“People say to me – aren’t you gonna miss the applause and the laughter? Hell, I’m missing it right now.”

About two and a half minutes into his monologue on Wednesday, David Letterman tosses out this joke as if it’s an afterthought. The audience laughs, of course. Dave stands there and smiles. It’s a joke that doubles as a quietly sublime statement. At the risk of reading too much into it, I took it as both a sign that he will, indeed, miss doing his show. But even in the midst of his farewell shows – on stage, right now – the laughter doesn’t affect him the way it once did. The thrill is gone.

Which is a shame, because David Letterman is one of the best, and it’s sad to see him go. His legacy needs no fluffing, as evidenced by the many tributes and think pieces you’ll read this week concerning how he shattered the notion of what late night television could be. He was a visionary and a star to an entire generation of comedians, and without him the state of comedy would look very different.

It’s sometimes difficult to separate the “Late Night” years from the “Late Show” years (to clarify – he was the original host of Late Night on NBC before departing to CBS) because they represent two entirely different eras. The former was a showcase for comedy innovation – an anti-talk show that constantly challenged the viewer. Taken as a whole, his “Late Show” tenure saw a slight decrease in ambition. In his quest to beat Jay Leno in the 11:30 timeslot, some of the more batshit crazy elements that gave Late Night its charm were put out to pasture. But Dave was always there, always the aloof, quick-witted comedian he’s always been. And these days, you’d be hard pressed to find a machine as well oiled as the Late Show.

The point I’m trying laboriously to get to is that in his last full week of shows (his final three shows air this week, concluding on Wednesday), after a lifetime of hard work, Dave has earned the right to just kind of stand there and chuckle at the absurdity of it all. I perhaps picked a bad week to check-in on a show that’s on its way out, because it really did seem like the show was casually jogging to its big finale. At the top of Monday’s monologue, Dave does a few jokes on Tom Brady (every night featured a Deflategate joke) then, unsatisfied, says “Put down the cards, Tom.” He proceeds to riff on selfies and memoirs. “Kim Kardashian publishes a book of selfies, it’s cool. I publish a book of selfies, it’s creepy.”

It seemed that for most of the week, Dave just wanted to get down to brass tax and talk to the guests he handpicked to close out his run. This was more than evident during the desk piece, where he did a Top 10 list every night. I thought that Dave would really pull out all the stops and go back to the nostalgia bin to do some fun stuff, but either they’re saving it for the last three shows or they’re not even gonna bother. Every list felt like it was brainstormed an hour before the show (Top 10 Least Popular Thomas Edison Inventions, Top 10 Things Overheard at the Olive Garden Test Kitchen, etc.) The only interesting one is the extremely-meta Top 10 Thoughts Going Through Dave’s Mind While Presenting the Top Ten List, which includes the number one pick, “Johnny never had to do this shit.”

The best part of the show is when Letterman cuts loose. He’s truly at his best when he’s off-the-cuff and talking to people. He has an uncanny ability to just sit back at his desk and riff with ease, and this is when the Late Show begins to get entertaining. With a week full of stacked guests, there’s fun to be had. Dave and Howard Stern have a natural camaraderie (“What are you gonna do in Montana?” “I’m not going to Montana!” is the best running joke of the night.) Don Rickles shows up and does his Don Rickles thing. I honestly could have watched him and Howard Stern and Letterman riff all night. Adam Sandler performs a musical tribute via acoustic guitar, and it’s surprisingly earnest and funny. George Clooney handcuffs himself to Dave. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re not leaving,” George says. Dave looks at him, longingly, and says “You have beautiful eyes.” And the last guest of the week, Norm MacDonald, shows up and kills it with a brilliant stand-up set that ends with an amazing tribute to Dave.

Some guests are a bore, though Dave clearly enjoys their company and could give a shit about whether or not you care. Bill Clinton conducts his interview like a campaign stop; he seemed quite muted, as if he’s deliberating censoring himself from saying anything that could hurt Hilary’s campaign. I guess that’s par for the course when your wife is running for President. Julia Roberts shows up, and Dave is apparently very taken by her. Oprah talks about Africa, and then Dave starts getting bored and they discuss smoking pot and selfies.

And that’s that. At the conclusion of every show, Dave turns to the camera for a quick “Good night everybody.” I can’t even throw an exclamation mark in there because his voice never rises to that level. Letterman is a stone cold professional. He goes in, makes people laugh, he goes out. And that’s been the way he’s doing it for nearly thirty years. He is the last of the old guard to go, a veteran performer whose presence over the past few years has been taken for granted. Letterman has always been there, and soon, he will be gone. But even during a week of coasting to the finish line, he still finds a way to make it work. He can still turn it on when he needs to, and when he does, there’s simply nobody better than David Letterman.

Full Disclosure:

-You can still catch glimpses of the old Late Night absurdity shining through. George Clooney remains handcuffed to Dave throughout his interview with Tom Waits. And when Dave goes out for the monologue for the Friday show, Clooney is still handcuffed to him. (They tape Thursday and Friday on the same day.)

-My mom assures me that Bill Clinton playing sax on The Arsenio Hall Show was a huge deal.

-Dave, before going to commercial: “President Clinton everybody. We’ll be back with Adam Sandler.” I laughed really hard at this.

-Adam Sandler gives zero fucks about wearing a t-shirt and jeans in the Ed Sullivan Theater.

-Paul Schaffer doesn’t much to do other than conduct the band, but he seems like a genuinely good guy. He was a guest this week and got to tell old stories about James Brown and Bob Dylan.

-I did not watch Ryan Adams. I most definitely watched Tom Waits. His voice never ceases to amaze/frighten me.

-I ate clearly expired leftover pizza at eleven o’clock in the morning while watching the Oprah interview. I have no shame.

-If you’re gonna watch something from these shows, check out Norm MacDonald’s stand-up set. Also tune in for the last three shows airing this week, which I’m sure will be interesting. Tom Hanks on Monday. Bill Murray on Tuesday. No guests listed on Wednesday, which means it will be a parade of celebrities.

-Next time on Late Night Check-In: I have no idea. I’d like to do this once a month. I did two this month because I wanted to cover Letterman before he left. Look for another one sometime next month.