Letterman: Case against producer handled properly

NEW YORK – From the start, David Letterman made sure the story of a $2 million shakedown attempt over his sex life was one he narrated himself.

It was the comic, not prosecutors, who broke the news of the case, which spurred him last fall to acknowledge affairs with women on his staff.

After former television producer Robert "Joe" Halderman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a blackmail attempt driven by debt and jealousy, Letterman seized the moment again. The late-night icon's lawyers were at the courthouse with a statement from him, and he weighed in on his show with praise for prosecutors and police.

"It was handled professionally, skillfully and appropriately," he said.

Letterman may be hoping the same is said of his own handling of the case, which at first dealt a blow to his image as a nice guy, if perhaps a little cranky.

Halderman, 52, pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny, acknowledging he threatened to destroy Letterman reputation by airing his workplace dalliances — using information authorities have said Halderman mined from the diary of a former girlfriend who had a relationship with Letterman.

The plea deal spares Halderman a potential 15 years in prison had he been convicted. He is due instead to get a six-month jail sentence and 1,000 hours of community service.

"I attempted to extort $2 million from David Letterman by threatening to disclose personal and private information about him, whether true or false," he said in court Tuesday, apologizing to his ex-girlfriend and Letterman.

"I feel great remorse for what I have done," he said.

The plea also spares Letterman the prospect of a trial that could have put his private life on display, though he defused much of Halderman's potential bombshell last fall by revealing his affairs.

Halderman was a producer for CBS' "48 Hours Mystery" when the case began; Letterman's "Late Show" also is on CBS. CBS News said Halderman is no longer an employee but declined to specify whether he had quit or been fired.

Halderman acknowledged delivering the blackmail threat in September to Letterman's driver, in the form of a faintly fictionalized screenplay outline about the comedian. He admitted Tuesday the supposed script was "just a thinly veiled threat to ruin Mr. Letterman if he did not pay me a lot of money."

Defense attorney Gerald Shargel said Tuesday that Halderman "was both jealous and enraged" and under financial pressure. Halderman, who made about $214,000 in 2007, was struggling with money in the wake of a divorce, according to court papers filed by his ex-wife's lawyers.

Under the plea agreement, Halderman must give prosecutors all copies of any diary entries, photos, screenplay notes or other materials he has concerning Letterman and must agree never to reveal the contents.

Outside court, Halderman repeated his apologies, declined interviews and said no more. He remains free on bail until his sentencing, set for May 4.

His plea came more than four months after Letterman announced the case in an Oct. 1 monologue on his show, stunning viewers and impressing critics, who called his alternately folksy and frank speech a masterful move to seize control of the story. He described his office affairs as "creepy" but said he felt he needed to protect the women involved and his family.

Letterman married girlfriend Regina Lasko last year. They began dating in 1986 and have a 6-year-old son.

Fans have more than stuck with him since the disclosures of his workplace affairs. His show averages 4.14 million viewers, up 6 percent from a year ago.

But now, after beating rival Conan O'Brien on NBC's "The Tonight Show," Letterman is again facing Jay Leno, who returned to host "Tonight" last week after nine months' absence. In past years, Leno consistently beat Letterman in the ratings.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. noted that Letterman had come to authorities knowing the case could expose his personal life.

"Mr. Letterman is a public figure, but like all New Yorkers he has a right to a certain degree of privacy in his public life," said Vance, who took over the case from predecessor Robert Morgenthau in January.

Producer admits to attempted Letterman shakedown

NEW YORK – A television producer has pleaded guilty to trying to shake down David Letterman over the comic's sexual affairs.

Robert "Joe" Halderman entered his guilty plea to attempted grand larceny Tuesday in a Manhattan court. He is being sentenced to six months in jail and 1,000 hours of community service.

He was charged last fall with demanding $2 million to keep quiet about Letterman's love life. The case spurred the late-night TV icon to tell viewers he'd had affairs with women on his staff.

Halderman's lawyers initially said he was just offering to sell Letterman a thinly veiled screenplay about the comedian's life.

Halderman is a producer for CBS' "48 Hours Mystery."

Leno to Letterman: Thanks for Super Bowl ad invite

NEW YORK – Jay Leno has a message for David Letterman: Thanks.

Leno said that "whatever happened in the last 18 years disappeared" when the two comics got together to film their surprise Super Bowl ad last week.

"He was very gracious," Leno said Monday on his prime-time show, which ends Tuesday. "We talked about the old days. We told some jokes. It was really good to see him."

Letterman's bitterness at losing the "Tonight" show job to Leno nearly two decades ago has long been obvious to his CBS viewers. Leno is a frequent target of Letterman's jokes, which escalated during last month's drama over Leno reclaiming the "Tonight" show. Leno returned fire when the jokes got particularly rough.

It was a perfect setup for the Super Bowl promo. A grumpy Letterman complained to Oprah Winfrey about being at a lousy Super Bowl party, and the camera panned back to reveal Leno on the other side of a couch, saying, "he's just saying that because I'm here."

"No matter what animosity there is between comedians, a good joke is a good joke," Leno said.

Letterman, for his part, joked in his monologue about his mother wondering who it was sitting on the couch with Winfrey and Leno.

"People really thought this was big-time stuff, so I just want to take a second here now to thank the actors who played Oprah and also Jay Leno," he said on his show Monday. "They did a tremendous job."

Leno, a notorious workaholic, took a day off from his show to fly to New York to make the 15-second promo. He was driven to Letterman's studio on a black SUV and hustled in, wearing a disguise.

Leno said an NBC executive later approached him, saying the network believed Letterman was taping a secret show because someone entered the studio from a black SUV. NBC believed that Letterman was doing a show with President Barack Obama, he said.

"I said, `keep me posted,'" Leno said.

How David Letterman, Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey pulled off their secret Super Bowl promo for CBS' 'Late Show'

To pull off the surprise Super Bowl spot he did with rival David Letterman, Jay Leno flew secretly to New York on the NBC jet last Tuesday and managed to sneak into the Ed Sullivan Theater undetected wearing a hoodie, sunglasses and a fake mustache.

Rob Burnett, executive producer of the “Late Show,” said keeping Leno’s participation under wraps was the key to preserving the effect of the 15-second promo, which featured the two late-night comedians uncomfortably watching the Super Bowl together, with Oprah Winfrey trying to keep the peace.

“We wanted desperately to keep this a secret,” said Burnett, who said the only CBS official who knew of the plan was Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. “Most of the staff didn’t know. We just knew we had to keep the circle extraordinarily tight.”

At NBC, Leno’s executive producer, Debbie Vickers, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin and NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker were in the loop, but few others had a clue that Letterman and his longtime rival had joined forces for what was easily the most unexpected Super Bowl ad of the night.

In the spot, Letterman is seen on a couch, glumly munching potato chips. “This is the worst Super Bowl party ever,” he says.

“Now, Dave, be nice,” responds Winfrey, seated beside him. The camera then pulls back to reveal Leno squeezed on the couch on the other side of her, with his own bowl of potato chips. “Oh, he’s just saying that ‘cause I’m here,” the NBC host says. Letterman then mimics Leno in a high-pitched voice, prompting Winfrey to roll her eyes, sigh and throw up her hands in frustration.

Letterman came up with the idea and wrote the script himself after CBS told him they were giving his show a brief promo during the Super Bowl, Burnett said. Letterman pitched the idea to Winfrey, who had appeared in a similar spot with him in 2007. She quickly agreed to it, and then Burnett ran it by Vickers. She thought it was funny, and within minutes, Leno was on the phone, agreeing to do it.

“I think for Jay, he thought of it less as a promo and more of a funny piece to be doing on the Super Bowl,” Burnett said. While the “Late Show” staff speculated internally about what the ad would do for Leno’s image, Burnett said Letterman was focused on another aspect.

“Dave is ruled by one law: Is it funny?” he said. “That’s all he really cared about. And the sense I got in the room was that all three sides thought it was really funny.”

Though Letterman and Leno have both flung pointed insults at each other on the air in recent weeks during NBC’s messy late-night imbroglio, Burnett said the two men got along well during the 20-minute shoot.

“Dave and Jay were very professional and cordial and friendly with each other,” he said. “And Oprah, in addition to her many talents, is a wonderful comedienne.”

NBC officials had no comment on Leno's participation in the ad. The taping kept Leno from doing his show Tuesday, so the network extended Tuesday’s edition of “The Biggest Loser” to fill his time slot.

NBC stations want Leno back on late shift, but will Leno and Conan go along?

LOS ANGELES - NBC has instantly created TV's hottest drama, a storyline with ego, pride and millions of dollars at stake: how to fix the problem it created by moving Jay Leno to prime time.

Faced with poor ratings for both "The Jay Leno Show" and Conan O'Brien's "Tonight Show," the network is said to be considering returning Leno to his 11:35 p.m. EST slot and moving "Tonight" to midnight - a change that NBC's hard-hit affiliate stations would eagerly welcome.

Many stations have complained that the ratings for their 11 p.m. newscasts have plummeted because Leno's 10 p.m. show is such a weak lead-in.

"I think Jay Leno's a great performer. He's just at the wrong place at the wrong time. There's nothing wrong with making mistakes. There is something wrong with not correcting them," said Bob Prather, president and chief operating officer at Atlanta-based Gray Television Inc., whose station group includes 10 NBC affiliates.

Lisa Howfield, general manager of NBC affiliate KVBC in Las Vegas, said: "I'm excited to have Jay land back in late night. It sounds like a great lineup."

Whether Leno accepts a truncated, half-hour version of his prime-time comedy and talk show remains to be seen, as does O'Brien's response to getting less than a year to prove himself as host of "Tonight."

O'Brien is averaging 2.5 million nightly viewers, compared with 4.2 for Letterman's "Late Show," according to Nielsen figures. And the younger audience that O'Brien was expected to woo has been largely unimpressed, with O'Brien and Letterman's shows tying among advertiser-favoured viewers ages 18 to 49.

NBC's contract with O'Brien reportedly allows the network to move "Tonight" to 12:05 a.m. EST but no later, at the risk of substantial financial penalties. With a two-year contract said to be valued at about $28 million per year, O'Brien would have to think hard about walking away.

Any change would probably not take effect until March, after the Winter Olympics on NBC.

Network executives have been talking with Leno, O'Brien and their representatives to work out a solution. Meanwhile, online reports about the possible changes prompted the network to issue statements of support for both men, while declining to commit itself to keeping Leno's show on in prime time.

Leno's show has averaged 5.8 million nightly viewers since its fall debut, about the same number who watched his final "Tonight" season. By comparison, the season's top-rated 10 p.m. network drama, CBS' "The Mentalist," has an average audience of 17.5 million.

While Leno gleefully poked fun at NBC's woes in his Thursday monologue, even playfully toying with the idea of bolting to the Fox network, O'Brien refrained from commenting on "Tonight" and hasn't spoken about it publicly otherwise.

The drama verges on a rerun, recalling the messy battle for "Tonight" that Leno and David Letterman waged in the early 1990s when Johnny Carson decided to surrender the throne. Leno claimed it in 1992, with Letterman becoming his competitor at CBS.

In November, Leno told Broadcasting&Cable magazine he would have preferred to stay with "Tonight" and would take the job again if NBC offered it. But for O'Brien, the shakeup would be a snub.

"NBC has dealt with this talent in an unusual way, to put it nicely," industry analyst Bill Carroll said Friday.

After picking O'Brien to succeed Leno as the "Tonight" host, NBC took the revolutionary step of moving Leno to prime time to keep him from jumping to a rival network and to hold down production costs, since a talk show is cheaper to make than a series.

But affiliate displeasure grew quickly when Leno's show proved a poor lead-in for the local late newscasts that generate significant station revenue - and which depend on 10 p.m. shows to funnel viewers to them.

"The performance forced the issue. Unfortunately, the ratings, particularly in November, were such that it was not something the network could ignore," said Carroll, an analyst with Katz Television, a media-buying firm that advises local stations.

NBC affiliates saw their late newscast ratings drop 5 per cent to as much as 25 per cent with Leno in place, Carroll said.

Carroll said Comcast Corp., which has agreed to buy NBC from General Electric Co. in a multibillion-dollar deal, probably weighed in on the woes affecting the network's schedule. NBC has been lingering in fourth place in the ratings behind CBS, Fox and ABC.

According to reports this week, NBC has as many as 18 pilots for prospective new series, more than enough material to fill Leno's five hours a week of prime time.

KVBC's Howfield said the 10 p.m. vacancy should be filled with hourlong dramas. She suggested starting with "Law&Order: Special Victims Unit," which was bumped to 9 p.m. by the prime-time Leno experiment.

Prather also backs a return to traditional series.

"The sooner they can get what I call regular prime-time programming back in there, I think they'll be fine. NBC owned Thursday night for years with 'ER' and there's no reason they can't own nights like that again with good programming," he said.

Reports: Jay Leno's future on NBC up in the air

NEW YORK – The future of "The Jay Leno Show" was in question Thursday, even as NBC defended its prime-time talk-show star amid Web site reports the program will soon be canceled or shifted into late night.

An industry Web site called FTV declared that Leno's show would be canceled as soon as the Winter Olympics begin next month, when much of the regular programming on NBC will be pre-empted for Olympics coverage.

Then the TMZ Web site, citing undisclosed sources, said Leno's show would go on hiatus Feb.1. Following the Olympics (which take place in Vancouver from Feb. 12-28), Leno will take back the 11:30 p.m. EST time slot he occupied for 17 years that ended last May.

This would make Leno's successor at "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien, "the odd man out," TMZ said.

Late Thursday, The New York Times reported that NBC executives held discussions with both Leno and O'Brien earlier in the day about the future of the network's late-night lineup. Those executives said that no final decision has been made, but did not deny that the network is considering options that could include returning Leno as host of the "Tonight Show."

Since September, Leno has hosted an hour-long talk and comedy show weeknights at 10 p.m. EST. But his lackluster ratings in prime time have upset NBC affiliate stations who complain they are getting weaker lead-in audiences for their local late newscasts than from past NBC fare.

