Letterman's Clearances

"I realized I was missing it, but I didn't say anything to anybody until one night at Ron Burkel's house," he says. "You can just get famous people to hang out with you and they'll just hang out if you have a nice house and bring some bitches." The late-night talk show host had his own power base when Letterman left for CBS. He recalls how no one stood in his way or tried to stop him from leaving the network.