TVSquad

It's not a regular thing to see late night hosts appear on other late night shows. But I think it was great that The Late Show with David Letterman's Paul Shaffer was given the okay to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live to not only plug his new book but also play with the band. I can't imagine Kevin Eubanks coming over to The Late Show and doing the same.

He also talked about his love for Las Vegas and Jerry Lewis. They don't do the split screen right though. Shouldn't they be looking straight ahead instead of at each other?

[Watch clips and episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live and other shows at SlashControl.]

It's great to see people like Don Rickles still on talk shows, entertainers from a different era. Better than sitting through Madonna again or Dane Cook plugging his latest romantic com-castrophe.

Last night on The Late Show with David Letterman, Rickles talked about signing up for his 51st year as a headliner in Las Vegas. I hope they told Rickles what was going to happen in the middle of the interview so they wouldn't risk a heart attack.

[Watch episodes and clips of The Late Show and other shows at SlashControl.]

One notably close figurehead in David Letterman-gate seems to have gone overlooked, a shiny bald one.

Letterman's longtime sidekick and band leader Paul Shaffer has just released a new memoir called We'll Be Here the Rest of Our Lives about his rise to late night music infamy. He talked more than a few ears off about his own life in music, but he's kept very hush-hush on the whole Letterman brewhaha.

"You know, I just can't talk about it," Shaffer told a Time reporter in a recent interview. "There is a legal proceeding going on. I've been advised that I can't comment on that stuff."

He couldn't even tell Harry Smith on CBS' Early Show on his own network just what the mood is like around Late Show central. However, the rest of both interviews offer a very interesting peak into a life in music that has spanned just about every end of the TV dial and a very funny diversion from Smith's persistent reporter powers to get something out of him about the whole scandal. Something tells me Shaffer would have made one hell of a good press secretary.

It's always great to see Don Rickles on TV. He's rarely out of form, and he has a knack for sailing some great zingers past the censors. Which means his appearance on last night's My Life on the D-List was a perfect opportunity, a place where he could be a bit more loose.

We got a taste of that from him, walking around Kathy Griffin's house, but we also got a glimpse of the guy I have heard about from comedians who've met Rickles - the old softie who is ever willing to talk shop with other comics. It was a great moment when Griffin and Rickles talked about how both of their mothers would try to tell them not to pick on people so much, with Griffin's mom providing a bit of the dialogue. Meeting Rickles was on Griffin's mother's "bucket list."

I thought I'd use the occasion to take a look around YouTube to find some of Rickles' best TV appearances. He seems to have been everywhere, from The View to cable.

David Letterman doesn't usually have monotone robots on his show, except for the nights that he has a politician on, but last night Optimus Prime showed up to give the Top Ten list, "Top Ten Things That Sound Cool When Spoken By A Giant Robot." My favorite is number seven, because it's just so bizarre. I don't quite understand number one.

Actually, he was talking about Conan! Well, a little bit. He mentioned Conan and The Tonight Show in his monologue while Conan was starting his stint over on NBC. He talks about other things in the monologue too. I love how he calls Britain's Got Talent (where Susan Boyle performed) Who Loves Talent? Some exec get on that show right away!

(Dave also mentioned Conan in the Top Ten List.)

I would have posted this earlier today, but I couldn't read Prince's handwriting on the big sheet of paper he gave to Jay Leno last night. I thought it was just a goodbye wish, but now I see from TMZ that it was actually a dig at David Letterman.

It says "Jay is the best. Even Paul Shaffer knows it." Billy Crystal looks amused.

Jennifer Garner appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman last night, and Letterman spread ointment all over her knees and arms. OK, that won't make any sense until you see the context, but it doesn't look too sanitary to me. Garner isn't the only one hurt - Letterman sounds sick (hope it's not that dreaded...no, I won't say it).

