The rivalry between Jay Leno and David Letterman is without doubt one of the most storied in all of leisure historical past. But for many who forgot (hey, Leno has since screwed over Conan, so issues are likely to get misplaced within the shuffle), right here’s the speedrun: Johnny Carson was retiring from The Tonight Show, Letterman was jockeyed to take it, Leno acquired it as a substitute, Letterman jumped to CBS, the 2 straight competed with one another for 15+ years. OK, now that we’re caught up, we have now to marvel: has the mud settled? Not solely, because it appears like the 2 won’t ever make headlines by shaking palms.
Jay Leno not too long ago appeared on In Depth with Graham Bensinger (through Deadline), the place the subject of The Tonight Show and David Letterman was introduced up. And whereas Leno mentioned he would sit down with Letterman, he’s not satisfied it’ll ever occur. “Oh, yeah. I would like to do that. I think I have no problem with it…I think Dave might be awkward.”
Leno did recall the time that he swung by Letterman’s home on an impromptu drop-in with a pal. “It was the most awkward. Dave’s like, ‘Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, come on in.’ And we’re like, ‘Oh, this is a mistake…It was just so awkward…‘So, uh, you want a glass of orange juice?’ ‘No, I’m OK. Yeah. We gotta get going.’ It was just so awkward…because you really, you have nothing else in common other than comedy really. Dave’s a sports guy. I’m not a sports guy…But I mean, believe me, if they want to do something, I would do it. But I’m not gonna…I tend to get my hand bitten when I instigate those kind of things.” Yeah, school soccer is the one distinction between you and Dave…Sure, Jay.
Jay Leno and David Letterman would find yourself teaming up in 2010 for a Super Bowl industrial, which was reportedly Letterman’s concept. But outdoors of that, there’s actually no cause for the 2 to reconcile. Likewise, Conan O’Brien – who had The Tonight Show extra straight stolen from him from Leno – has no real interest in ever sitting down with the host.
What do you suppose? Is a Leno/Letterman reunion value it?
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