Image Credit: Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS
Conan O’Brien visited David Letterman’s show last night for the first time in 13 years. You won’t believe what — and who — they discussed. In a way, it was like listening to two old friends who’d been scarred by the same ex-girlfriend; it was just a matter of time before they mentioned her name. Seconds, actually. “I think the longer we just sit here,” said Letterman, after the pair sat down and comically prolonged a moment of awkward silence. “The more uncomfortable it will make Jay.”
Letterman clearly couldn’t resist, gently nudging a slightly reluctant O’Brien to talk about his Tonight Show nightmare. O’Brien joked that he had been assured that the pair wouldn’t discuss it, but why else was he there really? Once O’Brien relented, though, Letterman relished rehashing the events, which he jokingly referred to as his Golden Age of television. “I’ve known Jay a long long time. We go back to the mid 70s, back in Los Angeles at the Comedy Store,” said Letterman. “Jay was always the guy — the funniest guy — he was the guy. He was the guy you’d go to see. He was the guy that you wished you could be more like. He was funny. He was also, uh… a bit of a brat. A bit of a brat. So then, oh you know, when this came along, I said to myself, ‘Oh yes, this is the Jay I know.’”
“You clearly were using my experience to work through some things,” O’Brien observed about Letterman. “You’re someone who’s been in a car accident who passed another guy lying on the road and said, ‘Hahahahahahahaaaaa!’”
Watch two clips from last night’s show. READ FULL STORY »
Tonight marks President Barack Obama’s first appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, but it’s not the first time POTUS has made stops on the late-night circuit. Until former actor Ronald Reagan moved into the Oval Office, it was unheard of for the president to debase his political capital by visiting the same talk shows that trade in celebrities and animal segments. These days, it’s a required a stop on the campaign trail and an extension of the State of the Union address (minus the drinking games).
