Obama stars as first guest on David Letterman's comeback talk show

Over two years after retiring as the Late Show host, David Letterman is set to return to television screens with a new Netflix show and he is pulling out all the stops with his guests.

Letterman has lined up former US President Barack Obama as his first guest when he makes his TV comeback with his new show "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman", which will air on 12 January.

While he was US president, Obama was a regular guest on the comedian's former programme 'The Late Show with Letterman', which he hosted for 22 years.

When Obama appeared on the show in May 2015, a month before the talk show host retired, he told Letterman: "We've grown up with you."

"The country, I think, has after a tough day at the office or coming home from work, knowing you've been there to give us a little bit of joy, a little bit of laughter, it has meant so much. You're a part of all of us."

Since leaving the White House last January, Obama has given but a handful of interviews. Last month he was interviewed by Prince Harry who was serving as a guest host on the Today programme.

Letterman signed a deal with Netflix last year to develop the six-episode show, for which he will be paid $2 million per episode.

"I had a show for a long time," Letterman said in the trailer for his new show. "Then I didn't have a show for a long time — and I can't tell you how great it is to be out of the damn house. Wow."

Besides Obama, other guests include George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Tina Fey, Jay-z and Howard Stern.

"Each 60-minute episode of My Next Guest is centred around one extraordinary figure whom Dave finds fascinating," Netflix said in a statement. "In interviews that take place both inside and outside a studio setting, the conversations are intimate, in-depth and far-reaching, with the levity and humour Dave's fans know and love."

"You never know when you might learn something," Letterman said about his new show. "And that's what this is about for me. These are people that I admire."