Dave Letterman Mauls Jay Leno, NBC; 'Don't Blame Conan!' He Pleads

By Mike Hess Posted Jan 20th 2010 11:37AM

Just when you think David Letterman couldn't get any more fired up about his nemesis Jay Leno and the current 'Tonight'-gate debacle over at NBC, the 'Late Show' host comes out and unloads another massive anti-Jay manifesto for the world to see. On Tuesday, Dave responded to Jay's "Don't Blame Conan" statement with a heated and harsh statement of his own, calling Leno "phony" and saying that nobody in the world is blaming Conan for the current situation. Watch the Carnage Below:

It seemed like Dave would stay mum on the issue for the most part, taking a few jabs at Leno and NBC in his monologue, but it wasn't until he sat down at his desk that the real vitriol began to flow.

"Every day I wake up and I say I'm going to keep my mouth shut about this NBC 'Tonight Show' thing because, honestly folks, I don't have a dog in this fight. But here's the deal. I've known Jay Leno for 35 years ... a long, long time. We used to buddy around in the old days, and what we're seeing now is vintage Jay, and it's enjoyable for me to see this," Letterman said.

Letterman said: "I just thought I'd keep my mouth shut because Lord knows I got my own problems, but I just can't help myself. And while it's true I don't specifically have a dog in this fight, I think in some way I and Paul are responsible for the mess ... because of the big stink we created when we left NBC years ago, they said 'Oh, that'll never happen again.'" He then went on to cite how Jay should have simply gone to a different network like Letterman did, and all of this would have been avoided.

He then went on to reference Leno's Monday night statement directly.

"So last night, Jay gave his state of the network speech, and he said that we should not blame Conan for what's going on. And I said to myself, 'No one is blaming Conan.' He further elucidated that who we should actually blame is Conan's agents and managers ... and then Jay pointed out that he himself has no agent or manager. So I'm begging you, ladies and gentlemen, please don't blame Conan. I know a lot of you people think Conan pushed himself out of a job. He's not that kind of guy. He would never do that to himself," Letterman joked to roaring applause. "In the thousands and thousands of words printed about this mess, who has blamed Conan? No one! No one has blamed Conan!"

Letterman insists further that Jay is in the wrong for not jumping to a new network when he gave up the 'Tonight' throne. "It's just part of evolution. You get fired and get another gig. Don't hang around waiting for somebody to drop dead," he joked.

"Well I feel I've gone too far yet again tonight," he said as he closed out his rant.

Prior to the Leno lashing, Letterman ran a fake commercial for the new 'Tonight Show,' in which he joked that key elements of Jay's show -- "the phony handshakes, the guy with the guitar who laughs at everything, the bit he stole from Letterman's late-night show, the bit he stole from Howard Stern, the announcer he stole from Howard Stern" -- would all be included in the new 'Tonight Show. Watch it below!

Tags: conan obrien, Dave Letterman, david letterman, jay leno, tonight show

Comments

(347)

Wednesday 20 January

By Barbara

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Dumb Idea NBC had for putting Leno on at 10 anyway. I don't watch Conan but I don't understand if Jay went to 10 then he was RETIRED from the tonight show he should just stay retired! Seems like the person at NBC programming should be RETIRED!

By groundspeed

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Still a sore loser. Still a loser.

By s

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yeah conehead is worth 40 million. i can only stand them all for one half hour. the people on the street could interview people better. i wonder about lett talking about his mother so much why doesnt he go back to iowa and take care of her. he could get a woman girl there to go see.

By spiderpitzer

dave shut up who cares what you think. you are a rich but holewhy dont you get on sarah palin besides jay just take care of your illegitament son you have problems of your own shut the hell up

Thursday 21 January

By genni

I like Jay & Kevin Eubanks is a great second banana. Letterman is a self admitted Pig and should keep his trap shut. Leno is more personable, has better delivery & timing. As far as I know he's happily married to Mavis for many years and hasn't slept with every woman that has worked for him. So.....Zip it up Dave and admit you are a loser in life and in the ratings. Zip up your pants while you're at it!!!!!!

