United Kingdom, April 14 -- David Letterman has claimed CBS is replacing the Late Show with Comics Unleashed to avoid having to "spend any money".

The 79-year-old late night icon - who hosted The Late Show from 1993 until 2015 - has weighed in on the programme's cancellation, with his successor Stephen Colbert's show getting replaced by projects from Bryon Allen.

Appearing on The Barbara Gaines Show, Letterman said: "They don't want to spend any money, so they're going to make money.

"They charge Byron Allen some reasonable price. He sells all the advertising for his Comics Unleashed, and it'll be, I think, 90 minutes or two hours of comics talking about funny stuff...

"The show is a pretty good idea. It's all panel. Nobody's doing an...