In a statement released Thursday, NBC said, "Jay Leno is one of the most compelling entertainers in the world today. As we have said all along, Jay's show has performed exactly as we anticipated on the network. It has, however, presented some issues for our affiliates. Both Jay and the show are committed to working closely with them to find ways to improve the performance."

While this statement didn't clearly refute the Web reports that Leno's show would be dropped, a clarification from NBC executives denied "The Jay Leno Show" has been canceled.

During his monologue Thursday, Leno milked some laughs from the "rumor floating around that we were canceled. I heard it coming in this morning on the radio. So far, no one has said anything to me."

But if it's true, he joked, "it will give us time to do some traveling. I understand that (the) Fox (network) is beautiful this time of year."

"I don't think there is any truth to the rumors," he went on, referring to his frontrunner status in the ratings when NBC took him off "The Tonight Show."

"See, it's always been my experience that NBC only cancels you when you're in first place," Leno cracked. "So we are fine. We are OK."

O'Brien made no mention of the scuttlebutt in his monologue.

Thursday night, NBC issued yet another statement expressing the network's commitment "to keeping Conan O'Brien on NBC. He is a valued part of our late-night lineup, as he has been for more than 16 years and is one of the most respected entertainers on television."

On Thursday, the rumors surrounding Leno's fate left industry analyst Shari Anne Brill mystified.

"For me, the big question is what is going to happen at 10 p.m. going forward," Brill said, "because that's a critical time period to promote the late local news, and it was the affiliates' dissatisfaction with their lower audience numbers that was the catalyst for speculation on this purported move (for Leno) into late-night."

"The unsolved mystery is what happens at 10 p.m." said Brill of Carat USA.
What sparked Thursday's flurry of Web reports was unclear, but coincided with reports this week that NBC has as many as 18 pilots for prospective new series — presumably more than would be needed to replenish a prime-time schedule for a network that expected to continue filling five hours weekly with Leno's show.

The speculation may also be a run-up to the winter TV Critics Press Tour, which begins this weekend in Los Angeles. At this annual conclave, network programming initiatives are unveiled for media reporters. In turn, reporters have a forum to grill network brass on programming questions. NBC's session is scheduled for Sunday.

Leno loses affiliates

The news keeps getting worse for Jay Leno.

Now, it appears that NBC's affiliates, the local stations around the country that carry the network's programs, are ready to give up on the 10 o'clock experiment.

"The handwriting is on the wall," Alan Frank, who runs two NBC stations including the affiliate in Detroit, told the trade publication Broadcasting & Cable over the weekend.

"The only question is what [NBC] is going to do about it."

Other station managers told the magazine that they have seen ratings drop by nearly 50 percent since NBC decided to put Leno on every week night, right before the local late news.

"We'd sure like to have a few of those ratings points back," said the manager of the Las Vegas station.

The bad news comes just when Leno had hoped to improve his numbers -- in December, when the other networks were starting to air repeats of their 10 o'clock shows.

DA: Letterman suspect sought to mask blackmail

NEW YORK — A TV producer accused of trying to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million said he needed money to visit his son and would mask the transaction as a business deal, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Robert J. "Joe" Halderman also told the comedian's lawyer he would keep copies of his information on Letterman's personal life for "protection" and acknowledged misgivings about the scheme, Manhattan prosecutors said in court papers.

"The issue is your client does not want this information public," Halderman told Letterman's attorney in a secretly taped conversation, according to prosecutors. "I have said, for a price, I will sign a confidentiality agreement and I will not make this information public. That's, that's the deal."

Halderman wants a judge to dismiss the attempted grand larceny charge against him, saying he was just shopping a screenplay.

Prosecutors, in a court filing asking that the charges be upheld, said Halderman's comments make it "crystal clear" that his goal was extortion — not a screenplay sale. Halderman told Letterman's lawyer that he needed money to visit his son, who he said lived 2,000 miles away, prosecutors said.

A decision is expected next month on Halderman's bid to get the case dismissed. Halderman's lawyer had no immediate response to Tuesday's filing.

The case spurred Letterman to disclose on-air that he had affairs with staffers.

Prosecutors say Halderman demanded $2 million as hush money after contacting the talk-show host with a threat styled as an outline for a movie script.

A package given to Letterman's driver Sept. 9 included a letter saying Halderman needed to make "a large chunk of money" and a claim that the screenplay would depict Letterman's life unraveling after his personal life was exposed, authorities said.

The package included photos, personal correspondence and portions of a diary in which Halderman's ex-girlfriend described an affair with the comic, law enforcement officials have said.

Prosecutors said they recorded two meetings Halderman had with Letterman's lawyer, including one in which the attorney gave him a phony $2 million check.

Halderman has said he simply struck a screenplay deal. He said in court papers filed last month that he sketched out a backstage story of the "atmosphere and conduct" of Letterman and the Late Show— with the characters' names changed — and peddled it to Letterman. He warned of nothing more than a sale to someone else if the TV host rejected it, his court papers said.

Letterman's lawyer has said Halderman's message and tactics were pure extortion, noting that he delivered his package to the comic's car around 6 a.m. and demanded a response within two hours.

Halderman, a 52-year-old producer for CBS' 48 Hours Mystery, has pleaded not guilty. He could face five to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Ex-Letterman writer claims hostile environment

LOS ANGELES – A former writer for David Letterman said she quit his NBC talk show in part because of alleged sexual favoritism and a hostile work environment.

Nell Scovell, writing for Vanity Fair online Tuesday, said she had no intention of filing a lawsuit and wasn't seeking revenge.

"I wanted to shine a light on gender inequality in that particular workplace," Scovell, who went on to a successful Hollywood career, said in a telephone interview.

In the Vanity Fair article, Scovell said Letterman didn't "hit on her" during her roughly five-month stint with NBC's "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1990.

"Did he pay me enough extra attention that it was noted by another writer? Yes. Was I aware of rumors that Dave was having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes," Scovell wrote.

Other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers as well, she alleges, and the women gained professional benefits from those relationships.

"Did that make me feel demeaned? Completely. Did I say anything at the time? Sadly, no," wrote Scovell, whose credits include writing for the series "Coach" and "Monk" and creating "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." She's also produced and directed.

Letterman, who moved to CBS in 1993 for "Late Show," has admitted to workplace affairs that led to an alleged blackmail plot.

Officials from Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, Inc., declined to comment Tuesday on Scovell's article.

CBS News producer Robert J. "Joe" Halderman has pleaded not guilty to trying to extort $2 million from Letterman to keep some of the comedian's sexual affairs quiet.

Scovell wrote she doesn't intend to seek legal action. Instead, she said, she wants to call attention to the complete lack of women writers on all talk shows, whether hosted by Letterman or NBC's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien.

"I don't want compensation. I don't want revenge. I don't want Dave to go down (oh, grow up, people). I just want Dave to hire some qualified female writers and then treat them with respect. And that goes for Jay and Conan, too," she wrote.

She quit Letterman's NBC show, Scovell wrote, because she saw "I was not going to thrive professionally in that workplace. And although there were various reasons for that, sexual politics did play a major part."

When Letterman asked why she was leaving the New York-based show, she says she considered telling him the truth but balked because his "rumored mistress" was within earshot. Instead, Scovell writes, she told him she missed Los Angeles.

"You're welcome back anytime," Scovell recalls Letterman telling her.

Jokes, apologies from Letterman

NEW YORK -- David Letterman acknowledged in his on-air apologies to his wife and staff for having sex with co-workers that he has his work cut out for him.

As Letterman mixed wisecracks with contrition, he said his wife, Regina Lasko, had been "horribly hurt by my behaviour" and stated flat-out that those affairs "are in the past."

The CBS late-night host vowed during Monday's show to repair his relationship with his wife, whom he married in March after a years-long courtship.

"Let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me," he said ruefully.

His apologies meant another big night in the ratings. The Nielsen Co.'s overnight measurement of the nation's 56 biggest markets netted Letterman's "Late Show" a 4.2 rating -- higher than anything rival NBC had in prime-time.

Nielsen didn't immediately have an estimate of the size of Letterman's audience. The overnight rating was slightly less than Thursday's show, when 5.8 million people watched Letterman say he had been the victim of a $2 million blackmail threat that led him to reveal he had sex with staff members.

Monday's show was the first Letterman had taped since Thursday. While he laced the show with references to the scandal, only one other late-night host, Craig Ferguson, made any reference to it. Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon and NBC's "Saturday Night Live" had all made jokes in earlier shows, but everyone but Ferguson avoided the topic on their Monday night and Tuesday morning shows.

As host of the "Late Late Show," Ferguson follows Letterman's "Late Show." Letterman also is his boss, since Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Inc., produces the "Late Late Show."

"The person you work for, the person you admire and respect, is caught in an embarrassing situation," said Ferguson. "And your job is to be funny about that, whilst trying to keep your own job."

"So this is my last show," he joked.

Ferguson did make light of the situation, joking that it had now been revealed how he got the job in the first place.

But Ferguson defended Letterman, calling him "the king of late-night television."

"If we are now holding late-night talk-show hosts to the same moral accountability as we hold politicians or clergymen, I'm out," said Ferguson. "I'm gone."

On the "Late Show," Letterman noted the cool fall weather, reporting, "It's chilly outside my house; chilly INSIDE my house."

Then he cautioned the audience, "This is only phase one of the scandal. Phase two: Next week I go on 'Oprah' and sob."

A bit later, guest Steve Martin gave Letterman his kidding consolation: "It proves that you're a human being. And we weren't really that sure before."

Martin Short, making an unannounced appearance, playfully plopped himself in Martin's lap.

"You spend one more minute on his lap, you're gonna get blackmailed," Letterman quipped.

During the hour, Letterman apologized to his staff, which, he said, had been subjected to "being browbeaten and humiliated" by reporters since his revelations.

"My thanks to the staff for, once again, putting up with something stupid I've gotten myself involved in," he said.

Letterman, 62, began dating Lasko in 1986, and they have a son, Harry, who was born in November 2003. All the affairs took place before Letterman's marriage, said Tom Keaney, spokesman for Letterman's production company.

Letterman arrived on stage Monday to applause and cheers from his studio audience. After drinking it in, he grinned sheepishly and inquired, with a mock stammer, "Did your, did your weekend just fly by?"

After pausing for the audience's sympathetic laughter, he went on: "I mean, I'll be honest with you folks -- right now, I would give anything to be hiking on the Appalachian Trail."

"I got into the car this morning," he added, "and the navigation lady wasn't speaking to me. Ouch."

In a more sombre display, Letterman voiced his mea culpas. Regarding his wife, he said that, "If you hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it."

Letterman has offered no specifics about how many women he had sex with.

But the CBS producer accused of blackmailing Letterman used pages from a former assistant's diary that described an affair with the "Late Show" host, a law enforcement official said Monday. The ex-assistant, Stephanie Birkitt, went to live with CBS News producer Robert Halderman, who found her diary describing her relationship with Letterman and used it to help blackmail him, the law enforcement official said Monday on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Halderman, a producer for the true-crime show "48 Hours Mystery," pleaded not guilty last week to extortion charges.

The flood of attention on Letterman was inevitable, and the way he initially dealt with this maelstrom recalled an embarrassing dilemma for another star in 1995.

For a celebrity the calibre of Hugh Grant, publicity -- including speculation of career suicide -- was unavoidable when he was arrested with a prostitute on Hollywood's Sunset Strip. But then he retreated to NBC's "The Tonight Show" to try to explain.

Host Jay Leno wasted no time before asking an instant classic of a question: "What the hell were you thinking?!"

Grant's appearance provided him with some needed image rehab. It also vaulted ratings runner-up "Tonight" past Letterman's "Late Show," a leadership position Leno held through his retirement from late night earlier this year.

Since then, Letterman has reclaimed a ratings edge over new "Tonight" host Conan O'Brien.

And now he may have truly sealed the deal. Beloved by viewers and critics for decades, he has abruptly freshened the enduring Letterman brand and demonstrated he still can surprise even fans who thought they knew him well.

But it isn't the first time Letterman has shown finesse in managing a firestorm.

In June, he had a run-in with then Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin over jokes made at the expense of her teenage daughter. He emerged from a tumultuous few days of protests and demands for his dismissal with a ratings jolt. And thanks to the dumb-luck timing of the flap, he also handily upstaged his much-hyped NBC rival just as O'Brien was taking over as "Tonight" host.

Letterman apologized to Palin and her family in what became another one of his memorable performances. But he has never stopped making jokes at Palin's expense -- including yet another apology to her on Monday's show, just for good measure.

Letterman admits affairs, claims extortion

David Letterman acknowledged on Thursday's show that he had sexual relationships with female employees and that someone tried to extort $2 million from him over the affairs.

During the taping of his CBS late-night show in New York, Letterman discussed receiving a threat to either pay $2 million or risk the relationships being made public.

In a release from the show's production company, Letterman said he referred the matter to the Manhattan district attorney's office and that an investigation ended in an arrest Thursday. Letterman did not identify the person he said was arrested.

As part of the investigation, Letterman said he issued a "phony" $2 million check to the individual and the arrest followed — along with testimony by Letterman.

"This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," said Letterman. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury."

In his testimony, he said he acknowledged sexual relationships with members of his staff. It was not immediately clear when the relationships took place; Letterman and longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko married in March. The couple began dating in 1986 and have a son, Harry, born in November 2003.

"My response to that is, yes I have," Letterman said. "Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. I feel like I need to protect these people. I need to certainly protect my family."

CBS spokesman Chris Ender said Thursday that "Letterman's comments on the broadcast tonight speak for themselves."

It's the second set of embarrassing headlines for Letterman in four months. In June, he apologized to Sarah Palin for making a crude joke about the former Republican vice presidential candidate's 14-year-old daughter. Although there was a small "fire Letterman" demonstration outside of his studio later, CBS stood by its late-night star.

After nearly 15 years in second place to NBC's Jay Leno in the ratings, Letterman took over the top spot this summer after Conan O'Brien became "Tonight" show host.

Letterman's CBS "Late Show" has been on the air since 1993 and before that, he had a late-night show on NBC.