By Gary

Letterman, you overpaid liberal blowhard, I wouldn't talk about being phony. Nice try in trying to divert the attention for your marital affairs away from you and onto Jay Leno. With your fake laugh and your fake sensibility, you can go kiss my ass. You're the phoniest man in show business. Quit pretending to care about Conan O'Brien, a man who is about to get paid more than 32 million for simply leaving his job. I hope your wife dumps your sorry ass.

By bythehex

David should keep his mouth shut. He's no shining example of anything. He cheated on his wife, screwing other women at the workplace. When his own hands are perfectly clean, then he can criticize others. In the meanwhile, he needs to keep quiet. Jay Leno doesn't run NBC, so attacking Jay just reeks of sour grapes.

By KJ

Letterman is done. He should retire and go to sex rehab like Tiger. He is old and he is NOT funny. He's a sex addict and his wife should leave him and take her son. Letterman is bitter because Jay is naturally funny. Jay Leno is the best of all late night shows and Leno wins in my book. I love JAY LENO!!!

By nonya

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The only reason Jay had higher ratings is because he inherited a show form the late great Johnny, there by forcing studios to choose to do one show or the other, and in the early days they choose the sure bet. Dave has proven himself. We shall see how beats whom after this mess.

By Cassie

Why wouldn't we blame Conan? He is the one who doesn't want to work! Unless it is on his own terms!
Jay is a much "Bigger Man" in his work ethic, willing to go where ever they want to put him and keeping his show employees in a job. He realizes it isn't all about him! Although, I MUST SAY, I prefer Jay over Conan and Letterman EVERYDAY of the week! ANYTIME! ANYDAY!

By Steve

All these Dave haters on this list are wrong! Hes not jealous, hes not old, and hes much funnier than either Jay or Conan. Certainly that's a matter of personal taste. Dave is the man, NBC, Conan and Jay are posers. Late Night is the way to go! The Tonight Show is now damaged goods.

By vosovic

DONT BLAME CONAN -- HIS ego wouldnt allow him to move back his start a half hour --

his ratings are terrible -- Letterman is killing him -- so he got fired -- what's the rub???

By jazbird1

David Letterman just needs to shut up, it's none of his business. He's throwing stones when he's an ugly adulterer?

By Ann

What's with society today that people have to be rude and cruel! It's so unecessary.

By rbratton1

letterman should retire to a job like "head master" of a girls school so he can barter grades for grabs!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Arsenio

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Letter-bum is a hypocrite, phony and man with out ethics who needs to put a plug in his pie hole. Jay is laughing at inpotent dave all through this tempoary turmoil. I'll put my money on Jay 1st, even Conan the bore is funner than screwed up Dave.

By sidnelle

Letterman will always be an original. Jay is a carbon copy. Conan is more like Letterman than Jay. Conan suffered from a poor lead-in from Jay. Give him a decent lead-in and he will revive. He has been treated shabbily by NBC and Jay, promised the Tonight Show only to have it usurped by a ten o'clock show that is a virtual repeat of the old Tonight Show. Shame on NBC and shame on Jay.

By Shari

David Letterman is entitled to speak his opinion just as you and I and everyone else does. Jay Leno has wasted no time himself, insulting people throughout the years. If Jay and every other host of a television program can perceive everyone as fair game, so can David Letterman. Get over it. And if you want to speak of hypocrisy, we should all look at our own lives. It's everyone. And for the record, what Jay Leno & NBC did to Conan and his team was WRONG. I don't care how much you like Jay, he was wrong here. Conan is not to blame.

By Roy

Shari How would like it if you had built a show and had the highest ratings and was told by NBC that we are giving your show to Conan in five years because he is going to ABC or Fox if we don't promise him your show. NBC should Fire the person who made that call.

By Linda

Jeffrey Zucker must have some REALLY bad insider information on the dirty deals Obama and NBC/MSNBC have made over the past 2 years.

Who else would keep their job running these networks into the ground - and only carrying the PROPAGANDA of the Obama administration?

Zucker knows Obama's gameplan is to turn America into a Dictatorship like Cuba and Venezuela.

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