In the wake of David Letterman and Craig Ferguson returning to late night with an agreement already in place with the Writer’s Guild, Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel are desperate for ratings, so they are going to appear on each other’s shows as guests.
This late night stuff has been so fascinating to me. First they all come back, some with deals, some without, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien have beards, then Jay Leno violates the WGA Strike by writing his own jokes and the Mike Huckabee blunder.
And now we get Leno and Kimmel guesting on each other’s shows.
The funny thing is, according to Entertainment Weekly, Kimmel hasn’t really been the biggest supporter of Leno, in fact, he has publicly stated that he prefers Letterman’s style of comedy. EW reports though that they have kind of “bonded” over the fact that both of them are without writers and trying to produce good entertainment. A foxhole mentality.
The other is that they are on opposing networks, despite being on at different times (Leno on NBC, Kimmel ABC)
In a statement released by the networks on Sunday:
Leno said, “There are only a few people in the world who know how tough this job is. Jimmy is one of them. It will be fun to discuss who’s a good guest, who’s a difficult guest and everything else that comes with sitting behind these desks.” Added Kimmel, “If Jay and I can come together and guest on each other’s shows, then surely there is hope for peace in the Middle East.”
The best part of all of this stuff has been the jokes that have come from it, mainly from the Letterman camp (because it’s all I watch). There have been some great digs on the AMPTP. In fact, watch the Youtube video below this blog for a snippet of last week’s late night entertainment from Dave.
Kimmel will be a guest on Leno on the 10th, and then Leno will be on Kimmel right after.
[youtube HHqf_o5igmg]
What a lame gimmick that will probably get undeserved ratings…I suppose when you are desperate anything one will attempt to do anything.
Since when has it taken a great writer to write opening monolouges for Late Night. People like Conan and Letterman don’t even need writers.
Letterman was interviewing his own staff… they have to do something as this strike goes on. Apprently Jon Stewart comes back tonight,will be interesting to see how they launch thier shows as well.
I also heard that Stephen Colbert returns tonight as well (which in my opinion is better and funnier and Jon Stewart).
Letterman had on good guests, but they were just doing the little “staff” interviews for fun.
I mean, one of his staffers was getting wisdom teeth out, and the doctors messed up, dropped it into her mouth and she swallowed it and then brought the x-ray of it in her lungs to the Late Show!
That’s entertainment!