It’s been a year-and-a-half since David Letterman stepped down from his Late Show pulpit. In that time, the talk show legend has been remarkably quiet, occasionally popping up at sporting events, chatting with Steve Martin, and mostly just enjoying a well-earned retirement.
But no longer: Earlier this year, Nat Geo (who acquired the series from Showtime, which aired the first season) announced that it had recruited Letterman as a celebrity correspondent for its star-studded global warming documentary series, Years Of Living Dangerously. Now, the network has released the first clips of Letterman’s contribution to the show—which also recently brought on Jack Black, Sigourney Weaver, and a host of other celebrities to remind us we’re all gonna die—in two clips from the series’ upcoming second season.
In the first clip (watchable above), Letterman is in full-on interview mode, talking to the prime minister of India about solar power and coal. It’s a great reminder that—mandatory retired-talk-show-host beard aside—Letterman is still one of the most experienced conversationalists on the planet (and also a guy who still can’t resist cracking a joke every five seconds, at least when he’s not discussing renewable energy with a sitting head of state). The other clip taps into Letterman’s sillier side, as he waxes poetic about solar panels before getting a tad too close to the objects of his affection.
Years Of Living Dangerously—which also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, America Ferrera, and Don Cheadle—returns to TV, starting with Letterman’s episode, on October 30.