Former U.S. President Barack Obama is set to make his first talk show appearance on Jan. 12, on the first episode of a new show featuring longtime late-night host David Letterman.
This will be Obama's first on-camera talk show interview since he left the presidency Jan. 20, 2017. He has largely stayed out of the media spotlight since then.
Letterman’s show, titled My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, is his first project since he retired from the long-running Late Show with David Letterman in 2015. His new Netflix series is expected, as the title suggests, to feature high-profile guests for in-depth interviews, both in and out of the studio.
President Barack Obama with host David Letterman take a break during a taping of CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, May 4, 2015.
Obama is expected to appear on the first episode Jan. 12, and a new, 60-minute episode is expected monthly through the year.
Letterman is known for a dry wit, pointed questions, and attention to current events. In 2011, he became the target of a reported death threat by an Islamist militant after joking about the death of an al-Qaida leader, Ilyas Kashmiri, in a drone strike in Pakistan. Letterman also wisecracked about the death threat, blaming it on his late-night television rival, Jay Leno.
Other guests to appear on the monthly Netflix show include human rights activist Malala Yousafzai, music mogul Jay-Z, and comedy writer Tina Fey.