Lucky Leno's Fresh Material

Jay Leno booked for his fourth appearance headlining the White House Correspondent's Dinner May 1.  The WHCA asked him weeks ago when he was mired in that 10p NBC flop slot.

Anyone know how much in the aggregate NBC forked over to pimp Leno's 10p disaster?

Jay goes on Oprah next week, ostensibily to "repair" his image, but more likely to take more shots at rival David Letterman, whom Oprah dislikes intensely.  Recall Letterman's embarrassing turn at hosting the Oscars where he went on interminably about two stars in the audience:  "Uma, Oprah." 

I think what Leno's attempting to do is two-fold:  remind viewers of his good guy image, and ramp up the ratings-rich animosity with Letterman.

Even Leno's cellar-dweller ratings have shot up since the internecine battles went public and Letterman sharpened his tongue:

Leno: "Boy, remember the more innocent days of late night TV, when the only thing people cared about was what intern the host was nailing? What happened to those days?"

Letterman: "Last night on the Jay Leno 10 p.m. NBC variety show, Jay Leno said that this NBC ‘Tonight Show’ mess is not his fault ... and I said, ‘I know. I know it’s not his fault. But [isn’t it] funny that he always turns up at the scene of the crime?’"

Related: NYTimes Alessandra Stanley:  "Where's Johnny?  Good Manners Take Hiatus"  Ad Age's Brian Steinberg "Why Leno Leaving Prime Time Hurts All Broadcast TV"

Thursday night ABC's Jimmy Kimmel spiked NBC, Leno, Conan, and Jeff Zucker in a Ken Burns Civil War-like documentary - the funniest and most brilliant bit I've seen thus far:



Even Taiwan TV got into the act: