Jay Leno confirms today what had been a longstanding rumor that David Letterman's show invited him to be a guest on the first show following his departure from The Tonight Show. But Leno says, “It would look like an insult to Conan. I would never do that.” In today's interview with Late Shift author Bill Carter, Leno reveals that the deal for his new nightly 10 p.m. show came after he turned down NBC's initial offers of a weekly Sunday night show and then an 11 p.m. show on USA. Leno initially agreed to NBC's wishes for him to move aside for Conan back in 2004 because he says, “I’ve never been one of those guys, when the girl says ‘I don’t think we should see each other anymore,’ I go, ‘Why? What can I do?’ No, I’m ‘O.K., babe, I’m gone.’” He explains that the 10 p.m. show is now ripe for success now because recent NBC efforts like Lipstick Jungle and My Own Worst Enemy haven't taken off and also says, “Five years ago this wouldn’t have been a good idea, but more people — and younger people — are going to bed at 11 o’clock because they carpool or they have to get up at 6.” Carpoolers, buckle up. more ›

During the 80s golden era of Late Night With David Letterman, Chris Elliott was one of the people most responsible for the show's distinctively bizarre style. Playing characters like "The Guy Under the Seats" and "The Regulator Guy," Elliott's contributions were sometimes hilarious and sometimes baffling, but always memorable for their absolutely unadulterated weirdness. He went on to cultivate his peculiar "Chris Elliott" persona in cult classics like the TV show Get a Life and... more ›

While poking around on YouTube recently we stumbled onto this awesome clip from 1989 of David Letterman appearing on Live at Five and Live at Five simultaneously appearing on Late Night With David Letterman. In it, we see Letterman, whose studio 6A is just across the hall from WNBC's Live at Five's studio 6B, being interviewed by Jack Cafferty (and vice versa) on the occasion of a prime time anniversary show. Late Night taped its show every afternoon as Live at Five broadcast live, and Letterman on occasion popped in on Live at Five and was noted for complaining that WNBC's newscast got better guests then he did. more ›

There hasn't been much going on to mark the occassion, but The Daily News put together a Top 10 list of their favorite Letterman moments over the years. Their picks include Madonna's 1994 appearance in which she "dropped 13 F-bombs", Britney breaking the news she was pregnant with a 2nd child just last year and of course Drew Barrymore who came on the show and flashed Letterman in 1995. more ›

Randy Cohen, The Ethicist more ›

Nicole Beland, Writer/Girl Next Door more ›