1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser
Advertisement

David Letterman Disses Jay Leno On Eve Of Conan

» 15 comments

LettermanConan O’Brien‘s night owl cohorts weren’t shy about mentioning the redhead’s new program on their own shows yesterday, as Matt Cherette of Gawker.TV proves. He’s put together a post that compiles other talk show hosts’ reactions to Conan. The mentions are generally genial; Jon Stewart congratulates Conan before noting with mock horror that their shows air at the same time, while Craig Ferguson introduces us to a redheaded PA whose late-night career bears an eerie resemblance to Coco’s.

David Letterman, though, wasn’t quite so gentle when he gave Conan a shoutout. In a typically sarcastic move, the acerbic late night titan took Conan‘s premiere as an opportunity to lob an uppercut at his favorite punching bag: Jay Leno. Here’s what he had to say:

“We gained an hour, that’s what happened, and they slipped in another talk show. Right about now, Conan is about halfway through his first show, and everything’s going fine. Let’s see—[checks watch] yep, no signs of foul play yet.”

Ouch. Letterman followed that with a lame quip about Hillary Clinton and Brett Favre. Video of his monologue is below.

[h/t Gawker.TV]

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.

Email Twitter Facebook Digg Reddit Stumble Upon Yahoo Buzz LinkedIn Tumblr Delicious
  • AntiHyperbole

    I used to love Dave when i was growing up. Now he’s just a snide mean spirited old man.

  • omega919

    Never been a fan of Letterman or Leno (I like Headlines and Jay Walking, but, otherwise, I can’t imagine anyone sitting through an hour of Jay). So it’s great to have Conan back, though he is going head-to-head with Jon Stewart, which makes for some tough choices.

    Still, Craig Ferguson remains my favorite. If you haven’t see him, check him out. I started watching him when Jimmy Fallon took over the 12:35 slot, and he won me over instantly.

  • Big Eddie

    Letterman has become the Larry King of late night hosts : once a cutting edge original , now a tired , irrelevant drip .

  • Arkansas Steve

    AntiHyperbole said:
    I used to love Dave when i was growing up. Now he’s just a snide mean spirited old man.

    Big Eddie said:
    Letterman has become the Larry King of late night hosts : once a cutting edge original , now a tired , irrelevant drip .

    Amen. Dave is obsessed with Sarah Palin & George W. Bush. He’s still bashing Bush, but I think he’s sexually obsessed with Sarah. He thinks about her whenever:
    (1) He’s having sex with his wife
    (2) He’s having sex with himself
    (3) He’s having sex with a woman who works for him who doesn’t know if she will keep her job if she refuses.

    Classy guy you are Davie Letterman. Ugh.

  • stoogedudes

    omega919 said:
    Never been a fan of Letterman or Leno (I like Headlines and Jay Walking, but, otherwise, I can’t imagine anyone sitting through an hour of Jay). So it’s great to have Conan back, though he is going head-to-head with Jon Stewart, which makes for some tough choices. Still, Craig Ferguson remains my favorite. If you haven’t see him, check him out. I started watching him when Jimmy Fallon took over the 12:35 slot, and he won me over instantly.

    You said it. I’ve never been much of a Letterman fan myself and I agree with AntiHyperbole above that he does seem snide and mean-spirited. I used to like Jay, but he’s gotten less funny, it seems.

    But thank God for DVR. I can DVR Conan and watch Jon and Stephen, or vice versa.

    And I couldn’t agree with you more on Craig Ferguson. I also went to Craig after Conan left Late Night, and I’ve been hooked ever since, although Geoff the skeleton robot thing is kinda getting old.

  • Scott_in_MI

    I just can’t watch Letterman anymore. Everytime I look at him, I see a perverted, deranged old perert who doesn’t see anything wrong with making jokes about child molestation.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/06/15/2009-06-15_david_letterman_apologizes_for_palin_joke.html

  • http://www.karlspensen.blogspot.com Karl Spensen

    Scott_in_MI said:
    I just can’t watch Letterman anymore. Everytime I look at him, I see a perverted, deranged old perert who doesn’t see anything wrong with making jokes about child molestation.

    Absolutely RIGHT!!!!!111 I covered the protest and met some True American Patriots who were RIGHT ON THE MONEY about Letterman!!!!111

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OfIgRtHpnU

  • Dave Richards

    Why is Letterman attacking Leno? He had nothing to do with the Conan debacle. Maybe he’s still pissed that he losy out on the Tonight Show.

  • njoy-d-ride

    I’ll watch Conan, Leno, or even turn off the tube and go to sleep before I watch Letterman. Actually I have little choice about the last one, the classless bum puts me to sleep.

  • http://www.karlspensen.blogspot.com Karl Spensen

    Karl Spensen said:
    Absolutely RIGHT!!!!!111 I covered the protest and met some True American Patriots who were RIGHT ON THE MONEY about Letterman!!!!111

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OfIgRtHpnU

    Giving me a THUMBS DOWN is giving a thumbs down to JOURNALISM!!!!111

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Mangan/100000213524770 David Mangan

    No matter how hard Letterman tries, and the only time he even gets close is when he’s got B O’Reilly on his show, he’ll never take that slot from ANYONE else, even though I stopped watching Leno for other reasons. Letterman is a trip to the dentist. With no laughing gas.

  • avoidswork

    Scott_in_MI said:
    I just can’t watch Letterman anymore. Everytime I look at him, I see a perverted, deranged old perert who doesn’t see anything wrong with making jokes about child molestation. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/06/15/2009-06-15_david_letterman_apologizes_for_palin_joke.html

    Oy. Really?

    A tasteless joke in reference to the daughter who did get knocked up (Bristol). MamaGrizzlyVictim twists it so it seems like he was talking about a different daughter (Willow).

    I’m more likely to think of Palin as a liar than Letterman as a perv. Actually, I just think Palin is a liar.

  • Scott_in_MI

    avoidswork said:
    I’m more likely to think of Palin as a liar than Letterman as a perv. Actually, I just think Palin is a liar

    That would be true, but Bristol WASN’T with her mom at the event Letterman joked about. Is was Palin’s 13 year old daughter.

    By the way dude, what’s wrong with you if your hatred for Palin is so severe that you think its ok that someone jokes about molesting her daughter? There’s some issues going on there.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Mangan/100000213524770 David Mangan

    avoidswork has issues with females, males and the human race in general it appears. Just like staff-rapist Letterman.

  • Nahu Tuk

    It must really suck to be David Letterman. Damn, I miss Johnny Carson!

© 2012 Mediaite, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Power Grid FAQ | Contact | Archives | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram