David Letterman Says He Was “Frightened” Going Into Kanye West Interview For Netflix Show

David Letterman says he was frightened before his interview with Kanye West.

Letterman has been in the hosting game for years, but in an interview with “Sunday Today” host Willie Geist, the journalism veteran revealed that he was nervous before interviewing hip hop artist Mr. West on his Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.”

“I was frightened honestly because I had only met him a couple of times on the show, and I knew that depending on the day, you weren’t quite sure which path you were going to be on,” Letterman said, in an apparent reference to West’s mental-health struggles. Since the interview, Letterman said he caught up with West at his Sunday Service performances. “I didn’t know what to expect,” he recalled. “We went to it early in a sound studio in Burbank, and it was remarkably spiritual… it was quite moving.”

Following the interview, Letterman said his time with West positively influenced his previous thoughts about the artist. “When I was done with Kanye, I kind of felt like I wanted – you want to kind of father him and I think he’s in good hands, and I think he’s so artistically smart.” Letterman’s “My Next Guest” starts back up on May 31.