Alicia Maxey Greene, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office, declined to comment.

Letterman appearance latest for Obama media blitz

NEW YORK – President Barack Obama is visiting David Letterman on Monday, part of a media blitz to sell his health care plan.

CBS says it would make the first visit ever by a sitting president to Letterman's "Late Show." Obama has appeared on Letterman's show five times before, the last during the campaign in September 2008.

The president is scheduled to visit Sunday morning talk shows this weekend on ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN. That's a highly unusual schedule, even for a president eager to get his message across throughout the media.

Obama will be the sole guest on Monday's "Late Show."

Letterman calls 'Harry and Horsie' an 'amazing' read

The cover of Harry and Horsie, a children's picture book published today, offers no indication that the real-life Harry is a celebrity, or at least the son of one.
That's mentioned inside the book, in a short note from "Harry's Dad," signed "Dave Letterman," better known as David.

He writes: "Hello, kids, and get ready for an amazing bedtime adventure."

The author, Katie Van Camp, 27, is Harry's former nanny.

She began Harry and Horsie (HarperCollins, $16.99, for ages 3 to 6) as a homemade gift four years ago for Harry, who's now 5.

It's a gentle fantasy about a boy, armed with a Super Duper Bubble Blooper, who goes into space to rescue his stuffed horse.

Harry has a real-life stuffed Horsie. Van Camp made up the Bubble Blooper, but says, "Harry, like all kids, loves bubbles."

The story's origins go back to a night on Manhattan's West Side Highway. Van Camp was in a car with Harry, Horsie and Harry's mother, Regina Lasko (Letterman's longtime girlfriend who married him in March).

Van Camp, who's Canadian, recalls that Harry looked at the lights across the Hudson River and asked, "Are those lights or stars?"

That got her thinking. She wrote a short poem about Harry and Horsie that she turned into a "makeshift book" she gave to Harry as a Christmas gift.

His parents encouraged Van Camp to do more with it. She added the bubbles and more of a story. An illustrator, Lincoln Agnew, added "a retro-comic feel."

The Harry in the book "isn't the spitting image of the real Harry, but shares his blond hair and dimples." She says he's a "quiet little boy who loves to read, but has a sense of humor."

Van Camp found her job by accident. She was a budding ballerina until a knee injury at 15 "spun me out to other things." She taught kindergarten in Shanghai for three years. Then a friend "who knew I always wanted to live in New York" forwarded an online ad for a nanny.

Not until after she interviewed with Harry's mother, "who I loved from the start," did she realize who Harry's dad was.

She worked for four years until her visa expired. In 2005, a worker on Letterman's Montana ranch was charged with planning to kidnap Harry and Van Camp.

She says only, "No one should have to go through that." The man, Kelly Frank, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

As for Van Camp, she's in Montreal, writing a second Harry and Horsie adventure.

Rapid change in late-night viewing

NEW YORK – David Letterman is king of late-night television again.

You just won't hear him or CBS crowing about it anytime soon — not after NBC gave the crown to Conan O'Brien based on one week's ratings, much to their regret now. Letterman started his vacation last week with a four-week winning streak, the first since 1995.

It just all goes to show that late-night TV is experiencing remarkable changes in viewing habits, with more than Letterman and O'Brien in the mix. They're even competing with machines; DVR playbacks of prime-time shows is a growing habit.

The headline, though, is what is happening at the "Tonight" show.

With O'Brien, it has become a home for young viewers, and preciously few others. He's a particular hit among men up to age 34, and is winning among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that NBC uses as the basis for its ad sales. Yet the show has lost 2 million viewers in a year: Jay Leno's "Tonight" averaged 4.6 million viewers each night during the last week of July 2008; a year later, O'Brien had 2.6 million.

"We're exactly where we thought we'd be with Conan," NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker said. "He's doing incredibly well demographically. We always thought that Conan would skew much younger. That's really where his strength lies."

One of NBC's most important and profitable franchises, "Tonight" has always been the broadest of broadcast shows. Leno last week talked about emulating comics such as Jack Benny and Bill Cosby to reach all of America. The transition of Andy Richter from a couch buddy to an Ed McMahon-like announcer indicates O'Brien has similar ambitions.

Experience shows the folly of counting O'Brien out too early. Still, can NBC truly be happy with a show that appears to turn off such a large segment of viewers?
The true test will come this fall, when Leno begins his prime-time NBC comedy show, and researchers watch what it means for the late-night lineup, said Angela Bromstad, NBC entertainment chief.

Many of Leno's older viewers have migrated to Letterman, although the CBS host's audience gain doesn't match what O'Brien has lost. Some have turned to ABC News' "Nightline," which has also seen its ratings go up.

The Michael Jackson story helped "Nightline," whose audience over the past two months is 14 percent larger than it was over the same period last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. But the show has gradually built in popularity since debuting a new format five years ago, said James Goldston, executive producer. It has more than a million followers on Twitter, which "Nightline" uses to alert viewers to stories and sometimes solicit questions for interviews, he said.

"People are looking around and there are a lot of people who haven't seen the new `Nightline,'" Goldston said. "It's up to us to make the show compelling enough that they stick with us."

Two shows featuring President Barack Obama, including Terry Moran's "day in the life" story, got big audiences.

"Nightline" often beats the comedy shows in the ratings, but has an advantage: It's a half-hour program, and ratings for the second half hour of the comedy shows drop off as people go to bed.

Over at CBS, Letterman's show has felt more like an event. He's had some memorable planned moments, such as Paul McCartney's return to the theater where the Beatles first performed in the United States, and some unplanned ones, including his apology to Sarah Palin for a crude joke involving her family. Letterrman has mined the Palin incident repeatedly for self-deprecatory humor.

As he gets older, he seems more comfortable in the role of traditional talk show host. The 1980s Letterman show would have shot people from a cannon — as "Tonight" did last week. Not now.

"I think there's been a big difference in Dave," said Regis Philbin, a frequent "Late Show" guest who appeared on Letterman's last show before his vacation.

"He feels better now. He feels strong. He's bolstered by the ratings. It's an upper for him."

The downside for Letterman is that most of his new viewers are older, considered less valuable to advertisers. There's more of a market there than in the past, with pharmaceutical companies more eager to advertise, said David Poltrack, CBS' chief researcher.

When Leno returns, will those viewers gravitate toward him again and go to bed early, before Letterman?

To a large extent, Letterman's career has been defined by the "Tonight" show. He got one of his first breaks with Johnny Carson on "Tonight," and had his biggest career disappointment when Leno was picked over him to succeed Carson on the NBC show.

Now the "Tonight" show that people long remembered is gone and Letterman's "Late Show" is the closest thing to it.

Big Letterman win in late-night

NEW YORK – There could be a new king emerging in late-night television.
David Letterman's CBS "Late Show" whipped NBC's "Tonight" show in the ratings last week by nearly 800,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Letterman generally lost to "Tonight" when Jay Leno was the host, and he hasn't had this big a victory margin since returning from heart surgery in 2000.

A late-night generation gap also appears to be emerging: the median age of O'Brien's audience last week was more than 10 years younger than Letterman's. NBC says that's good news, since advertisers pay a premium to reach youthful audiences.

In the 18-to-49-year-old age demographic for which NBC sells advertising, O'Brien won each night last week, NBC said.

Still, Letterman has won two of the last three weeks among all viewers during which both men competed with original programming. And the "Late Show" received another boost Wednesday with an attention-getting appearance by Paul McCartney.

"We feel we've got the momentum going for us right now and we feel very confident," said David Poltrack, CBS' chief researcher.

He said network executives had privately been hoping that Letterman could gain ground against O'Brien and be able to take over first place in the fall. The situation is still fluid, but changes seems to be happening faster than they expected, Poltrack said.

Significant numbers of the traditional late-night audience have made the switch, even though O'Brien continues to be very popular with young viewers who liked him when he was on a later time slot.

Last week Letterman averaged 3.68 million viewers, compared to O'Brien's 2.82 million, Nielsen said.

Leno bids farewell to 'Tonight,' hello to O'Brien

BURBANK, Calif. – Jay Leno's final "Tonight" monologue saluted his favorite comedy targets during his 17 years as host that ended Friday.

"Welcome to the exciting season finale of `The Tonight Show,'" a smiling Leno said as the studio audience gave him a standing ovation. "I want to thank all the people who it possible: Michael Jackson, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton."

After noting that former Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush were taking part in a joint speaking engagement in Canada, Leno remarked wistfully: "I wish I had one more day."

He didn't refrain from mocking his network although he's moving to NBC's prime-time schedule this fall.

He was offered the chance to buy his dressing-room robe for $40, he quipped, and then gave NBC a sharp dig over its slumping prime-time ratings.

His new show represents a gamble, Leno said: "I'm betting NBC will be around in three months. That's not a given."

Leno also fit in a last shot at O.J. Simpson, another monologue favorite. In cleaning out his office today, the comedian said, "I found O.J.'s knife. I had it the whole time."

He did his now-customary one-liners about the economy, and then paid tribute to Rodney Dangerfield, the routine's inspiration, with old "Tonight" clips. Dangerfield died in 2004.

Leno was ushered on stage with a Jimi Hendrix-flavored version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" played by bandleader Kevin Eubanks, who tried to tell a joke and, to Leno's delight, flubbed it.

A new segment was introduced called "White Trash Theater," which consisted of a clip of a woman trying to drive a man away from her porch by hitting him with a beer bottle and a trash-can lid.

Leno leaves "Tonight" atop the late-night ratings, his run abbreviated by NBC's decision five years ago to create a succession plan that gives "Tonight" to Conan O'Brien.

O'Brien, who takes over Monday, was Leno's final guest, with James Taylor the last musical performer.

Conan's Tonight Show: Think "Murder, She Wrote, for a Younger Demo"

Los Angeles (E! Online) – In less than one week, a late-night transition five years in the making will finally be realized, when Conan O'Brien takes over the reins of the Tonight Show. And despite the months of hype preceding the move, it's an event no one is anticipating more highly than O'Brien himself—if for no other reason than to end the speculation.

"I had this feeling in 1993 as well," he said in a conference call this morning, likening the experience to his then takeover of Late Night. "Most people thought in 1993, 'Oh my god, he's gotta be petrified.'

"But it's the period beforehand that drives you crazy. So much about these shows is just doing them…I feel like a racehorse that was put in the chute five years ago and I'm kicking at the side, like, let's go!"

Which isn't to say there won't be some first-night nerves and an inevitable, possibly not-so-slight, tweaking of the late-night institution's tone in general.
"I think at some point my show is going to have to morph into a detective show. I think four weeks in, Andy Richter and I will be solving crimes. It's going to be Murder, She Wrote for a younger demo."

At least if all else fails, O'Brien is planning on starting off with a star-studded bang...

While NBC already announced that Will Ferrell and Pearl Jam will serve as the inaugural guests on the Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien, the host-in-waiting tonight revealed that his first week lineup is "a dream."

"It's a fun week...I always have a rule, which is don't overthink this," he said. "It's the Tonight Show and it's a big responsibility, but man, it would be a shame not to enjoy it."

In addition to Ferrell, Tom Hanks, Green Day, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sheryl Crow, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ryan Seacrest are all scheduled to appear on O'Brien's first week. As for why, exactly, he chose that lineup...

"Hanks is one of the great talk-show guests of all time. He's a raconteur and incredibly likeable. Paltrow is this great movie actress and style icon…Ryan Seacrest and I are lovers, so that made a lot of sense."

And while his guest roster is already enviable, O'Brien dismissed speculation that his long-term booking plans may potentially clash with the 10 p.m.-bound Jay Leno.

"I think the guest thing has sort of been overblown. I got great guests on the Late Night show and I was farther down the totem pole than I am now," he said. "To me, it's not who gets the guest first, it's what you do with the guest once you have them on."

And for O'Brien, that will inevitably involve something "silly," one of several hallmarks that will set him apart from his Tonight Show forebear.

"There are a lot of things about Jay and I that are different. He has a 220-car collection, I have a Ford Taurus.

"Jay established himself in comedy as probably one of the best stand-ups of all time. Jay loves the jokes. That's his first love. I like jokes, but I really love the funny ideas."

A few of those funny ideas may sound familiar to Late Night fans.

"We prided ourselves on having a lot of produced comedy," he said of his former show. "I will probably try and continue that tradition…I will probably go a little heavy on the produced comedy. That's something I feel is one of my strong suits."

Among the Late Night bits making their way to O'Brien's custom-built Universal soundstage are Noches de Passion With Conan O'Brien, a Spanish-language soap opera meant to celebrate NBC's merging with Telemundo; Year 2000, which the funnyman claims is "just a good way to deliver jokes"; Jim Gaffigan's Pale Force cartoon and, of course, the comic pièce de résistance:

"I see no reason why Triumph the Insult Comic Dog can't file reports for us."

In addition, old pal Richter will be back, serving as the show's announcer and go-to comedy foil.

"Andy will be my funny friend who's there with me. He and I have such a great connection and such great chemistry—it's hard to find that in television," O'Brien said, adding that Richter will be there "to support me or attack me as the situation calls for."

And appear in some live and taped pieces along the way. Not that it will be all familiar territory for viewers.

"It would be a shame to dust off the Late Night show and move it to 11:30. We're moving from one playground to another playground for the first time in 16 years. It's an opportunity to think of new ideas.

"People laugh when they just think of me in Los Angeles. I think people would be disappointed if I didn't reinvent myself to some degree.

"These shows are such an extension of the host. The golden rule at the Tonight Show is a host has to put his stamp on it. That's the only way it's going to work."

It'll also be the only way to stop the inevitable comparisons between his Tonight Show tenure and Leno's, a transition that O'Brien says couldn't have gone more smoothly.

"There's no denying that the media, and for good reason, like conflict. It's a better story. But Jay and I have always personally gotten along really well…He's happy, I'm happy.

"He's done a great job with the show and taken such good care of the franchise."

As for the honor of being Leno's final guests when he signs off this Friday, don't expect any customary roasting—and subsequent spotlight stealing—of the outgoing comic.

