The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Will the comedian do justice to the show after David Letterman's exit?

David Letterman tickled the funny bones of millions of his fans for 33 years during The Late Show. But in May 2015, his legacy was handed over to Stephen Colbert who is all set to host the first episode of the highly popular night show by CBS.

The American comedian and actor, who helmed Comedy Central's The Colbert Report since 2005, is excited about hosting the iconic show at the Ed Sullivan Theater and hear the audience laugh. "It gives me everything I want," he told USA Today.

"I like meeting the guests, I like the grind, I like a live audience, I love to hear the laughter. It's the only job I could imagine that was a promotion. I was very proud of the show we had done, we'd had some success with it. (But) if I was going to do another live show in front of an audience, taking over for Dave was the only thing that had a laurel wreath on it."

The 51-year-old talk show host is expected to crack jokes on many topics. "I will tell topical jokes every night about things in the news, and if that's a monologue then that's a monologue, but I don't think you'll see it quite the same way. I don't know how to surf the wave until I'm on the board," he told the website.

"You're interviewing people, you don't know what's going to happen. That's much closer to how I learned my craft," he admitted during the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles in August. "And you can have big stars or important politicians or impressive thinkers, but it's sometimes the people you don't expect to impress you who can be your best guests."

The comedian will have Hollywood superstar George Clooney as his first guest. The other stars who are expected to make an appearance on the show are Jeb Bush, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Schumer and Stephen King. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will premiere on 8 September (Tuesday) on CBS Network.