After being the quick-witted, razor-tongued host of Late Night With David Letterman since 1 February 1982, David Letterman is finally throwing in the towel.

Aged 68, he retires with a career of legendary celebrity encounters behind him, millions of loyal fans and some of the best live music footage in TV history.

So prolific has his dominance of the American chat show market been over the last 30 years, a showreel of his best moments would be near impossible to compile.

So instead we remember one of his most controversial: the 1994 interview with Madonnna that became record-breaking for all the wrong reasons.

Dressed in heavy gothic attire with lace-up knee-high boots and a large cigar, the Queen of Pop played the racy, f-bomb-dropping femme fatale as Letterman rattled through his probing questions with increasing anxiety.

So expletive-filled was their conversation, it ended up becoming the most censored interview ever to be aired on a US chatshow. And you can view it in full in two parts below:

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