The return of late night...

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"

I'm starting out with Leno, because there's the most potential for carnage there. Leno's delivering one-liners, which, hey, aren't any worse than his usual materials. I thought Jay wouldn't be allowed to write his own material, though? Jay says he can.

I think the "American Gladiators" promo planted in the corner of the screen is a better harbinger of doom than anything coming out of Leno's mouth.

The stagehand theater smacks of Letterman '88, although it lacks the absurd nihilism of classic Dave.

His best line so far is "We have to go, by ourselves, against the CBS machine. One man against the monolith." If I were Jay, I might go off on Letterman all night.

Worst line? "It's so cold, Hillary Clinton can actually see the breath of Barack Obama, breathing down her neck." Puh-duh-chu!

Seriously, I can't tell the difference, monologue-wise. That's a teensy bit sad.

The Jib-Jab 'toon was pretty weak, but that's hardly Jay's fault.

Let me quick flip over to Dave now...

"Late Show with David Letterman"

LOVE the beard. Love it. Conan has wet dreams about growing a strike beard that fierce. Dave actually seems happy to be back. That's nice. So often in the past few years, he just seems like he's phoning it in.

Isn't it a little weird that the guy with writers and the guy without writers are both doing questions from the audience?

Bill Scheft's little monologue/harangue was... um... weak. I'd rather see the flaming underpants.

Back to Leno...

He really seems to be winging the audience questions. It's decent. It's a good deal fresher than "The Tonight Show" usually manages. A little danger seems to be good for Leno's constitution.

And over to Dave...

Just in time for the ol' Top 10 List! Yay.

Demands of the striking writers.

10. Complimentary tote bag with next insulting contract offer.
9. No rollbacks in health benefits so I can treat the hypothermia I caught on the picket line.
8. [Um, I lost my place there]
7. Members of the AMPTP must explain what the hell AMPTP stands for.
6. No legal repercussions for being caught in an inappropriate relationship with a copier.
5. I'd like a date with a woman.
4. Hazard pay for breaking up fights on "The View."
3. I'm no accountant but instead of us getting 4 cents for a $20 DVD, how about we get $20 for a 4-cent DVD?
2. I don't have a joke. I just want to remind people that we're on strike and so we're not responsible for this lame list.
1. Producers must immediately remove their heads from their asses.

Oooh, and now Robin Williams is annoying the hell out of me. Instantly. Back to Leno!

Huckabee isn't quite as funny as he was before he was a frontrunner. Bill Clinton always managed that line well - witness the sax at the inauguration (even if it was never seen again). Still, Huck is pretty good, talking about living in a triple-wide trailer and making fun of his own musical abilities.

They should have given him a bass solo. That would be sweet.

I'm not running a political blog here, so I won't comment on the policy portion of the interview. Jay's questions were pretty rote, for what it's worth.

Over to Dave...

The segment with one of his writers was pretty interesting. Not particularly in a good way - it felt like filler - but it's an interesting attempt to humanize the strike.

Well, that's about it for that crew. I've got Kimmel and Conan on the DVD and I'll catch up with them in the morning - it's past my bedtime.