Stop me if you’ve heard this one – Jay Leno announces his retirement from the Tonight Show and will be handing the reigns to the host of Late Night. No need to check the date of this article, this isn’t from 2010 when Conan O’Brien famously replaced Leno before being sent packing by NBC so Leno could return.

Jay Leno is in fact retiring this time, and not simply moving to an earlier time slot to host a show identical to the Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon will take over duties once Leno leaves in 2014. Leno’s retirement has long been speculated, and most people imagined that Fallon would take his place. But David Letterman confessed Wednesday night that he is a bit shocked by the news.

Letterman said, “NBC announced that Jimmy Fallon will take over for Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in February of 2014. This is…something’s wrong here. This happened once before with Conan O’Brien, and then they had to bring Jay back, and so he had to start his show all over again, and now it looks like the same thing is happening. And I just–I don’t get this.”

Letterman went on, “He’s retiring, so it says, and good for him. I’ve known him 38 years. I’ve known Jay Leno for 38 years…so now he’s out again, but going out on top. So congratulations to Jay, a job well done.”

Always one to beat a dead horse – Letterman continued, “It seems like we just went through this. Didn’t we just go through this? Jay Leno now is being replaced, and this is the second time this has happened,” he says. “I mean, it’s crazy. He’s being replaced by a younger late-night talk show host—what could possibly go wrong?”

Obviously Letterman isn’t convinced that Leno’s retirement is on the up-and-up. If Leno is being forced out, I suppose we will never know. Leno doesn’t seem phased by Letterman’s doubts nor his pending retirement. During his monologue on Wednesday night Leno joked, “I had a really awkward day today. I had to call David Letterman and tell him he didn’t get The Tonight Show again. Awful! Terrible!”

Many will recall that Letterman was to be Johnny Carson’s successor on The Tonight Show back in 1992, but NBC gave Leno the nod instead. Letterman became Leno’s competition as the host of The Late Show on CBS.