The rivalry between Jay Leno and David Letterman is one of the most storied in all of entertainment history. But for those who forgot (hey, Leno has since screwed over Conan, so things tend to get lost in the shuffle), here’s the speed-run: Johnny Carson was retiring from The Tonight Show, Letterman was jockeyed to take it, Leno got it instead, Letterman jumped to CBS, the two directly competed with each other for 15+ years. OK, now that we’re caught up, we have to wonder: has the dust settled? Not entirely, as it looks like the two will never make headlines by shaking hands.
Jay Leno recently appeared on In Depth with Graham Bensinger (via Deadline), where the topic of The Tonight Show and David Letterman was brought up. And while Leno said he would sit down with Letterman, he’s not convinced it will ever happen. “Oh, yeah. I would like to do that. I think I have no problem with it…I think Dave might be awkward.”
Leno did recall the time that he swung by Letterman’s house on an impromptu drop-in with a friend. “It was the most awkward. Dave’s like, ‘Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, come on in.’ And we’re like, ‘Oh, this is a mistake…It was just so awkward…‘So, uh, you want a glass of orange juice?’ ‘No, I’m OK. Yeah. We gotta get going.’ It was just so awkward…because you really, you have nothing else in common other than comedy really. Dave’s a sports guy. I’m not a sports guy…But I mean, believe me, if they want to do something, I would do it. But I’m not gonna…I tend to get my hand bitten when I instigate those kind of things.” Yeah, college football is the only difference between you and Dave…Sure, Jay.
Jay Leno and David Letterman would end up teaming up in 2010 for a Super Bowl commercial, which was reportedly Letterman’s idea. But outside of that, there’s really no reason for the two to reconcile. Likewise, Conan O’Brien – who had The Tonight Show more directly stolen from him from Leno – has no interest in ever sitting down with the host.
What do you think? Is a Leno/Letterman reunion worth it?
