VIDEO: David Letterman Makes His Feelings On Jay Leno Clear, Again
Jan. 15 2010, Published 1:08 p.m. ET
David Letterman proved old grudges die hard with a series of stinging comments and observations aimed at Jay Leno on The Late Show Thursday, as he slammed the NBC host for craving attention, playing dirty and creating a phony “nice guy” image.
Letterman joked Leno needs to be the center of attention, before flashing a graphic of a figure of Leno replacing the Statue of Liberty. He also pointed out that Jay is the clichéd All-American guy (think baseball and Apple pie), before comparing Leno's overtaking of The Tonight Show from Conan O'Brien to the pillaging of Native Americans for land.
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But the best bitterness from Dave came when he settled in at his desk, where he deadpanned that Leno is "a humanitarian" always getting good publicity for "stopping to fix a flat or loan someone some gas." He said that he believed Leno, a good guy, will forfeit the coveted 11:35 p.m. EST time slot back to O'Brien because "it's the right thing to do."
The battles between Leno and Letterman for Johnny Carson's chair are well-chronicled in the 1994 book, The Late Shift, and the 1996 film of the same name.