Leno monologue/Letterman monologue
Jay did a lengthy monologue, as has been his custom, at one point saying, “This is what I do,” referring to his three decades as a comic, implying that he was the author of the monologue. It was no more or no less funny than other such sets we’ve seen him do over the years.
We missed Dave’s opening. But we caught some of his Q & A with the audience. The Female Half says the beard’s got to go, likening it to General Lee.
We found it somewhat odd that Dave’s first guest upon returning is a comedian with a stubborn reputation for adapting/stealing/absorbing material from fellow comedians over the years?
In the run-up to this showdown, the media said that folks would choose to watch Letterman over Leno, because the former had writers, while the latter had none. We think the exact opposite will happen– viewers will tune in to see if they can detect any drop in quality in Leno’s writer-less presentation. It should be interesting to see the ratings.
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Reply to: Leno monologue/Letterman monologue
I’m a bit surprised you didn’t mention his use of striking writers for the Top Ten. They’ll get a stipend for their 2 minutes, I’m sure. Classy, IMO
Well, the early reviews are in, and sure enough, outside of NYC, Leno continued to beat Letterman and Conan continued to beat Ferguson in major markets. I’m not sure, though, that it’s for the reason you suggested. We may have watched to see what they’d do without writers. But most viewers aren’t like us. They don’t know any striking writers. They don’t even think about that when they watch Leno or Letterman. They just tune in.I ranted a little bit more about this on my new blog, The Comic’s Comic, over at < HREF="http://www.thecomicscomic.com" REL="nofollow">http://www.thecomicscomic.com<>As for having Robin Williams guest on Letterman, I think that was more of an indirect jab at Leno because Williams goes on Leno more often. Just a thought.