14 DAY TRIAL // As soon as David Letterman announced on his talk show on CBS that he was going to retire from television in 2015, many publications rose to the occasion and provided lists of possible replacements for the aging host and, surprisingly, on many of those lists, Jay Leno landed in the top spot.
The big surprise in the fact that Leno would be considered as the best candidate for Letterman's replacement is because these two have been at odds for decades, ever since Letterman lost the part of Johnny Carson's replacement on The Tonight Show in favor of Leno.
For two decades the two had not spoken to each other and were also in direct competition, since they hosted similar shows on rival networks. They duked it out in jokes, ratings and guests. But now, that Leno has been let off the show to be replaced by Jimmy Fallon and Letterman is losing his appetite for TV work, there seems to have been a reconciliation.
So much so, that Leno is now able to make jokes about becoming Letterman's replacement in an interview with Extra. “Oh well you know, he and I gonna do the Sunshine Boys on Broadway so we’re very excited about that,” joked Leno when prompted about his old nemesis.
But soon he regained his old sharp tongue and added that “there's nothing to fill in,” indicating that he was not contemplating a collaboration with CBS.
Though these two have seemingly made up back in 2010, a fact that both Leno and Letterman confirmed separately last year, there is still animosity between these two.
The sudden announcement of David's departure from the show has sent shock waves among the talk-show community. The best response so far has come from newly appointed Tonight Show host, Jimmy Fallon.
On Friday, during his show, Fallon made a skit about the “top 10 reasons David Letterman is retiring” and while all of them were funny, one was a direct quip about Jay Leno. At number two, he listed that “Jay Leno needs a partner for next season's Amazing Race.”
Letterman announced on his Friday Late Show that he was going to retire in 2015. He told the audiences, “The man who owns this network, Leslie Moonves, he and I have had a relationship for years and years and years, and we have had this conversation in the past, and we agreed that we would work together on this circumstance and the timing of this circumstance. And I phoned him just before the program, and I said ‘Leslie, it’s been great, you’ve been great, and the network has been great, but I’m retiring.”