It's the end of late night comedy as we know it.

After more than 30 years on television, David Letterman tapes his final "Late Show" on Wednesday. Stephen Colbert will take his CBS timeslot in the fall, but there will be no more Stupid Pet Tricks, Top 10 Lists or Cuts of Meat trivia games.

No more random flipping pencils or contentious conversations with dim-witted pop stars. No more roving reporter segments with Biff Henderson or lively dramatizations of Oprah show transcripts.

Essentially there's no pressing reason to stay awake past the local weather report. Nowadays, all the other late night shows are so easy to watch on Hulu and other online platforms. But for me, the CBS.com video player was always too cumbersome to risk missing Dave at 11:35 p.m.

Preference in talk show host is subjective. Plenty of people couldn't stand Letterman's abrasive, often-cranky style as much as I couldn't stand Jay Leno's insincere, suck-up tendencies. Letterman also didn't bother competing with the Jimmys and their readily-sharable comedy skits and celebrity-fueled shenanigans. He continued being Dave - sarcastic and pessimistic but still engaged enough to ask his guests real questions, even if posers like Justin Bieber didn't have real answers.

Letterman is considered a legend by many of comedy's top names - Ray Romano, Louis C.K. and even late night competitors like Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O'Brien. On Tuesday's episode, Adam Sandler even made the effort to write a song about Letterman, and it was by far the funniest and most sincere thing Sandler has done in a decade.

I'm not a comedian, and I've never had the desire to be a part of that world. Still, it was Letterman and his "Late Show" that played a big part in my life. At whatever age my parents let me stay up, I was waking the entire house with my laughter. In school, I'd practice flicking my pencil just the way Letterman did it, and I'd tell my friends about Small Town News and the crazy animals Jungle Jack Hanna brought in to terrify Dave the night before. His first show back after 9/11 was an hour of television I'll never forget, and his triple bypass surgery was as serious to me as the medical conditions of actual family members.

My friends didn't much care about what happened on the "Late Show" (busy with girls and sports I suppose), but it never deterred me from my devotion. I was a Letterman nerd. And I was always pretty sleepy through first period.

Through college and marriage and full-time jobs and children, I definitely watched less of "The Late Show" through the years, but it was always there when I needed it. Watching these final weeks has made me wish I tuned in more often than the occasional presidential visit or Jack Hanna segment.

Letterman may be known as a jerk in some Hollywood circles, and that whole sex scandal business certainly didn't help his public image. I won't pretend to understand him as a person, but in terms of how I define entertainment, the entity of David Letterman is unrivaled.

I can watch Conan and "The Daily Show" online, and those Jimmys sure know how to craft a hilarious three-minutes on YouTube. But for me late night comedy is done. Maybe I'll finally get a decent night of rest.

Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.