"I'm there as a guest of Jay. I'm going to have plenty of opportunity to make a jackass of myself in that hour…It's Jay's night. I don't have any illusions about it being my night."

That won't come until Monday.

"For the first time in my career, I'm going to be performing for people who are fully awake," O'Brien said, noting that that alone—and not some imagined disparity between what can pass at his old time slot versus his new one—will likely be the biggest change in his show.

"People act like there's a tear in the fabric of time and space between 11:30 and 12:30," he said. "I did comedy I really liked when I hosted the Emmys and that was prime time."

He said that he's looked to the "800-pound gorilla," his former predecessor and now competitor David Letterman, for some indirect inspiration.

"Letterman was very successful there. He came to 11:30, you look at it, and so many of those things he brought with him. He reinvented himself as well, but he brought things with him."

Still, O'Brien isn't planning on changing his schtick, whether it's embraced by an audience share as large as Leno's or not.

"My whole experience at Late Night, I never once said, 'I'm going to do X because that's going to be a great rating.' I always did the thing I thought was funny.

"My hope is that if I do that, then the ratings will follow. The only way I've ever been able to do comedy is to put blinders on and go with my own instincts."

So far, his instincts have led to a tailor-made studio that reflects the legacy of the franchise he's inheriting.

When he first met with set designers more than a year ago, O'Brien gave them one direction: elegant. Which means viewers can expects an art deco vibe when they tune in next week.

"I have a certain sensibility and I bring my comedy persona to this, but it's the Tonight Show. It's a venerated, beloved television franchise that's almost 60 years old. That doesn't mean I can't do silly things in that space, but the space itself should be beautiful."

And as for that familiar refrain, O'Brien said he is sticking with his Late Night theme song, though he says they have "turbocharged it a little bit."

It was one of many natural decisions O'Brien says came easy.

"The biggest danger of me taking over the Tonight Show is to overthink. I need to worry about making June 1 funny, then I need to worry about making June 2 funny, and if I do that, the audience will find it. That's my belief."

Jay Leno reveals guests on "Tonight Show" swansong

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comedian Jay Leno, America's top-rated TV host, will bow out of his 17-year stint on "The Tonight Show" on May 29 in the company of his successor Conan O'Brien and singer James Taylor.

Leno, 59, also promised "something really out of the left field" for his last "Tonight Show" before going on to launch a new prime-time chat and comedy show in the fall.

Actor Mel Gibson, comedian Billy Crystal, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and rocker Prince will be among the guests in Leno's final week.

"It's not my job to put it together, but everyone knows who I like," Leno told reporters in a conference call.

O'Brien will take over from Leno on June 1 in a reshuffle on struggling network NBC that will see Leno return in a new show five nights a week in the 10 p.m. slot -- traditionally reserved for scripted drama.

Leno said he had barely begun working on the new show but defended the move to the prime-time slot used by network TV for some of the most lucrative hours of advertising.

"There really isn't any comedy on at 10 p.m. Everything is very serious and adult murder and all these procedural shows. It is fun to have something a little bit different," he said.

The move will save NBC, currently lagging at the bottom of the four major TV networks in ratings, millions of dollars compared to the costs of scripted drama.
"This is not a decision we went into lightly," Leno said. "All the research came back saying people wanted some comedy and we thought going earlier was a good idea.

"I am not going to ram it down people's throats. Let's see if it is something that will work," he said..

Leno said he expected to shed few tears at ending his stint after more than a decade battling CBS rival David Letterman.

"It's not like you are leaving showbusiness, or leaving the network, or even leaving the (studio) lot."

Top 10 Reasons Dave Got Hitched

David Letterman's news that he married longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko - with whom he has a son, Harry, 5 - definitely called for something special. And what could be more appropriate than a Top 10 list? USA TODAY came up with The Top 10 Reasons Dave Got Hitched. Here they are:

10. Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts were taken.

9. Needed second income after disastrous Bernie Madoff investment.

8. Felt the timing was right after sitting through repeated showings of I Love You, Man.

7. Was hoping Anoop 'Dogg' Desai would sing On The Wings Of Love during the ceremony.

6. Refused to be outdone by "antiques" Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis.

5. Got tired of signing permission slips "Baby Daddy."

4. Oprah agreed to officiate.

3. Was sick of kissing bandleader Paul Shaffer at the office Christmas party.

2. Wanted to be able to blame "the wife" for staying in Friday nights to watch Ghost Whisperer.

And the No. 1 reason Dave got married?

1. Was convinced that Spencer Pratt would throw a rad bachelor party.

David Letterman marries longtime girlfriend

LOS ANGELES – David Letterman said he and longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko had a bumpy trip to matrimony last week.

During a taping Monday of CBS' "Late Show," Letterman said he and Lasko married March 19 at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau, Mont., but only after their truck got stuck on a muddy road.

Letterman and Lasko, whose son, Harry, was born in November 2003, didn't take an immediate honeymoon. The late-night host was back at work in New York on Monday to deliver the news — and a few jokes about the marriage.

"Regina and I began dating in February of 1986, and I said, `Well, things are going pretty good, let's just see what happens in about 10 years,'" Letterman, who turns 62 next month, said at the taping, according to a transcript.

After avoiding marriage for more than two decades, Letterman said, "I secretly felt that men who were married admired me ... like I was the last of the real gunslingers, you know what I'm saying?"

The road to the ceremony wasn't smooth, he told the audience. He, Lasko and their son were on their way to the courthouse Thursday when their pickup truck got stuck in the mud.

"So now we think, `Well, somebody'll come.' No, nobody comes along. Nobody comes along — it's Thursday afternoon; who's coming along? Zorro? No, nobody. So I get out of the truck and I walk 2 miles back to the house into a 50-mile-an-hour wind," Letterman said.

"It's not Beverly Hills, it's Montana, for God's sakes. And the whole way, I'm thinking, 'See, smart ass, see, see, you try to get married, this is what happens,'" he said.

When he returned, Letterman said, Harry asked if they were still going to town and was assured they were.

"And he gets very upset because mom had told him if I wasn't back in an hour, the deal was off," Letterman said

U2 takes a week on David Letterman's `Late Show'

NEW YORK – Make room, Paul Shaffer. U2 will be on David Letterman's "Late Show" for a full week to promote their upcoming album.

The band will be Letterman's musical guest each night from March 2 to 6. It's the first time a musical guest has been given a solid week on the CBS show.

U2's new album, "No Line on the Horizon," is to be released that week. The band played its first single, "Get on Your Boots," to kick off the Grammy Awards on Sunday.

The band last appeared on the "Late Show" in October 2001.

McCain tries to make peace with Letterman

NEW YORK – John McCain told David Letterman that "I screwed up" by canceling a "Late Show" appearance three weeks ago, then faced a sharp round of questioning about Sarah Palin and his campaign tactics.

Not willing to risk the wrath of Letterman again, the Republican presidential candidate rented a helicopter to fly to New York after a weather delay grounded his campaign airplane in Philadelphia. He had canceled a Sept. 24 appearance during the brief suspension of his campaign because of the economic crisis, and Letterman has been hammering him ever since.

The band played the Who's "I Can't Explain" as McCain walked onstage at the Ed Sullivan Theater. After he sat down, Letterman asked, "Can you stay?"
"Depends on how bad it gets," McCain answered.

Letterman had replaced McCain with the GOP hopeful's persistent critic, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, on Sept. 24. Olbermann was waiting in the wings Thursday — and McCain had a pained expression when he noticed that.

Although Letterman said he was "willing to put this behind us," he came after McCain hard with questions. He asked whether Palin was his first choice as vice president.

"Absolutely," McCain answered.

He said he didn't know her well before choosing her, but that he was impressed by her reputation as a reformer.

Letterman repeatedly pressed McCain on her qualifications, asking if he was confident she could lead the country in a time of crisis.

"In all due respect, one of the people I admired most was an obscure governor of a southern state called Arkansas and he turned out to be a fairly successful president," McCain said, complimenting Bill Clinton. "Ronald Reagan was a cowboy, no experience in international affairs. I think she has shown leadership."

As Letterman pressed on, McCain asked, "Have we pretty well exhausted this?"
"No, no," Letterman said. "I'm just getting started."

Letterman questioned him about Palin's claim that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama "palled around with terrorists," and McCain backed her up, saying his opponent need to better explain his relationship with former Weather Underground activist William Ayers.

"Did you not have a relationship with Gordon Liddy?" Letterman asked about Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy.

McCain said he knew him. Then, after a commercial break, McCain said, "I know Gordon Liddy. He paid his debt, he went to prison ... I'm not in any way embarrassed to know Gordon Liddy."

"You understand the same case could be made of your relationship with him as is being made with William Ayers?" Letterman said.

McCain said he has been completely open about his relationship with Liddy.
Letterman appeared to ridicule McCain about the implication that Obama and Ayers had a relationship.

"Are they double-dating, are they going to dinner, what are they doing?" Letterman asked. "Are they driving across country?"

"Maybe going to Denny's," McCain said.

Letterman said that Obama was 8 when Ayers was 29, and McCain appeared exasperated. "There's millions of words said in a campaign. C'mon, Dave," he said.

McCain said he thought Palin would appear on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," where Tina Fey has been doing a dead-on impersonation of her. "Probably get more of an audience than our debate did," he said.

Although Letterman had said he felt like an "ugly date" after McCain's initial cancellation, representatives for the two men never stopped talking about a return date.

While McCain risked a rough appearance — "I haven't had so much fun since my last interrogation," he said — it gave him the chance to show courage in the face of fire. Letterman reaches about 4 million people a night, a number sure to increase with McCain as guest. With clips on the Internet and Friday morning news, countless more people will undoubtedly learn about their encounter.

McCain did offer one campaign promise that he was probably more likely to keep after he left the stage.

"It's not the time to raise anybody's taxes — except yours," he said to Letterman. "I guarantee you if I become president, I'll do it. First executive order."

McCain set for makeup appearance on Letterman show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - He may be trailing his Democratic rival in the polls, but it looks like Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain is headed for a rapprochement with late-night TV comedian David Letterman.

The CBS network announced on Sunday that Letterman would welcome the Arizona senator back to his program on Thursday, three weeks after McCain irked the CBS "Late Show" host by abruptly backing out of a scheduled guest appearance.

At the time, McCain declared he was suspending his presidential campaign and immediately hurrying back to Washington to take part in congressional efforts to fashion an emergency bailout package for the financial industry.

But McCain's last-minute cancellation drew relentless ribbing from Letterman, who suggested the senator's move was a political stunt that ran contrary to the Vietnam War veteran's status as an "American hero."

"I'm more than a little disappointed by this behavior," Letterman said, questioning McCain's motives for suspending his campaign. "Are we suspending it because there's an economic crisis or because the poll numbers are sliding?"

Later in the program, Letterman learned McCain was still in New York, several blocks away, preparing for an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric, while a live internal network video feed showed the politician having makeup applied.

"He doesn't seem to be racing to the airport, does he?" Letterman said, shouting at the TV monitor, "Hey John, I got a question! You need a ride to the airport?"

Letterman has since taken numerous on-air shots at McCain for standing him up last month.

McCain's newly scheduled visit to the show on Thursday, a day after his third and final nationally televised debate with Democrat Barack Obama, will mark the Republican's 13th guest appearance on Letterman and the first since he formally accepted his party's nomination.

Obama appeared on the "Late Show" on September 10, during which he sought to clarify a controversial "lipstick on a pig" remark that drew fire from Republicans.

There was no word yet on whether McCain will be bringing Letterman any sort of peace offering.

Letterman keeps up verbal assault on John McCain

NEW YORK - David Letterman kept up his verbal assault on John McCain, commiserating with Paris Hilton and saying he felt like an "ugly date" because the GOP presidential candidate backed out of an appearance on the "Late Show."

The late-night CBS comedian was upset Wednesday when McCain canceled an appearance to deal with the economic crisis. After backing out of the Letterman show, McCain sat for an interview with Katie Couric, then didn't leave New York until Thursday, further angering Letterman.

At first, Letterman said, he felt like a "patriot" to let McCain off.

"Now I'm feeling like an ugly date," Letterman said. "I feel used. I feel cheap. I feel sullied."

McCain spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace said the campaign "felt this wasn't a night for comedy."

"We deeply regret offending Mr. Letterman, but our candidate's priority at this moment is to focus on this crisis," Wallace said Thursday on NBC's "Today."

Later Thursday, Letterman banged away at McCain in his opening monologue.

"You're here on a good night," he told the audience. "So far none of our guests have canceled."

He talked about daredevil David Blaine's feat of hanging upside-down in New York's Central Park for 60 hours.

"They just left the guy hanging there," he said. "It's the same thing McCain did to me last night."

He described Hilton — Thursday's guest whose celebrity was once used in a McCain campaign ad to mock Democrat Barack Obama — as McCain's first choice for a running mate.

"Here's how it works: You don't come to see me? You don't come to see me? Well, we might not see you on Inauguration Day," Letterman said.

Noting that McCain wanted to postpone Friday's first debate with Obama, Letterman said running mate Sarah Palin wanted to put off her debate with Democrat Joe Biden until after Election Day. Letterman said Palin's meeting with world leaders at the United Nations was like "take-your-daughter-to-work day."

Letterman's Top 10 list was "surprising facts about Sarah Palin," read by citizens of Wasilla, Alaska, where she was once mayor.

No. 10: Palin "sometimes calls John McCain grandpa."

Later in the show, Letterman couldn't resist another mention of "that John McCain" while chatting with Hilton, who replied, "I heard he dissed you. He dissed me."

Milking the moment, Letterman consoled her: "You had a little run-in with him, too, didn't you?"

Letterman wants to call sunset for late-night gig

LOS ANGELES - David Letterman wants to stick with CBS' "Late Show" through his contract — and maybe longer — as rival Jay Leno prepares to surrender the "Tonight" reins next year.

"The way I feel now, I would like to go beyond 2010, not much beyond, but you know, enough to go beyond. You always like to be able to excuse yourself on your own terms," Letterman said in an interview in Rolling Stone magazine.

