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The most buzzed about commercial during the CBS broadcast of the Super Bowl? The 15 second promo for Late Night with David Letterman that featured David Letterman, Oprah and Jay Leno. Almost immediately upon airing the spot, one could almost hear the viewing audience ask collectively “how did that happen?” We learned a bit from the NY Times last night, and tonight we heard from Leno, who shared his side of the story.

How, exactly, does this happen: A 15-second Superbowl ad featuring David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey and…Jay Leno? After taking shots at Leno for basically the whole month of January — mean ones — and getting a few below-the-belt zingers right back, Letterman is the last person whom I would have expected to see sharing screen time with his former arch-rival.

And yet — turns out it was his idea.