Posted in: CBS, NBC, Netflix, TV | Tagged: david letterman, jay leno, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction

Would David Letterman Have Jay Leno as a Guest on His Netflix Show?

David Letterman discussed the possibility of having late-night rival Jay Leno as a guest on Netflix's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction."

As one-time bitter late-night rivals, David Letterman and Jay Leno have had a complicated relationship, to say the least. From becoming a guest on Letterman's Late Night NBC show during his earlier stand-up years, leapfrogging him for Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, to their Tonight Show-Late Show feud from 1993-2014, the two have every bit the reason NOT to ever deal with each other, but comedy has some strange bedfellows. First, with both retiring from their respective NBC and CBS shows, late night has changed dramatically in the Donald Trump era, with Letterman's successor, Stephen Colbert, ending his Late Show run this month thanks to his firing from CBS, and the uncertain future with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! as the host and network's ongoing battle with the FCC, even Leno's SECOND successor Jimmy Fallon with The Tonight Show might not be as safe as imagined. Letterman, who's been far more vocal with Colbert's exit, called his former bosses "lying weasels" under the David Ellison-led Paramount Skydance, spoke with The New York Times about inviting his former rival to his current Netflix talk show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.

David Letterman Addresses Whether He'll Invite Jay Leno to His Talk Series 'My Next Guest Needs No Introduction'

There's a lot of history between Leno and Letterman that goes beyond Leno's power play to host The Tonight Show with Leno retiring initially in 2009 in favor of then Late Night host and Letterman successor, Conan O'Brien, to take over TTS, but the stint was short-lived as NBC didn't like O'Brien's rating before ultimately buying out his contract, and Leno took over again in 2010. During the executive Jeff Zucker-led disastrous attempt at shuffling Leno and O'Brien, O'Brien doubled down on not wanting to move his Tonight Show to midnight, with NBC blowing up Leno's prime time 10 p.m. show. The loudest to regularly roast NBC and Leno in the process were O'Brien, Letterman, and Kimmel.

In an attempt to scramble for PR and save face, NBC, for whatever reason, allowed Leno to appear with Kimmel to essentially say what everyone else's minds who wasn't Zucker or Leno. Letterman regularly used his Leno impression on The Late Show daily alongside Kimmel's swipes. As far as Leno's deal with Letterman, the NBC host arrived at the Ed Sullivan Theater to secretly film alongside Letterman and Oprah Winfrey to let Letterman roast him for a CBS Super Bowl ad, doing his impression in front of him. When it came to respective retirements with Leno's in 2014 and Letterman's in 2015, neither appeared on each other's show for any sendoff. As far as if Letterman sees himself inviting his former rival to his current Netflix talk series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, "We think about it from time to time," he said. "This is not a bad idea. In answer to your question, of course, I would love to. I'm sorry, did I say 'love'? Of course, I can imagine having Jay." Letterman complimented Leno's reputation in stand-up, "When I was a kid, he was the funniest man in comedy. So, just based on that alone, why wouldn't you?" Leno currently serves as host of his automotive-centric talk series, Jay Leno's Garage. For more, including on Letterman's career, you can check out the entire interview.

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