"If the network is happy with that, great. If they wanna make a change in 2010, you know, I'm fine with that, too," Letterman said.

Letterman, along with Chris Rock and Tina Fey, is featured on the comedy-focused cover of the Rolling Stone issue out Friday.

Letterman, 61, questioned why NBC is proceeding with its plan to remove Leno, who consistently tops the late-night ratings. Conan O'Brien will take over "Tonight" in June 2009, with Jimmy Fallon moving into O'Brien's "Late Night" chair.

"Unless I'm misunderstanding something, I don't know why, after the job Jay has done for them, why they would relinquish that," Letterman said, adding, "I have to believe he was not happy about it."

Letterman speculated whether "that's actually what's going to happen," while acknowledging NBC might be too far down the road to retreat.

NBC is angling to keep Leno, 58, with NBC Universal but the late-night king has indicated he's ready to jump ship. Eager NBC competitors, including other networks and syndicators, are prepared to help him make the leap.

Letterman, who called O'Brien "a very funny guy," was asked about facing him as the new "Tonight" host. A cautious Letterman said he couldn't predict the outcome.

"It will be weird to see Conan at 11:30, don't you think? Which is not to say he can't succeed, but, no, I don't know what the competition will be like. I hope we're able to do OK."

In the Rolling Stone article, Letterman discusses guests including Madonna, Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern, with the most moving remarks about musician Warren Zevon, who appeared on "Late Show" shortly before his 2003 death from cancer.

Letterman recalled his "heartbreaking" meeting with Zevon in a dressing room after the show.

"Here's a guy who had months to live and we're making small talk. And as we're talking, he's taking his guitar strap and hooking it, wrapping it around, then he puts the guitar into the case and he flips the snaps on the case and says, `Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it.' And I just started sobbing.

"He was giving me the guitar that he always used on the show. I felt like, `I can't be in this movie, I didn't get my lines.' That was very tough," Letterman said.

Leno maintains lead over Letterman

NEW YORK - If David Letterman hoped a deal with striking writers would help him in his battle for late-night supremacy with Jay Leno, it hasn't happened yet. Leno's NBC "Tonight" show averaged 5.17 million viewers last week, despite its writers being on strike and big-name celebrities being encouraged not to cross the picket line.

Letterman, who made a separate deal to bring writers back to his CBS "Late Show," had 4.08 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Leno has a 27 percent advantage over Letterman, compared to 33 percent prior to the writers going on strike.

Leno's victory margin of nearly 1 million viewers comes despite Letterman actually winning last Monday, when Tom Hanks visited to watch Letterman shave the beard he grew during two months off the air.

Besides Hanks, Letterman had Mike Huckabee, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Tom Brokaw, Howard Stern and Tracy Morgan as guests last week. Leno had Pamela Anderson, Ron Paul, Christopher Titus, reptile expert Jules Sylvester and fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel stop by.

Letterman is having another run of A-listers this week, including Katie Holmes, Denzel Washington, Don Rickles, Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone and Diane Keaton. National ratings for this week's shows were not immediately available.

CBS said one positive sign is that Letterman has beaten Leno in the New York market nine times in his first 11 shows back. In the 30 shows prior to the strike, Letterman won 12 times, Nielsen said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Writers Guild of America said Thursday the organization hasn't decided about whether to bring up Leno on disciplinary charges. The union contends that Leno is breaking their strike rules by writing his own nightly monologue. Leno said the union is wrong.

Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show," which shares Letterman's production company and also has its writers back, inched closer to NBC rival Conan O'Brien. O'Brien's NBC show averaged 2.07 million viewers before the strike, and 1.99 million last week. Ferguson was at 1.75 million before the strike, and 1.84 million last week.

Letterman turns down N.S. hospitality

A fiddling demonstration from Premier Rodney MacDonald was not enough to lure David Letterman to Nova Scotia.

Nor were the dozens of top 10 reasons to visit the province delivered in response to a campaign by CBC Radio Halifax.

The invitations were sent after Letterman expressed a wish to see Nova Scotia during an appearance by Halifax actress Ellen Page on his late-night talk show.

A spokesman for Worldwide Pants, the production company behind the Late Show with David Letterman, turned down those invitations on Friday.

"We have seen it," Worldwide Pants spokesman Tom Keaney said, referring to MacDonald's video showing his top 10 reasons and demonstrating his fiddling prowess.

"We're honoured and flattered to be invited to Nova Scotia, but we have no travel plans for the show at this time."

Premier MacDonald's pitch included reasons such as "you can make a blueberry grunt" and "no matter where you are in Nova Scotia, you're within 30 minutes of the sea. Thirty-five if it's rush hour."

In his video submission, the premier plays a few bars on a fiddle as he gives his No. 1 reason why Letterman should come to the province.

'Top that, Mike Huckabee'

"Nova Scotia's political leader, yours truly, plays the fiddle," he said, before taking a playful jab at a Republican presidential candidate who plays bass guitar. "Top that, Mike Huckabee."

Information Morning had its own 10 reasons why he should visit, and encouraged listeners to send theirs so it could send them on to Letterman.

Several schools, an improv group and even a tourism management class at the Nova Scotia Community College got in on the campaign, which quickly turned into a contest.

Businesses joined in, too, with one lodge offering Letterman a free place to stay.

Page, who is winning acclaim for her role in Juno, wooed Letterman with her own tales of Nova Scotia during her appearance on his show.

She mentioned the 1917 Halifax Explosion and how her century-old home in Halifax used to be a whorehouse.

Letterman said he had never been to Nova Scotia but heard it was beautiful.

Letterman's spokesman did not rule out a personal visit by the funnyman.

"As far as Dave's private life goes, I cannot and do not comment," he said.

Information Morning show producer Susan Rogers said getting Letterman to Nova Scotia would be the "cherry on the sundae."

"But I think the coup is just the energy we've built around this," she said Friday.

Letterman poised to strike a blow

HOLLYWOOD -- It's the second day of the new year but, more to the point, it's the first day since the start of the writers strike that Jay Leno and David Letterman will have something new to talk about.

Tonight, both Leno and Letterman will be returning with fresh shows. But that's where the similarity ends.

While The Tonight Show host will be flying by the seat of his own pants since his writers will still be hoisting picket signs, the Late Show host will be back with his writing team intact.

During the final working hours of 2007, Dave's production company, WorldWide Pants, Auld-Lang-signed a separate contract with the Writers Guild of America, agreeing to the Guild's pay increase demands that have thus far been rejected by the producers alliance. Unfortunately for Jay, his show is owned by NBC, which means he didn't have the options of negotiating a similar deal with the WGA.

That means Letterman will be back with his Top 10 Lists, Viewer Mail and other popular segments, while Leno will have to rely solely on his wit.

But the ramifications go beyond how much Jaywalking Leno's viewers are able to tolerate in a given week. Because large numbers of big-name stars are refusing to cross those WGA picket lines in the name of solidarity (their Screen Actors Guild contract expires in June), that means Jay's guest list could be looking flimsy, while it will be business as usual for Dave.

Although he has traditionally outdrawn Letterman, Leno reruns since the strike started have seen an average 40% drop in viewers in the key 18-49 age demographic, compared to Letterman's 21% erosion.

So with a possible scenario that could see Dave partying with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts over on the East Coast as Jay chats up the oldest living cribbage player on the West Coast, the late-night landscape could undergo a significant shift.

Robin Williams to open Letterman's show

NEW YORK - Robin Williams will be David Letterman's first guest upon the return of his "Late Show" on CBS Wednesday, while NBC's writer-less "Tonight" show welcomes GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

The appearance of a Hollywood A-lister who can talk a mile a minute may be Letterman's way of quickly trying to draw a distinction between his show and his late-night rivals, who are working without striking writers and may also have trouble booking major entertainers.

The most closely watched late-night duel will be between NBC's Jay Leno and Letterman.

Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, reached an agreement Friday to have his show return with writers despite the ongoing writers strike, which began Nov. 5.

Leno, along with Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O'Brien, return Wednesday under an air of mystery. They won't have writers and are restricted under union strike rules from performing many familiar comic bits, including traditional monologues.

Meanwhile, Letterman's signature "top 10" list arrives intact.

Hollywood's major actors' union has put out signals encouraging its members to visit Letterman and fellow CBS host Craig Ferguson. Ferguson's show is also owned by Worldwide Pants and is covered by the same special deal with writers.

"Screen Actors Guild members will be happy to appear on the `Late Show' with David Letterman and the `Late Late Show' with Craig Ferguson with union writers at work and without having to cross picket lines," said Alan Rosenberg, Screen Actors Guild president.

The Los Angeles-based union represents nearly 120,000 actors.

Until the Huckabee announcement, neither Leno nor late-night shows hosted by Kimmel and O'Brien had said anything about who they will book.

There's no word on whether Huckabee will bring along his electric guitar. Leno's return after two months of strike-related reruns couldn't come at a better time for the politician, the night before the Iowa caucuses and six days before the New Hampshire primary.

Donald Trump, previously booked for Letterman on Wednesday, has been bumped to Friday.

Comedy Central's topical nightly comedies, "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart and "The Colbert Report," are set to return on Jan. 7 without striking writers.

Letterman's show returning with writers

NEW YORK - "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" will be back with their writers airing joke-filled new hours starting Wednesday, the shows' production company, Worldwide Pants, announced Friday.

An interim agreement between the Letterman-owned company and the Writers Guild of America will allow the full writing staffs for both shows to return to work, even as the Hollywood writers strike continues to shutter much TV and movie production. Both of those CBS late-night shows have been airing reruns since the strike began eight weeks ago.

"I am grateful to the WGA for granting us this agreement," Letterman said. "This is not a solution to the strike, which unfortunately continues to disrupt the lives of thousands. But I hope it will be seen as a step in the right direction."

The deal, which restores the two shows to business as usual, gives them an enormous advantage over their competition.

NBC's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" as well as ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" had already announced they would resume Wednesday without benefit of their writing teams. Similarly, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert" planned to return writer-less on Monday, Jan. 7.

Resisting such an arrangement, Rob Burnett, president and CEO of Worldwide Pants, had actively sought an interim deal. Talks between studios and networks and the guild broke down Dec. 7, but the guild has been pursuing agreements with several small independent producers that would allow at least some members to return to work.

"We are appreciative that the leaders of the guild dealt with us reasonably and in good faith," Burnett said.

Much speculation has been focused on how the other late-night shows will fill their time deprived of monologues, skits and other written material. All the hosts — with the exception of NBC's Carson Daly, who returned to the air Dec. 3 — are members of the guild, making those without an interim deal subject to union rules that would severely limit what they can do.

A related issue centers on whether their shows will face a problem booking A-list guests, who may not be willing to cross a picket line.

Central to the contract dispute has been compensation for work distributed via the Internet and other digital media. The guild also has called for unionization of writers working on reality shows and animation.

When writers went on strike in 1988, only two late-night shows were affected: Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show and Letterman's "Late Night," both on NBC. Carson made a deal with the guild shortly after returning to the air, but Letterman went weeks without his writers' services before the strike was settled.

No deal for Letterman and TV writers

NEW YORK - David Letterman doesn't even need writers to have fun with this one.

The late-night comic's representatives met with striking writers on Friday in an attempt to reach a deal that will allow the "Late Show" to return to the air with its writing staff.

All the Writers Guild of America would say about the meeting: "A lively exchange of information took place." It was reminiscent of diplomat-speak for argumentative talks between hostile countries: "A frank exchange of views."

Absent a deal, the CBS show's goal of returning to the air with live episodes on Jan. 2 is still up in the air.

Late-night rivals Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel are all coming back that night without writers if the strike, as expected, is not resolved. Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert plan to bring their late-night shows back without writers on Jan. 7.

Letterman's hope to bring his writers back stemmed from the union's announcement last weekend that it was open to reaching contract agreements with separate production companies. Letterman's Worldwide Pants owns his show and CBS' talk show with Craig Ferguson.

Rob Burnett, president and CEO of Worldwide Pants, didn't say much more.

"We had a substantive discussion today with the WGA and look forward to continuing these talks next week," Burnett said.

Letterman may return as writers shift tactics

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Talk show host David Letterman has been pursuing a deal with Hollywood's striking writers that would allow his late-night television show to restart production, his company said on Saturday.

The company, WorldWide Pants, announced its intention one day after the Writers Guild of America, which represents film and TV writers, told its members it would negotiate separately with member companies of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to restart stalled contract talks.

Independent producer WorldWide Pants hopes to reach a deal as soon as next week, a spokesman said. He declined to say when production might restart or new shows return to airwaves.

"Since the beginning of the strike, we have expressed our willingness to sign an interim agreement with the Guild consistent with its positions in this dispute," WorldWide Pants chief executive Rob Burnett said in a statement.

For six weeks, WGA members who write many TV shows have been striking against the AMPTP, which represents film and TV studios. Talks have been stalled since last Friday, and a chief disagreement centers on fees writers want when their programs are put on the Internet.

The strike has ended production of many talk shows like the "Late Show with David Letterman," which airs on CBS, and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on NBC.

Production on scripted prime time and daytime shows has ground to a near halt, and starting in January many of those programs will be forced into re-runs or taken off air in favor of reality TV shows that are not subject to a WGA agreement.

But if Worldwide Pants can reach an interim agreement with the WGA, new versions of "Late Show with David Letterman" could return in January, according to The New York Times.

Generally speaking in labor talks, an interim agreement provides that both sides will abide by terms of a contract to which the contract's negotiating parties eventually agree.

WGA SHIFTS TACTICS

Worldwide Pants released Burnett's statement in response to a letter sent on Friday by the WGA's negotiating committee to union members saying they would "reach out to major AMPTP companies and begin to negotiate with them individually" instead of dealing with the AMPTP only.

"We will make this demand on Monday, December 17th and hope that each company responds promptly," said the WGA's letter.

Saturday, the AMPTP issued in its own statement saying the WGA is "grasping for straws" and the union has "never had a coherent strategy for engaging in serious negotiations."

WorldWide Pants is an independent producer and can sign an interim deal outside the WGA and AMPTP talks. The company also produces "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," on CBS.

