David Letterman: Bob Dylan performs as host's penultimate musical guest on Late Show

Dylan gave an emotional rendition of Sinatra's 'The Night We Called It A Day'

Bob Dylan performs 'The Night We Called It A Day' on David Letterman's penultimate Late Show (Late Show with David Letterman)

Bob Dylan has made his big Late Show comeback just in time to bid host David Letterman farewell.

The legendary singer-songwriter returned to the chat show on Tuesday night for Letterman’s penultimate episode before he retires tonight.

Introduced as “the greatest songwriter of modern times”, Dylan performed the appropriately-titled “The Night We Called It A Day” from his latest album, Shadows in the Night.

The 73-year-old has recently taken to covering self-selected Frank Sinatra songs first popular in the Forties, Fifties and Sixties. Shadows in the Night, a collection of these, gave him a UK number one album earlier this year.

Dylan last appeared on Letterman’s stage to perform “Forever Young” in 1993, after debuting on the show with “Jokerman” in 1984.

Letterman broke the record for the longest-serving late night chat show host in TV history in 2013, after serving 31 years on the Late Show with David Letterman He will be succeeded by The Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert.

Last night’s show also featured comedian Bill Murray, who was Letterman’s first guest back in 1982 and has joined him an impressive 44 times in total.

Murray popped out of a cake, covered in cream, as a surprise for Letterman. He also brought along some celebratory vodka for the host to “cannonball”.

The Late Show with David Letterman comes to an end tonight, with a mystery episode promising to be jam-packed with surprises.