David Letterman may have recently announced his retirement from the world of late night chat shows that he’s graced for over 30 years, but he’s already landed a new hosting gig – of sorts.

The 68 year old chat show legend will appear on an episode of the National Geographic documentary series ‘Years of Living Dangerously’, about the effects of climate change on the world, next year. The channel has celebrated the recent green lighting of a second series by announcing the signing of such a big name for when it resumes.

David LettermanDavid Letterman will be making a brief return to TV screens on the National Geographic channel

The veteran comedian, in his first TV project since ‘The Late Show’ ended in May this year, will travel to India in 2016 to examine the effects of climate change on the country and what it’s trying to do to combat the issue as its population grows in the future. Letterman is expected to examine the government’s efforts to bring solar power to the entire 1.2 billion population.

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Letterman will be one of a handful of celebrity correspondents each taking an episode to analyse the issue in different countries across the globe. The series, which won an Emmy in 2014 for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, will also feature Jack Black, James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olivia Munn and Ty Burrell.

He’s apparently never visited the country, the second most populous in the world, but according to the Hollywood Reporter, his former ‘Late Show’ colleague Joel Bach believes that Letterman is the right person for the job, maintaining a keen interest in the issue of climate change throughout his time on the show.

“You could just tell. Whenever they would have a climate discussion, he would really kind of perk up,” opined Bach, “and it turns out he does, he cares about it a lot. He’s definitely invested in this issue.”

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