In a separate statement, a CBS spokesman said the network respected the intent of WorldWide Pants to serve its own interests and those of its employees.

"However, this development should not confuse the fact that CBS remains unified with the AMPTP, and committed to working with the member companies to reach a fair and reasonable agreement," said CBS spokesman Chris Ender.

Earlier this week, show business newspaper Daily Variety reported that NBC's "Tonight Show" and "Leno's program and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" also may be back on air by January. An NBC spokeswoman could not be reached on Saturday.

Jimmy Fallon: Got any plans in 2009?

Is the Conan O'Brien succession plan the worst-kept secret in town?

A knowledgeable source familiar with the negotiations recently told Entertainment Weekly what many in town already believe: that SNL vet Jimmy Fallon is the guy who'll replace Conan O'Brien when the latter takes over The Tonight Show in 2009.

Several publications like Broadcasting & Cable have already reported it as a strong possibility, though NBC won't confirm other than acknowledging that Fallon is at the top of its "short list" (the comedian already signed a development deal with the network earlier this year).

Alrighty then! If there are any unanswered questions left when it comes to late night, it involves Jay Leno and whether he'll take NBC up on its offer to stick around once O'Brien assumes his post. Speculation is rampant that Leno won't settle for the occasional primetime peacock special; maybe he'll bolt for another network like ABC and put Nightline out of business (or at least out of the 11:35 p.m. timeslot).

One thing's for sure: this inevitable game of musical chairs could turn out to be even juicier than the Leno-Letterman saga chronicled in Bill Carter's 1996 tome The Late Shift.

Stay tuned...

Letterman appears on Oprah's talk show

NEW YORK - David Letterman says the birth of his son, Harry, has made a "huge difference" in his life — but the 3-year-old doesn't always get daddy's sense of humor.

"Mommy has to tell him a lot that I'm just teasing," Letterman said Monday on the season premiere of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" — an appearance that generated interest because of the two stars' much-publicized rift.

It was also a rare appearance for Letterman, host of CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," on someone else's show. Winfrey asked whether he's "interview-phobic."

"It's just that you know, when you have your own show, you have plenty of time to talk about whatever you want to talk about anyway," Letterman said.

Letterman, 60, said he struggles between using "patience or discipline" with Harry, his son with girlfriend Regina Lasko. Harry was placed on the "naughty chair" this weekend after misbehaving, he said.

"He's still there," Letterman joked.

He talked about his love for his home in Montana and how he was honored to have a communications building dedicated in his name at Indiana's Ball State University, his alma mater. He also showed family photos.

The show was taped at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan instead of the customary Harpo Studios in Chicago to mark the start of the show's 22nd season.

Winfrey, 53, said her relationship with Letterman had warmed. She showed footage of her office in which two photos of Winfrey and Letterman are among photos of Winfrey with John Travolta, Stevie Wonder, Nelson Mandela and her boyfriend, Stedman Graham.

In the midst of their rift, which lasted more than a decade, Letterman started keeping an "Oprah Log" as a gag on his show. He would record whether Winfrey had called that day to invite him to be her guest.

Winfrey said she believed Letterman's staff would contact her staff if he wanted to appear.

"I wanted to be asked, Oprah. Don't you understand that?" Letterman said, then opened the notebook to read: "`Day No. 20. 11/27/01. Oprah. Noprah.' It was humiliating."

Letterman frequently joked about Winfrey, and she rejected repeated offers to appear on his program. In 2003, she told Time magazine she wouldn't appear with him because she was "completely uncomfortable" as the target of Letterman's jokes.

Their reconciliation began in 2005 when Winfrey appeared on his CBS show. It was her first guest appearance with Letterman, though she twice appeared on his NBC show before he jumped networks in 1993.

Letterman to appear on `Oprah'

CHICAGO - Feud? What feud?

Talk-show host David Letterman will make his first appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" next month, another sign the talk-show powerhouses have buried the hatchet after a rift that lasted more than a decade.

Winfrey's production company says Letterman will appear on the show airing September 10.

Letterman frequently joked about Winfrey through the years. And in 2003, Winfrey said she wouldn't go on his show because she was uncomfortable as the target of his jokes.

Their reconciliation began in 2005 when Winfrey was a guest on Letterman's CBS "Late Show." They also appeared together in a Super Bowl commercial in February.

Letterman to appear on Regis' talk show

NEW YORK - David Letterman will be Regis Philbin's first guest when he returns Thursday to "Live With Regis and Kelly" after having triple heart bypass surgery six weeks ago.

Philbin was a guest host on CBS' "Late Show" after Letterman underwent heart bypass surgery in 2000. He also stepped in when Letterman was recovering from an eye infection in 2003.

"Very appropriate," said "Live" co-host Kelly Ripa, who made the announcement Monday on the syndicated talk show.

Philbin, 75, has been at home recuperating since his surgery last month.

He has been a frequent guest on Letterman's late-night show.

Letterman regular 'Bud' Melman dies

NEW YORK - Calvert DeForest, the white-haired, bespectacled nebbish who gained cult status as the oddball Larry "Bud" Melman on David Letterman's late night television shows, has died after a long illness. The Brooklyn-born DeForest, who was 85, died Monday at a hospital on Long Island, Letterman's "Late Show" announced Wednesday.

He made dozens of appearances on Letterman's shows from 1982 through 2002, handling a variety of twisted duties: dueting with Sonny Bono on "I Got You, Babe," doing a Mary Tyler Moore impression during a visit to Minneapolis, handing out hot towels to arrivals at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

"Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself — a genuine, modest and nice man," Letterman said in a statement. "To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him."

The gnomish DeForest was working as a file clerk at a drug rehabilitation center when show producers, who had seen him in a New York University student's film, came calling.

He was the first face to greet viewers when Letterman's NBC show debuted on Feb. 1, 1982, offering a parody of the prologue to the Boris Karloff film "Frankenstein."

"It was the greatest thing that had happened in my life," he once said of his first Letterman appearance.

DeForest, given the nom de tube of Melman, became a program regular. The collaboration continued when the talk show host launched "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS in 1993, though DeForest had to use his real name because of a dispute with NBC over "intellectual property."

Cue cards were often DeForest's television kryptonite, and his character inevitably appeared in an ill-fitting black suit behind thick black-rimmed glasses.

DeForest often drew laughs by his bizarre juxtaposition as a "Late Show" correspondent at events such as the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway or the anniversary Woodstock concert that year.

His last appearance on "Late Show," celebrating his 81st birthday, came in 2002.

DeForest also appeared in an assortment of other television shows and films, including "Nothing Lasts Forever" with Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.

At his request, there will be no funeral service for DeForest, who left no survivors.

David Letterman goes home sick

NEW YORK - David Letterman showed up for work, but had to go home sick Tuesday before taping the "Late Show."

A stomach bug was to blame, a network spokeswoman said.

Adam Sandler, one of the night's guests, was quickly enlisted to fill in as host.

The CBS late-night personality has had extended absences following heart surgery and a case of the shingles. But this was believed to be the first time Letterman showed up for work and couldn't go on.

He will have time to recover. Letterman had taped Wednesday's show in advance, and he's being pre-empted for NCAA basketball on Thursday and Friday.

Dave's 25 Years of Bringing the Funny

David Letterman is planning to ring in his 25th anniversary in late-night comedy Thursday night with an old favorite—and no, we don't mean Larry "Bud" Melman.

Bill Murray, Letterman's first visitor when he debuted as host of NBC's Late Night on Feb. 1, 1982, and again the inaugural guest on Letterman's CBS Late Show on Aug. 30, 1993, is slated to appear once again on a milestone episode.

Also on hand to help celebrate the occasion: NBA superstar LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The 59-year-old host, showing no ill effects from 2000 bypass surgery, signed a contract extension last month that will keep him on the air through 2010, a year longer than longtime adversary Jay Leno, who announced plans to pass the Tonight Show baton to Conan O'Brien in 2009.

That would put Letterman within spitting distance of the mark set by his mentor, Johnny Carson, who hosted The Tonight Show for 30 years until his retirement in 1993. Letterman famously coveted Carson's desk, but when NBC went with Jay Leno, Letterman moved a few blocks from 30 Rockefeller to set up shop at the Ed Sullivan Theater, where he's been ever since.

Despite regularly ranking behind Leno in the ratings, Letterman's show has proven more critically adored, winning 14 Emmys in 89 nominations.

Safe to say it's produced a lot of Top Ten lists—3,325 to be precise, emanating from such far-flung Home Offices as Tahlequah, Okalahoma, and Wahoo, Nebraska.

Thursday's show will look back at a quarter-century of Stupid Pet Tricks (there have been 110 segments total), Stupid Human Tricks (73), gag suits (ranging from the Suit of Velcro to the Suit of Alka-Seltzer to the Suit of Suet) and too many Paul Shaffer gags to count.

But with 4,506 broadcasts, 14,772 guest appearances (led by Regis Philbin's 71) and 3,417 musical performances (topped by Warren Zevon's 26 visits, including a poignant interview shortly before the "Werewolves of London" rocker's death), Letterman and his team have plenty of material to choose from for the retrospective.

In keeping with the spirit, here are our nominations for the Top Ten Moments in Lettermania:

- Bill Murray doing jumping jacks while singing Olivia Newton-John's hit "Physical" on the premiere episode of Late Night
- Any visit by Andy Kaufman, particularly the 1982 segment in which the comic appears to fight with pro wrestler Jerry Lawler
- Sandra Bernhard's finger getting bitten by a chimp wearing the "Late Night Monkey Cam"
- Bruce Springsteen turning up as the surprise musical guest on his last NBC show
- Launching watermelons and household appliances off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater and watching the destruction
- His frequent haranguing of his employers, most notably poking fun at CBS honcho Les Moonves for meeting with Fidel Castro in 2001
- Two moments with Cher, one segment in which he arranged a memorable reunion with ex-hubby Sonny Bono and the two sang "I Got You Babe," and the other, a not so pleasant visit in which she calls Letterman an epithet on the air
- Drew Barrymore flashing her breasts at him on his birthday and/or Courtney Love flashing him in, what we think was a bid to upstage Barrymore
- The heartfelt and emotional Late Show just six days after 9/11, the first late-night comedy program to return following the attacks, which featured an uncharacteristically serious monologue
- Letterman interviewing Janet Jackson about her "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl, beginning with the immortal query, "So how's Tito?"

Letterman staying put at CBS until 2010

NEW YORK - David Letterman isn't going anywhere. CBS Corp. announced Monday that the late-night funnyman has signed a contract to stay on the air until at least 2010. It was widely reported in September that Letterman had agreed to the deal.

The contract means Letterman plans to stay on the air longer than late-night rival Jay Leno. NBC has said that Leno will give way to Conan O'Brien on the "Tonight" show in 2009.

"I'm thrilled to be continuing on at CBS," Letterman, 59, said. "At my age you really don't want to have to learn a new commute."

Letterman is expected to make somewhere north of $30 million a year. He's been competing with Leno since 1993, and the NBC comic has had the upper hand in the ratings for the past decade.

"His presence on our air is an ongoing source of pride, and the creativity and imagination that the `Late Show' puts forth every night is an ongoing display of the highest quality entertainment," said CBS Corp. President Leslie Moonves, who's been a target of Letterman's on-air barbs. "We are truly honored that one of the most revered and talented entertainers of our time will continue to call CBS home."

Letterman's antics unpredictable

Have you seen Late Show With David Letterman lately? It's like Dave has taken a time machine back to the Twilight Zone. Some recent examples:

- Suddenly, in the middle of a show, Letterman is interrupted by a weatherman. "Hey everybody, is rain gonna put a damper on your morning commute? I'll have that and my five-day forecast coming up in the weather."

"Huh?" Letterman asks bandleader Paul Shaffer. "Who was that?"

Shaffer just shrugs.

- A camera shot suddenly droops to the floor. What gives, Letterman asks. "Oh, sorry," says cameraman Dave Dorsett. "It was so quiet in here I assumed the show was over."

- Letterman is interrupted with a knock. "Housekeeping!" says a hotel housekeeper pushing a cart. She gets half-way to Letterman's desk when the host asks if she could come back in an hour.

Bizarre interruptions have become the norm. A woman (costume designer Susan Hum) approaches the desk and offers "freshly baked turkey pot pie." It's cold, complains Letterman. "You make me want to puke!" she rants.

Another night, Letterman seems trapped in a satellite cross-feed between PBS commentator Charlie Rose and Bob Woodward. It is wacky, unpredictable, unsettling -- and fabulous. This was the Live and Dangerous Dave we all knew and loved 20 years ago. It is great to have him back.

"He has been on a little zany streak lately," agrees Letterman pal Regis Philbin, who spoke to The Toronto Sun on Monday. Philbin mentions that "World's Oldest Page" guy Johnny Dark who keeps interrupting the monologue.

"I kind of admire that about Dave," says Philbin of all the new risks. "It's still the most imaginative show on TV."

Even Letterman's hair has gone retro. Long the butt of his own jokes, he has raked what's left of his greying locks forward. At 59, he looks, well, 49.

What's behind the return to form? In September, Letterman signed a new contract with CBS extending his late night antics through 2010 -- a year after rival Jay Leno's planned Tonight Show exit.

That will also put Letterman's combined NBC/CBS late-night run right behind the 30-year reign of his idol, Johnny Carson.

The new energy has goosed the ratings. Letterman has seen double-digit year-to-year percent increases in total viewers and key demographics. The show now averages 4.02 million U.S. viewers a night.

After a winter and spring where Letterman often seemed listless, bored and out of gas (that free pass he gave Tom Cruise, for example), he's shaken himself out of it by shaking up his show. The approach is not entirely new; people were randomly dangling and shouting from the Ed Sullivan Theater balcony last season, for example. Contrived interruptions have always been part of the mix -- just not to this extent.

Now, besides the nightly Top 10 List, shots at George Bush (those lethal "Great Moments In Presidential Speeches"), Larry King ("Creepier In Slow Motion") and Kim Jong Il (cut to footage of fright-haired "Hello Dere" comic Marty Allen), there is an added nightly bonus of improv theatre.

