In the event you didn’t catch your daily dose of Live! with Regis and Kelly this morning, let us fill you in. Conan O’Brien’s longtime sidekick and star in his own right Andy Richter filled in for Philbin. And that anorexic sassy Ripa got Andy talking about the whole late night shake up. It’s the first time Richter has talked out about it; it’s also his first television appearance since the Tonight Show was taken away from him and Conan.

In addition to — as diplomatically as possible — voicing his anger toward NBC and Leno, Richter reveals that the rumored live Conan O’Brien tour is a “distinct possibility.” Check it out.

It’s about time Sarah Palin got judged as an entertainer, since that’s what she mostly is. Last night on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, comedian/writer/Spinal Tap God Harry Shearer gave his professional opinion of the recent set of jokes the former governor of Alaska performed on Leno’s Tonight Show.

“All I could think of when I saw that was Bill Clinton on the Arsenio Hall Show, probably the first network gig he’d ever had as a saxophone player…” said Shearer. “It’s like that paved the way for this. ”

As for the routine, “I would fire her writers. That was lame material. Watching her perform I now understand why TLC canceled the Miss America pageant.”

Check it out:

This week marked the return of Jay Leno as host of the Tonight Show, after Conan was unceremoniously pushed out of his promised spot at NBC. It also marked a rise in vocal Leno critics. On Tuesday, Howard Stern made an appearance from his studio at Sirius XM on CBS’ Early Show, wherein he expressed his hatred for Jay Leno, outlining the reasons the late night host has not been not acting like a man nor a professional.

A Day later, however, comedian Jim Norton, the man behind the third mic on Sirius XM’s Opie & Anthony Show (a long time rival of Stern), popped up on a Web-only interview on CBS news, defending Leno’s character and business decisions. Norton was a regular contributor on the Jay Leno Show. So let’s take a look at both interviews. Who makes better points? Does this resolve anything? Let us know in the comments section!

After the jump, check out Stern’s appearance on Conan from 2006, where he warns Coco about the deal he’s made with NBC to take over the Tonight Show.

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If you needed another reason to cringe at the old, new Tonight Show with Jay Leno, tonight, Gov. Sarah Palin slings some jokes, Leno monologue style. She’s certainly a natural, uh… she’s a natural guest for the Tonight Show. Check out a taste below.

On Sunday, we linked up to a New York Times piece that explained in-depth how the now famous Super Bowl ad featuring Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman came about. In short, it was a total CIA-like operation. Last night on his show, Leno gave his studio audience his own version of the story, saying that the past 18 years of animosity between the two late-night giants is all but gone. And they have the Super Bowl ad to thank for it. Leno tells the story below. Check it out.

If you watched/are watching the Super Bowl tonight, you more than likely caught the brief Late Show with David Letterman commercial featuring Oprah Winfrey and longtime adversary Jay Leno. Regardless of whose side you’re on, it’s hard not to admit the commercial was hilarious. Of course, in our opinion, it still makes Letterman look funnier and Leno, well, just kinda there.

If you missed it or just want to relive it over and over again, here it is:

Anyway, the New York Times posted a great behind-the-scenes piece breaking down, in great detail, how the commercial came about. Writer Bill Carter writes, in part:

The spot was shot last Tuesday afternoon, under the strictest of secrecy which involved both Mr. Leno and Ms. Winfrey flying in surreptitiously to New York, and arriving incognito at the theater, while Mr. Letterman was in the midst of taping his show for that night. It also involved Jay wearing a disguise: hooded sweatshirt, glasses and faux mustache. If you happened to be on Broadway between 53rd and 54th street last Tuesday about 4:15, you might have seen a man fitting that description slip into the theater by a small entrance under the marquee.

The Times piece gets even further into the process. We recommend you check out the full article here.

