Former president Bill Clinton paid a visit to the Late Show last night, where he weighed in on several topical political issues, including ideas for how to breathe new life into the economy. When host David Letterman brought up the concept of redistributing wealth — or at least the idea that the well-off would feel some sort of impetus to help out those not as well-off — Clinton seemed skeptical. “I’m always looking to blame somebody,” Letterman joked.

David Letterman isn’t afraid of your jihadist threats. Last week, the late-night funny man became the target of jihadists on Shumukh-al-Islam, a website which, according to SITE Intelligence Group, frequently posts messages from Al-Qaeda and their supporters, after he made an ill-received joke wherein he mocked the death of senior Al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri by [...]

Late Show host David Letterman made news when it was revealed that he was the target of an online threat by a member of a jihadist internet forum, precipitating an investigation by the NYPD and the FBI. MSNBC terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann, though, put the threat into perspective in an appearance with Contessa Brewer, stressing that the guy who made the threat was more an emboldened internet crank than a dangerous terrorist.

A contributor to jihadist online forum “shumukh al-Islam” has called on Muslims to attack and “cut the tongue” of CBS’ Late Show host David Letterman over comments he had made on his show. The Site Monitoring Service, a private firm which, as you may have gathered, monitors online activity, announced that the threat was made on Tuesday

The contributor in question, who goes by the name Umar al-Basrawi on the forum, was reacting to Letterman’s references to former terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and former Al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri, both of whom were killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan. Al-Basrawi wrote that Letterman had “put his hand on his neck and demonstrated the way of slaughter.”

Will this mean an end to any Late Show visits for New Jersey governor Chris Christie–or a lively and entertaining back-and-forth battle? In David Letterman‘s monologue Wednesday, the comic suggested the pie attack on Rupert Murdoch has public figures “tightening their security” so they don’t become the next victim–all but one, that is. Yep. You see, Christie loves pie attacks! Or baked alaska attacks, or ice cream sundae attacks–you name it, just throw food at him!

He’s known for his Top Ten lists, not his breaking news coverage, so you have to forgive David Letterman for getting some of the facts wrong in his coverage of the Rupert Murdoch story, which he described Tuesday night this way: “You know, Rupert Murdoch is on trial in London, England for killing a guy.” Well, no, not quite. But still, the pie-throwing incident during Mr. Murdoch’s testimony before a committee of the British Parliament led to a memorable Top Ten list: “Top Ten Thoughts Going Through Rupert Murdoch’s Mind During the Pie Attack.” And just in case that’s not enough for you, how about NBC’s Matt Lauer interrupting the whole thing–getting caught breaking in to Letterman’s historic Ed Sullivan Theater? Would that be something you might be interested in?

On Monday night’s Late Show, David Letterman wasted no time discussing the news that a drunken, out-of-work actor had broken in to the historic Ed Sullivan Theater overnight and trashed the lobby. In Letterman’s opening monologue, with a scowl on his face, he accusingly asked the audience, “how’d you folks get in?” As for the guy who broke in, Letterman confirmed that it was probably not archrival Leno. “I’m told that Jay has an alibi.”

In the ever-clever words of the New York Post, “there must be a better way to get your foot in the door at Late Show with David Letterman.” As the Post writes, a “boozed-up, down-on-his-luck Broadway actor wannabe” kicked in the glass doors of Letterman’s iconic Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway Sunday, climbed inside and trashed the ornate lobby. “The inside looked like it was a drunken bar brawl,” a law-enforcement source told The Post.

As the final chapter to the thrilling saga of whether celebrity-in-peril Lindsay Lohan would or would not appear on David Letterman‘s talk show, Letterman last night admitted he was “duped” and offered an apology that his audience likely found more enjoyable than if Lohan had actually appeared to read a “Top Ten” list.

he big reveal of Sports Illustrated‘s new swimsuit issue was supposed to come on David Letterman‘s Late Show last night. But as it turned out, the world’s first glimpse of the bikini-clad Irina Shayk on the cover came from midtown Manhattan office worker Rana Wardlaw, who happened to look out her window and spot a massive billboard of the cover being quickly uncovered as a test for the upcoming Letterman segment.

She snapped a pic, tweeted it out (“New SI swimsuit coverrrr!!!!”), and boom went the proverbial dynamite.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper visited David Letterman‘s Late Night, and the chat, of course, turned to Cooper high profile “pummeling” at the hands of pro-Mubarak thugs in Cairo. “I don’t recommend it,” Cooper told Letterman. “I’d never been hit in the head before.”

Cooper also revealed that his attempt to calm the angry crowd during the attack didn’t quite work out as planned. Thinking he was using the Arabic word for “peace,” Cooper realized later he had been telling his attackers “God willing.” He told Letterman it was “sort of stupid.”

In a highly entertaining interview on David Letterman‘s Late Show last night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow talked about the differences between her network and Fox News.

Maddow made an argument that unlike MSNBC, Fox News is a “political operation” that’s run with overtly political goals: “to elect candidates…to fundraise for causes…to have rallies against Democratic ideas and politicians.”

In case you hadn’t heard, Jim Carrey‘s got a new movie coming out, I Love You Phillip Morris, in which Carrey plays con man who escapes from Texas prisons four times. It’s based on a true story, and oh, the other thing about Carrey’s character is that he’s gay, and in love with a man played by co-star Ewan McGregor.

Enter David Letterman, and the lively chat Friday night starts to look like dinner at your grandparents when somebody mistakenly brings up politics. Silverware clanks onto the china.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was back on CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman last night, and the pair discussed how much her guest host Chris Hayes looks like her.

But the main topic was, “why is CNN just about out of business?”

Bill Murray got a little zany last night on Letterman. The actor dove into a dumpster swimming pool to promote his new movie Get Low, which, honestly, doesn’t look like the type of movie that the key demographic would be impressed by actors diving into dumpster swimming pools. Still though, Murray did it and he apparently hurt himself to as he then proceeded to give a lengthy interview while bleeding from the head.

Late night comedy television has consistently been a location for heated competition – recently, more so than ever. (“Late night wars” has to be one of the most populated non-cable news tag pages on Mediaite.)

But this week, Jimmy Fallon and Craig Ferguson did their parts to end the wars and become BFFs.

This week has been full of memorable late night TV moments, from Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and more. Here are the highlights — and the backstory.

Check out some of the notable quotes of the week about all the NBC late night troubles, and on the next page, get some context on each of the quotes.

As he has all week, David Letterman took obvious delight in ripping NBC and its late night situation on his CBS Late Show.

But last night he went specific – taking aim at NBCU President Jeff Zucker and other “idiot” NBC executives.

As we pointed out yesterday, Jay Leno would like you to know that this is not his fault. But judging by the reactions of his fellow comedians, there is no love lost between Leno and his late-night peers. But when innocent bystander Jimmy Kimmel gets in the act, and goes out of his way to crap on Leno? It might signal that, in fact, Leno doesn’t really have many pals in Hollywood.

David Letterman didn’t hold back, again, in bashing NBC and its late night woes on his Late Show tonight.

But in a move that combined new media savvy, playful ribbing and the acknowledgment many viewers would be tuning into the potential impending seminal late night moment when Conan O’Brien post-letter Tonight Show airs, CBS released all portions of Letterman’s NBC jabs early on YouTube.

After his jokes about the Palin women spawned a movement to get him fired, you’d think David Letterman would have developed a teensy bit of sensitivity about sex and gender issues. Apparently not. A bit from his Tuesday night show, in which a stagehand flees the set in horrified disgust at transgender Obama appointee Amanda Simpson, has Human Rights Campaign calling Dave out and calling for an apology.