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.

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.

Being touched by the hand of Oprah is no small thing; in fact, it’s not too far removed from clutching the hem of Christ’s robe. And now, the queen of the bookstore is turning her attention to the world of stand-up comedy, in the hopes of discovering comedy’s next big as-yet-untapped sensation.

“Are you a comedian waiting to be discovered?,” her website asks. “Are you a funny person? Are you always the life of the party? Do you day dream about becoming a comedian someday? Do you feel like you are destined for the Improv stage or the comedy circuit? We want to know if you think you are America’s next big comedian.”

But it’s not just the reining monarch of daytime TV that’s on the comedy move. Thomas Gibson, president of Lapdog Entertainment, is also angling to uncover new comedic talent. In plans for a nationwide show that sounds suspiciously like it’s already been done before (wasn’t there something about a comic standing? and he or she was the last one?), Gibson announced that he and his production company would be seeking out the “funniest, undiscovered stand-up comedians to showcase each week.”

Up-and-comers, now would be the time to patch together your best material and YouTube the shit out of it.

It wasn’t really all that shocking that a guy like Jerry Seinfeld was chosen to be the first guest on the new Jay Leno Show, which premiered last night. After all, Leno has already made a huge effort to make his show more stand-up comedy focused, hiring the likes of DL Hughley and Jim Norton as special correspondents and devoting more time to stand-up comedy performances on each show.

In the clip below, Jerry brings Oprah Winfrey into the comedy fray when Jay couldn’t seem to pull it off. Cute.

Anointment from the Poprah through her monthly book club can turn civilian writers into celebrity authors overnight.

So comedian and tormented D-lister Kathy Griffin is using the power of the petition to try to persuade Her Eminence, Oprah Winfrey, to bestow the literary equivalent of a papal blessing on her forthcoming memoir: Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin, due out Sept. 8 from Random House.

Griffin hopes gathering 50,000 signatures (she has more than 33,000 already) here will impress O enough to invite Griffin on Winfrey’s show and endorse the book, according to a report.

Yo, Kathy, you may need more than public acclamation to ingratiate yourself to Oprah, though. You don’t mock the Poprah — most notably by referring to Gayle King, O’s pal and colleague, as “Oprah’s boyfriend” — without consequence. So you may want to butter her up — literally. We recommend sending the doyenne of daytime divas cases and cases of croissants and cookies.