Leno butt of Letterman jokes

“Late Show” host David Letterman, whose frequent comic targets include Oprah Winfrey, former President Clinton and Martha Stewart, has been taking more verbal potshots at Jay Leno since his NBC rival announced last week that he plans to retire from “The Tonight Show” in 2009.

In recent installments of his CBS late-night show, Letterman has referred to Leno as “a lame duck” and has praised NBC’s “Late Night” host Conan O’Brien, who will replace Leno, for “booting” Leno out of the “Tonight Show” chair. Letterman has also joked that he might get an invite from O’Brien to guest on “The Tonight Show.”

The comments appear to be a revival of the feud that erupted between the two in 1992 when NBC was grappling with who should succeed Johnny Carson as the host of “The Tonight Show,” and the choice between Leno and Letterman became an awkward public competition. Leno got the nod, and Letterman left NBC to compete against him on CBS.

One CBS executive said of Letterman’s recent comments that the host was merely commenting on a topical event and that there was no bitterness intended.

The executive also pointed out that Letterman often makes fun of himself in his “Tonight Show” references, noting, for example, that he was passed over again for the job.

NBC had no comment on the Letterman barbs, though one network official said that suggestions that Leno was being pushed out were “ridiculous and ludicrous.”

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Greg Braxton