For all the members of Team Coco, the idea of winning tickets to see Jay Leno host the premiere episode of the show he once had, promised to Conan and then stole back from Conan, has to be little more than barf inducing. But that’s what’s happening. A few hours ago, Leno announced the contest to his studio audience. Apparently one person and a friend can snag the spots for this historic, albeit, incredibility tainted television event. Leno supporters need to go to facebook.com/jayleno and fill out some info in order to be considered to win. You also need to have removed your soul. Kidding, of course! Can’t we kid?

For the last few years, soft-spoken, guitar-wielding comedian Nick Thune has been slowly building a reputation as a respected artist in the alt-comedy scene, especially in Los Angeles, where he’s based.

But in 2009, he became part of Jay Leno’s posse of seemingly not primetime-friendly — not because of lack of talent but because of their non mainstream approach to joke writing — comedian correspondents. We get that Leno is the devil, but before the whole late night debacle of 2010, we were, admittedly praising Leno for exposing the likes of Thune, Jim Norton, Marina Franklin and more to the average television viewer. We won’t stop praising that behavior now.

So now, Thune, with the Leno exposure under his belt and his already strong comedy pedigree, is set to release his debut album on Comedy Central Records. Thick Noon comes out on Feb. 23. But you can check out a pair of tracks here. Let us know what you think. And after the jump, check out Nick’s appearance on last night’s Jay Leno Show, his final piece of screen time for the show.

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We’re not sure how many of our readers watch the Oprah Winfrey Show, even when someone like Jay Leno guests on the chat fest. So, in the event, you didn’t catch his interview yesterday with Lord Oprah, Nikki Finke over at Deadline.com has provided the entire transcript for our reading pleasure.

Most interesting, in our opinion, is a part of the discussion when Winfrey asks Leno to explain how NBC originally asked him to leave his Tonight Show spot five years ago, despite him being number one in the ratings. Check it out

WINFREY: When they came into your office, they, NBC executives, come to your office, your show is number one in nighttime and tell you that you’re going to be moving out in five years, what is your first reaction to that?

Mr. LENO: It broke my heart. It really did. I was devastated. This is the job that I always wanted and it was the only job that ever mattered in show business to me. It’s the job every comic aspires to. And it was just like, “What’s–why–what is it?” “Well, we’re getting pressure here and Conan’s people want to make this announcement and to make sure you do leave we want to announce it right now, you know, prior to the five years.” And I said, “Can we at least wait and as I said the other night on my show, couldn’t we wait until I’m number two and then say, okay, he dropped to number two, that’s the reason we’re moving you.”

WINFREY: So in your mind this happened or that move happened, because Conan wanted that spot?

Mr. LENO: Yeah.

WINFREY: And…

Mr. LENO: Well, what happened was Conan’s contract was up and ABC I think and some other networks were making overtures.
WINFREY: To Conan.

Mr. LENO: NBC didn’t want to lose him.

WINFREY: So they asked you to move out in order to make room for Conan to promise Conan “The Tonight Show” slot.

Mr. LENO: Right. Right.

WINFREY: Even though your show was number one at the time?

Mr. LENO: Mm-hmm.

WINFREY: So that broke your heart?

Mr. LENO: Yeah, it really did. I mean it was–I was devastated. I’m not a person who carries my emotions on the sleeve, but you know something? I’m happy with what I had, it was a tremendous success up to that point, I’m going to do the best I can to keep it number one for the next five years.

Interesting, to say the least. We wonder if this recollection would make any member of Team Coco see Conan as partly responsible for the current late night debacle. What do you think? In the meantime, check out some video from yesterday’s interview below.

We reported earlier that Jay Leno’s interview, on which he discusses his fight with Conan O’Brien and his eventual reclaiming of the Tonight Show, will air today at 4 pm EST. TMZ snagged some video of the interview. The clip below finds Leno claiming no responsibility for Conan leaving NBC and no remorse for taking his old job — which he, years ago, promised to vacate — back. He also says he has not spoken with Conan at all about the whole debacle. However, he’d be happy to have him as a guest on his new Tonight Show.