Opening guests who are clearly not who they claim to be are given the same face time as Alec Baldwin, Robin Williams or Amanda Peet. A guy introduced as "the Turtle Whisperer" stuck little hats onto a box turtle before flipping out and fleeing the stage. Another phony guest, introduced as a former KGB instructor known as "The Dog Wizard," did lame tricks with a Lab. Letterman just played along.

NFL commentator John Madden is introduced, except it is clearly not John Madden, it is some guy (comedian Frank Caliendo) in a white wig pretending to be Madden. Letterman just lets him pretend, getting his Super Bowl picks.

Besides creating an unpredictable comedy environment -- one you want to check out every night in case you miss something -- Letterman is also shredding this whole obsession with celebrity. Celebrity is pointless, Letterman is saying. Be silly. Make everything up. Works for me.

Letterman signs on for four more years at CBS

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - From the home office at the Ed Sullivan Theater: David Letterman is staying at CBS for another four years.

Letterman, 59, is close to finalizing a contract extension with CBS that will keep him at the helm of "The Late Show With David Letterman" through the 2009-10 season, sources said. Negotiations on the pact have been underway on and off for months, but sources close to the network and the Letterman camp say the talks went smoothly and there was never any doubt that the Emmy-winning late-night host would extend his tenure at "Late Show," which originates from the famed Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.

Indeed, sources say that relations between CBS, Letterman and his Worldwide Pants production company have never been better, particularly between Letterman and CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves. Moonves has become a semi-regular presence on "Late Show" through the "More With Les" segments, featuring Letterman conversing with Moonves by telephone.

The harmony between Letterman and CBS stands in stark contrast to the situation 4-1/2 years ago, when Letterman was being heavily courted by ABC and reportedly felt under-appreciated at CBS. At the time, Letterman wound up striking a two-year renewal deal that included a series of one-year options, while sources said this time around the deal is a four-year commitment.

Financial details of the new deal were unclear. Letterman already ranks high on the list of television's highest-paid personalities, with an annual salary of about $31.5 million under the 2002 contract agreement. Sources said the new deal keeps Letterman in roughly similar salary territory as the 2002 pact, but that could not be confirmed late Wednesday.

A CBS spokesman declined comment on the deal, as did Letterman's handlers.

Letterman funds Colbert, Sedaris film

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Need money? Plug Explod-O-Pop.

When secret investors pulled out from Strangers With Candy, a comedy starring Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert, director Paul Dinello turned to late-show host David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Inc.

"We needed to get money in a week. We called Worldwide Pants and they said, 'We'll pay for the whole thing and you guys can do what you want,' " Dinello said at the CineVegas film festival last week. "The only thing we had to do was we had to put in Explod-O-Pop."

The plug for the microwavable popcorn that Letterman gives to guests and sells at the CBS online store was a nice gesture, not a condition for funding, Dinello said. Besides, Letterman adores Sedaris as a comedian, he said.

"He gives that money to charity," Dinello said. "I mean he didn't like say, 'Either you put this in or we're pulling our funding out.' "

Strangers With Candy is the $3-million US prequel to the Comedy Central cult hit show that ran from 1999 to 2001. It is about a 46-year-old ex-junkie, Jerri Blank, who leaves prison and re-enters high school to succeed and hopefully snap her father out of a coma.

The film is set for a limited distribution by Think Film Company Inc. at around 100 theatres in major U.S. cities starting June 28.

Did You Hear the One About 'Brokeback'?

NEW YORK - Some of the "Top Ten Signs You're a Gay Cowboy," courtesy of David Letterman:

_You enjoy ridin', ropin' and redecoratin'.

_Instead of a saloon, you prefer a salon.

_Native Americans refer to you as "Dances With Men."

Is the bottomless font of "Brokeback Mountain" humor — late-night monologues, fake Internet movie trailers, movie poster imitations — harmless and fun, or insulting?

Most gay groups find it fairly benign, and note that in any case, the movie's overwhelming publicity can only be a good thing.

"Some of the humor may be insensitive, but even that has spurred positive conversation," says Susanne Salkind of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay rights group.

But Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, says he's sick of it: "It may be funny, but there is a real element of homophobia. It's making jabs about sex between gay men."

Jay Leno made at least 15 "Brokeback" jokes in January. Many were references to gay sex. One that wasn't: "The cold weather continues to spread across the United States. In fact, down south it was so cold people were shaking like Jerry Falwell watching "Brokeback Mountain."

The Internet is saturated with "Brokeback" imitations. One of the best is a fake movie trailer called "Brokeback to the Future," which uses deftly edited shots from Michael J. Fox's "Back to the Future" to make it look like Marty McFly and that wacky Dr. Emmett Brown are falling in love. There's also "Top Gun 2: Brokeback Squadron," with Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.

And then there are the poster imitations. Like "Kickback Mountain," with the faces of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Rep. Tom DeLay superimposed over those of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Andy Borowitz, author of The Borowitz Report.com, says people get insulted by everything — "so the safest bet is to make jokes about everything."

Besides, he says, "I run into so few gay cowboys in Manhattan. So I think if I'm at a cocktail party and I make a good 'Brokeback' joke, I'll be safe. I guess if I were on a ranch and there were a few strong, silent types, I'd be careful."

Of the movie's iconic line, "I wish I knew how to quit you," Borowitz says he's "hoping it'll become the new 'Show me the money.'"

Paul Rudnick, a playwright and comedy writer, sees the humor as coming from heterosexual men who are both fascinated and very uncomfortable with the content of the movie.

"They're not quite sure what to make of it," says Rudnick, who is gay. "They know their wives are going to fall in love with the movie, and with the men in it."

Rudnick hasn't written about "Brokeback" yet — but only because he'd have to find something really original.

"Just joking about a gay cowboy isn't enough anymore," Rudnick says. "If you're going to joke about it now, you really have to be up to the challenge."

___

On the Net:

"Brokeback to the Future" video: http://www.youtube.com

Letterman Not the Retiring Type

At 58, David Letterman may be approaching traditional retirement age, but a spokesman says the talk host wasn't looking ahead to his own shuffleboard court years on Monday's Late Show.

"Dave has no plans to retire," Steven Rubenstein of Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company said Tuesday.

The comment came in response to an inquiry about an exchange between Letterman and guest Albert Brooks, in which a deadpan Brooks wished his friend well on the occasion of his farewell week. Letterman corrected Brooks, remarking, more than once, that he had another (only?) "two or three years" to go on the show.

The statements were first red-flagged by blogger Bob Sassone on TVSquad.com, who wrote, "Maybe I'm reading a little too much into this, but the way it was presented, I don't think so."

But according to a TV industry source, Letterman is not only not not contemplating retirement, he's talking contract extension.

Letterman has been with CBS and Late Show since 1993, a year after he lost out on the Tonight Show gig at NBC to Jay Leno. In 2002, the irony-rich comic spurned ABC's advances, and reupped with CBS with what was reported to be a three-year deal, with an option for two additional years.

While Letterman's said to be the unretiring type, it's the indefatigable Leno who's down to only three years on the job. Per a 2004 announcement, Leno is due to hand the Tonight Show keys to Late Night's Conan O'Brien in 2009. Leno inherited the show from Johnny Carson in 1992.

In making his retirement plans public, Leno said he'd promised his wife he'd take her out to dinner before he turned 60. In 2009, he'll be 59.

Letterman turns 59 in April. Traditional retirement age is generally defined as 65, although one can start receiving full Social Security benefits at 62. Given the reported $14 million Letterman makes a year, it's unlikely his plans will be dictated by what a monthly government check may or may not bring.

If Letterman were to use the Carson model--and it's served him well so far--he would stay in the late-night game until age 66. That would give him a few years to try to do to O'Brien what he's only rarely been able to do to Leno since 1995, beat him in the ratings.

Given that O'Brien will be on the fast slide to 50 by the time he's scheduled to take over Tonight (he'll be 46), Letterman wouldn't even have to worry about making a kid cry.

Winfrey Spot Earns Letterman Big Audience

NEW YORK - David Letterman has learned the Power of Oprah: her "Late Show" appearance Thursday earned him his biggest audience in more than a decade.

An estimated 13.5 million people stayed up late to watch Winfrey's first visit to Letterman in 16 years, Nielsen Media Research said on Friday. Only three times has Letterman had a bigger audience on CBS — for his network premiere in 1993 and twice in 1994 in the midst of the Nancy Kerrigan- Tonya Harding ice skating melodrama.

Winfrey's appearance more than tripled Letterman's typical audience of 4.3 million viewers, Nielsen said.

Letterman escorted Winfrey to the nearby Broadway premiere of "The Color Purple" after their chat. Winfrey co-produced the musical, at least partly explaining the timing of her Letterman appearance.

During the interview, Winfrey said she thought Letterman's infamous 1995 joke on the Academy Awards ("Oprah, Uma. Uma, Oprah") was funny — although she did pointedly present him with a signed portrait of herself with Uma Thurman.

"I have never for a moment had a feud with you," she said.

The summit between the talk titans was set up by years of Letterman jokes about Winfrey, mixed in with years of her rejecting offers to appear on the show, and endless promotion promotion since her visit was announced.

The "Late Show" audience was larger than that of most prime-time programs and appeared to consist almost entirely of people who usually don't watch late-night TV. Incredibly, Jay Leno on NBC's "Tonight" show was seen by 6.2 million people on Thursday — more than his season average of 5.8 million — evidence that Leno's usual fans didn't abandon him.

"Late Late Show" host Craig Ferguson basked in Letterman's glow. His show, which directly follows Letterman, had its biggest audience ever early Friday, Nielsen said.

Oprah Agrees to Appear on the 'Late Show'

NEW YORK - Oprah, Dave. Dave, Oprah. The cold war between television titans Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman has thawed to the point where Winfrey has accepted Letterman's invitation to appear on the "Late Show" on Dec. 1.

Letterman made the announcement during a taping of his show on Monday. Winfrey's appearance will coincide with opening night of the Broadway musical "The Color Purple," which she is producing.

"What a big night that is going to be — not only for us, not only for Oprah, but for Broadway," Letterman said. "You have the big `Color Purple' Broadway opening, and then right across the street here in this theater, you have Oprah appearing here. I mean, that's what Broadway is all about — it's a street of dreams."

It's Winfrey's first visit to "Late Show," although she was twice Letterman's guest on his NBC show before the late-night comic moved to CBS in 1993.

The origin of their "feud" was murky, although Letterman has frequently joked about her through the years. Letterman's failed 1995 stint as Academy Awards host is best remembered for his awkward "Oprah, Uma. Uma, Oprah" introduction.

Winfrey told Time magazine in 2003 that she wouldn't go on Letterman's show because she's been "completely uncomfortable" as the target of his jokes.

"This just gives you an idea of what a big, big star this really is," Letterman said on Monday. "She's huge. Put bygones behind us, the water under the bridge, over the dam, wherever water goes — standing in your basement — she's going to be here on this show and it's going to be fantastic."

Back in 2003, Letterman joked about wanting Winfrey on his show to hold "the Super Bowl of love." Winfrey — who had sent an olive branch gift of books for Letterman's newborn son — called his bluff and invited him on her show. He declined.

"Here's what would happen: I would go on the `Oprah' show, and I would break down and sob like a little girl ... I don't want to have that happen," he said at the time. "I'd feel ridiculous. I'd never be able to live that down, that Oprah would make me sob."

Former Winfrey protege Dr. Phil has been a frequent Letterman guest, offering his own form of "tough love" in a needling relationship.

Oprah's appearance is a big boost for Letterman, who has been struggling in the ratings this season and falling further behind his nemesis, NBC's Jay Leno.

The timing isn't quite ideal, however: Winfrey will visit the day after the November ratings sweeps period ends.

Emmys Carson tribute: Where was Leno?

It was surprising enough to see David Letterman at the Emmys, making a rare awards show appearance a decade after his Uma-Oprah debacle at the Oscars. It was even more surprising to see Dave totally serious and stiff for the Johnny Carson tribute that had brought him to speak at the Shrine Auditorium.

But most surprising was the apparent acknowledgement by everyone (not just Jon Stewart), that it's Letterman, not Jay Leno, who's Carson's true heir. After all, Leno didn't speak at the tribute or appear in the clip montage, nor was his name mentioned. (When his name did come up, as a nominee for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, the hall was strangely silent.)

Asked by Entertainment Weekly about Leno's absence from the tribute, Emmy producer Ken Ehrlich declined to comment, but a Tonight Show publicist told the magazine that the talk-show host was never asked to appear in the segment in the first place.

You can read the full story in the Emmy wrap-up in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly that comes out Friday.

Letterman Pays Special Tribute to Carson

NEW YORK - David Letterman paid tribute to Johnny Carson on Monday by telling his jokes. On his first "Late Show" since Carson's death on Jan. 23, Letterman's opening monologue was comprised entirely of jokes that Carson had quietly sent to him over the past few months from retirement in California.

Letterman didn't tell the audience until after the monologue was over who wrote the jokes. His guest on Monday's show, former Carson producer Peter Lassally, had revealed a few days before Carson had died that the retired "Tonight" show host missed his nightly monologue and had written jokes for Letterman.

"I moved to Los Angeles from Indianapolis in 1975, and the reason I moved is because of Johnny Carson and the `Tonight' show," Letterman said. "And I'm not the only one. I would guess that maybe three generations of comedians moved to be where Johnny was because if you thought you were funny and you wanted to find out if you could hit major league pitching, you had to be on the `Tonight' show."

Letterman said his first "Tonight" appearance led to his first NBC show.

"Truthfully, no stretch of the imagination, I owe everything in my professional career, whatever success we've attained, to Johnny Carson, because he was nice enough to give me the opportunity, and throughout my career, was always very supportive."

The entire show was devoted to Carson, filled with reminiscences from Lassally and Letterman.

At the end, Carson's old bandleader Doc Severinsen and his band — including put-upon sax player Tommy Newsome — performed one of Carson's favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day."

When Carson retired in May 1992, it set up a battle between Letterman and Jay Leno over who would succeed him. NBC chose Leno — but the joke pipeline was an indication that Carson privately considered Letterman the better host.

Letterman's CBS show was in reruns last week, allowing Leno the jump on a late-night Carson tribute. Leno's highly rated show last week included former Carson sidekick Ed McMahon and comics Bob Newhart and Don Rickles.

Letterman said everybody who's doing a talk show, himself included, is secretly doing Carson's "Tonight" show.

"The reason we're all doing Johnny's `Tonight' is because you think, `Well, if I do Johnny's "Tonight" show, maybe I'll be a little like Johnny and people will like me more,'" he said. "But it sadly doesn't work that way. It's just, if you're not Johnny, you're wasting your time."

LETTERMAN SAYS HIS GOOD-BYE TONIGHT

David Letterman, who was on vacation when Johnny Carson passed away on January 23rd, returns tonight with a Carson-appreciation show and a long look at the impact the late "Tonight Show" host had on his career.

Letterman has lined up former "Tonight Show" bandleader Doc Severinsen, who will perform, and Carson's former executive producer, Peter Lassally.

Letterman credits Carson, a fellow Midwesterner, with giving him his big break.

Dave guest-hosted for Carson on the "Tonight Show" before NBC — with a push from Johnny — named Letterman the host of "Late Night," which followed the "Tonight Show" at 12:30 a.m.

Carson appeared twice on "Late Show" after Letterman moved to CBS — but never appeared with Jay Leno on the "Tonight Show" after he retired in 1992.

Leno's tribute to Carson last Monday was a big ratings magnet, boosting the usual audience for the "Tonight Show" by more than 50 percent.

In fact, just about all the news and entertainment shows marking Johnny's passing — including Larry King's CNN talk show and a number of NBC specials — have been huge ratings getters.

Carson, 79, died from emphysema.

Johnny Carson Writes Jokes for Letterman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman has a secret joke writer -- and it's none other than the retired king of all late-night television, Johnny Carson.

CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally, a onetime producer for both men, said on Tuesday that the 79-year-old former host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" occasionally sends Letterman new jokes he has written and that Letterman sometimes incorporates them into his nightly "Late Show" monologue.

Lassally, appearing at CBS's annual winter showcase for television critics, said that while Carson has remained out of the public eye since retiring, he keeps up with late-night TV, as well as with political news and other current events that were once fodder for his own "Tonight Show" monologue.

"I think the thing he misses the most is the monologue," Lassally said of his former boss. "He reads the newspaper every day and might think up five good jokes that he wishes he had an outlet for. Once in a while he sends jokes to Letterman and Letterman will use his jokes in the ('Late Show') monologue and he gets a big kick out of that."

Carson retired in 1992 after nearly 30 years as host of "The Tonight Show" on NBC and was replaced by Jay Leno. But Carson has always felt privately that Letterman, not Leno, was his rightful successor, Lassally said.

Letterman, who long hosted NBC's "Late Night" show immediately following Carson's program, jumped to CBS in 1993 in the flagship 11:30 p.m. time slot opposite Leno, setting up one of the most storied rivalries on U.S. television.

While Letterman's New York-based CBS show initially drew bigger audiences than Leno, NBC's "Tonight Show" shot in Burbank, California, eventually settled in as No. 1 in viewership, although Letterman has enjoyed improved ratings this season.

CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said "Late Show" ratings are up 7 percent over last year, marking Letterman's most competitive position against Leno since 1994 and narrowing his audience gap to just 1 million viewers fewer than "The Tonight Show" versus 2 million a year ago.

Carson, who has lived in relative seclusion in Malibu, California for the past decade, has battled emphysema in recent years, but is "still interested in literature and politics and all the worldly things that he was always interested in," Lassally said.

Letterman Tapes Christmas Eve Show in Iraq

David Letterman brought his late-night show to Marines serving in Iraq on Friday, loosening up the Camp Taqaddum crowd with the line, "Anybody here from out of town?"

Letterman brought along musical director Paul Shaffer, stage manager Biff Henderson, comedian Tom Dreesen and the band Off the Wall.

When hands flew in the air in response to requests for a volunteer to help deliver the opening monologue, he asked: "Isn't that how you got here?"

With the help of cue cards held by an Army soldier, Letterman ran off a series of crowd-pleasers:

"Iraqi elections are in January. Hurry up and pick somebody so we can get the hell out of here," he said.

And: "If I wanted to face insurgents I would've spent Christmas with my relatives."

Letterman has repeatedly featured Marines on "The Late Show."

"Paul and I were in Afghanistan three years ago, and last year we were in Baghdad," Letterman told the crowd. "We wouldn't want it any other way. We're sorry we keep having to come back. If you ever come to New York City, come see us and we'll treat you like big shots."

The Marines, most of who have been deployed since late summer, welcomed the visit.

"It was great, all of the Marines getting together having a good time," said Gunnery Sgt. Ronald Trignano, 32, a tech-controller with Communication Squadron 48. "It almost makes you forget where you are for a little while."

DAVE ON THE RISE

NEW YORK -- David Letterman is closing the gap with latenight rival Jay Leno, helped by a CBS primetime that dominated the November sweeps in key demos.

"Late Show With David Letterman" saw its best November sweep against NBC's "The Tonight Show" in total viewers since 1994 and since 2001 in the prized 18-49 demo.

With three days to go in the month of November, "Letterman" was up 9% in average total viewers (5 million), while "Leno" dropped off 6% (5.9 million).

"Letterman" was up 6% in adults 18-49 over the same frame last year and up an impressive 17% in 18-34.

"Leno" was down 13% in adults 18-49 and 11% in 18-34.

The "Letterman" show has improved its ratings for every night of the week and now occasionally beats "Leno" in total viewers on Monday nights, CBS said.

"David Letterman is benefiting from the fact that our promotional platform is stronger in the 10 to 11 o'clock hour," said David Poltrack, CBS exec veep of research.

CBS' primetime strength, driven by shows like "CSI: Miami" and "Without a Trace," are helping the Eye in latenight.

Also surging is the Eye's Sunday morning lineup: "Face the Nation" had its largest margin over ABC's "This Week" (338,000 more viewers) since the advent of People Meters in 1987.

ABC, like CBS up vs. last year in the November sweep, also boasts a revitalized primetime, but its hit shows are positioned in earlier timeslots that don't give much support to latenight programming.

"Desperate Housewives" airs on Sunday night, while "Lost" airs on Wednesdays but at 8.

Letterman Visits Philbin's Daytime Show

NEW YORK - David Letterman cracked a few jokes, showed some baby pictures and, yes, was a little cranky about going on television so early in the morning.

But, as Regis Philbin said, Letterman "did the right thing" and appeared on "Live with Regis and Kelly" Monday, especially since Philbin has been one of the CBS late-night host's favorite foils for many years.

By a "Late Show" count, Philbin has appeared 83 times on Letterman's show since it moved to CBS in 1993. He was a guest host when Letterman underwent heart bypass surgery in 2000 and recovered from an eye infection last year.

Letterman, who's rarely seen on TV outside of his own show, had visited "Live" twice before, the most recent in February 1997.

At least he had the television smarts to show up during a ratings "sweeps" month.

"This is a live Mardi Gras every morning," Letterman told Philbin and co-host Kelly Ripa.

Letterman showed pictures of son Harry, joking that the 1-year-old was looking at "mom's beer can" in one. He and Philbin traded good-natured gibes about who was most negligent about inviting the other on social occasions.

After Letterman complained that Philbin hadn't invited him to dinner, the stage curtain opened to reveal a table for two, with breakfast steaks set out.

"I want nothing to do with this phony dinner!" Letterman said.

They made some small talk about Notre Dame football, and Philbin tossed in a political question: Why did John Kerry lose?

"Geez, I have no idea," Letterman said. "I know nothing about politics. If I knew anything, why would I be here?"

But the two have an odd chemistry, and the irony-drenched Letterman clearly respects the showbiz veteran Philbin, 73, who's in the Guinness Book of World Records for logging more than 15,000 hours in front of a television camera.

"He is so quick and inventive and imaginative," Philbin told The Associated Press later. "His show is one surprise after another and I admire that tremendously. What does he see in me? I don't know."

Philbin said "Live" had asked Letterman to appear so many times that the show had nearly stopped asking.

"I know how private he is and how much he didn't want to do this," he said. "It was awfully nice of him to come by."

As for a return engagement, don't hold you're breath. That's what Letterman indicated when Philbin asked when he's be back.

"None of us will live that long," he replied.

Letterman Narrows Late-Night Ratings Gap with Leno

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rival talk show hosts Jay Leno and David Letterman are fighting again, turning up the heat on the serious business of late-night comedy ratings.

Nearly a year after NBC chieftain Jeff Zucker proclaimed Leno was so far ahead in the ratings that "there is no more late-night war," CBS boasted on Thursday that Letterman was on the comeback trail, narrowing the gap against a fading Leno.

To be sure, NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" remains the No. 1 choice of viewers by every measure over the CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," a dynamic that has held sway since 1995. So precious to NBC is "The Tonight Show" franchise that the network last week gave the world five years' advance notice that Leno would be stepping down in 2009 to make way for Conan O'Brien.

But in a trend that began during the summer, Letterman has cut Leno's overall viewer advantage by more than half to less than 1 million viewers a night so far this season, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.

For the first two weeks of the season, Letterman is averaging 4.64 million viewers nightly, up 10 percent from the same period a year ago. Leno, meanwhile, is off 6 percent in total audience to 5.59 million viewers. Last year, "Tonight" enjoyed a 2 million-viewer margin over "Late Show."

Moreover, "Late Show" is up 14 percent in the benchmark audience demographic of viewers aged 18-49 -- the group most prized by advertisers -- compared with the first two weeks of last season, while "Tonight" is down 13 percent.

"What was once an insurmountable lead is clearly shrinking," a CBS spokesman told Reuters, citing the network's early dominance in prime time as a key factor in driving up ratings for its late-night audience.

NBC executives, however, were quick to assert that two weeks does not a trend make.

They acknowledge that Letterman posted exceptionally strong numbers the first week of the season, with guest appearances by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and self-help guru Dr. Phil McGraw drawing hefty audiences. But they said Leno returned to a wider margin of victory last week.

NBC also said that year-to-year comparisons favor Letterman because he was still in a relative slump this time last year following an unplanned hiatus of several weeks in the spring of 2003 due to a bout with shingles.

CBS insists that Letterman has been steadily gaining ground since early summer.

From May 31 through Aug. 6, "Late Show" cut "Tonight" to its slimmest summertime lead since 2001 among young adults and since 1996 in overall viewership, according to Nielsen. At the same time, Leno experienced his lowest standings since Letterman premiered on CBS opposite his program in 1993.

Clinton Promotes Book on 'Late Show'

NEW YORK - Bill Clinton came to sell his book on "Late Show with David Letterman" Tuesday night but left a copy as a gift for Letterman's son.

Reading aloud the inscription in his hefty 957-page memoir, the former president wished Harry Letterman (born to Dave and his girlfriend, Regina Lasko, Nov. 3) a happy 9-month birthday.

"With luck," Clinton went on, "you will finish this by your 21st birthday. Meanwhile, carry it around and build more muscles than your dad has."

Looking natty in a blue suit and pink tie, Clinton shared the bill with only musical guest Natalie Merchant. During his extended interview, he quickly moved from promoting "My Life" (which since its June 22 release has sold more than 1.5 million copies) to politics and global affairs.

Still, he managed to do a little more selling, putting in a few good words for Sen. John Kerry, the newly anointed Democratic presidential candidate.

"Of all the people I dealt with in Congress," Clinton said in part, "he cared the most about trying to find programs that would keep young, inner-city minority kids out of trouble and out of jail and in school.

"There were no votes in this for John Kerry ... He just did it cause he thought it was right."

When asked whether the economy or the war in Iraq would be the deciding issue in the presidential election, Clinton replied, "I think the security question is a threshold question.

"I believe if the voters can get it fixed in their mind that they can trust Sen. Kerry to fight the war against terror and keep us safe at home, that it's more likely than not he will win, because after 9-11 the Bush administration went way to the right on domestic policy."

Mostly serious while interviewing Clinton, Letterman posed a mischievous question as their session neared an end.

"Tell me what you know about Sandy Berger sticking documents in his pants and walking out of the National Archives," Letterman asked.

Clinton chuckled, then praised his former national security adviser, who is facing allegations of mishandling highly classified terrorism documents.

"Anybody that ever saw Sandy Berger's office at the White House would not be surprised that he gets the papers mixed up or takes the wrong ones away," Clinton grinned. "He's got a well-organized mind and a disorganized desk."

Clinton last appeared on Letterman's CBS late-night show on Sept. 11, 2002, the first anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. He is now mulling an offer from NBC's "Saturday Night Live" to be a guest host in the coming season, according to anonymous sources quoted by TV Guide Online. A decision is expected this week.

Hilton Finally Visits 'The Late Show'

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - With the second season of "The Simple Life" about to kick off, Paris Hilton is at last getting around to chatting with David Letterman.

The hotel heiress and star of the FOX series is scheduled to visit Letterman's "Late Show" Monday (June 14).

"They have a lot in common," "Late Show" an executive producer notes of Hilton and Letterman. "She's the heir to the Hilton Hotel fortune, and he's the heir to the Stadium Motor Lodge fortune."

Hilton was originally scheduled to appear on "The Late Show" in November, prior to "The Simple Life's" first-season premiere. However, that interview -- and most of her pre-show publicity -- fell victim to the minor scandal surrounding the now-infamous sex tape of her and then-boyfriend Rick Salomon.

At the time, Letterman joked on the air that her "crisis management" team was doing the wrong thing by keeping Hilton out of public view.

"All I want to say to Paris is you're being led down the wrong path," he said shortly after the interview was cancelled. "You come on this show, by god, we'll make you a hero."

With the sex-tape escapades pretty much faded from view, Hilton and her handlers have no problem now getting the socialite back in front of the cameras, where she spends much of her time anyway.