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• The first chapter of the Burn Notice novel The Fix, by Tod Goldberg, is up at the publisher's site.
• Michael Ian Black has a new book coming out, and a really funny blog.
• Nancy Grace makes an appearance in Hancock?!
• Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra plays the full-length version of the Late Show theme.
• Rush Limbaugh vs. Bill O'Reilly.
• TV Guide has a short Q&A with former CNN newsman Aaron Brown.
• What is (or was) The Oaks?

Paul Shaffer, Late Show band leader, is writing a memoir about his show business career. The book will be out sometime in 2009.

Youngsters recognize Paul as David Letterman's band leader and occasional comic foil, but he actual started as the musical director on Saturday Night Live in the late '70s, appearing in pretty much any sketch that involved muscians, most notably Bill Murray's lounge singer bits.

Shaffer also starred in the short-lived sitcom A Year at the Top, about two musicians from Idaho who travel to Hollywood and are tempted by the devil's son to sell their souls for fame. This should not be confused with Top of the Heap, which was a Married with Children spin-off starring Matt LeBlanc. Also, don't confuse it with Top Cat, that's a Hanna Barbera cartoon.

Remember back in those heady days of the early- to mid-eighties, when David Letterman was considered to be the young, hip alternative to Johnny Carson? You remember... while Johnny was doing his 4,132nd Carnac sketch and putting on daring musical acts like Paul Anka, Dave was conducting elevator races, tossing watermelons off roofs, showing Jerry Lawler slap Andy Kaufman, and putting on bands like the Talking Heads.

Well, hold on to your bongs, Baby Boomers, and grab on to that flannel, Gen Xers: Letterman turns 60 today.

Yikes.

From time to time, we get commenters telling us that we write like we're jaded and don't like our jobs. Of course, this couldn't be further from the truth; we all feel very grateful that we get paid to watch and report on one of our favorite things to do in the world. And anyway, there are other writers out there who actually do sound bitter about having to write about TV, and that they'd rather be doing anything else but.

Take Tom Shales, the sourpuss who the long-time Washington Post TV columnist. His writing always conveys a sense that he'd rather be writing for the travel or food section, but he's been doing the TV beat so long, he's stuck. On his blog on TVWeek.com, he seems to have conjured up some sort of "feud" between David Letterman and his longtime band leader Paul Shaffer, and he uses that speculation to take a couple of cheap shots at Paul's comedic and musical abilities (Bob mentioned the post this morning in his review of TV-related blogs).

I'm reminding readers for two reasons. One, it's an important milestone for David Letterman. His guests tonight will be Bill Murray (who was on his very first NBC and CBS shows) and basketball player LeBron James. And two, The Late Show With David Letterman has been in repeats this week (and the end of last week), so some people might assume that tonight and tomorrow are repeat episodes too. But they're brand-spanking new.

The NY Daily News lists their Top 10 David Letterman moments, and they include Madonna's expletive-filled appearance, Sonny and Cher getting back together, and Oprah finally coming on the show. And if you're feeling nostalgic for his old NBC show, YouTube has some clips.

The show airs tonight on CBS at 11:35.

[via TV Tattle]

Wow, I feel really old.

David Letterman celebrates 25 years in the talk show seat (it's actually more, if you count his short-lived morning show that no one seemed to love but me) on February 1, and Bill Murray will come back to the show to help him celebrate the milestone. Murray was Letterman's first guest on the old NBC show in 1982 and his first guest on the CBS show in 1993.

The other guest on the February 1 show will be LeBron James. I'm not sure how that ties into the special day, but there you go. I'd rather see a regular, like Amy Sedaris, Steve Martin, Charles Grodin, Regis Philbin, or Tom Hanks. Hopefully they'll be some clips.

[via TV Tattle]

Well, this is...interesting.

Howard Stern continues his TV talk show tour to promote his Sirius radio show, and last week appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, but not in the same studio as Kimmel. At first it looks like Stern is sitting down in the chair next to Kimmel's desk, but you quickly realized that Stern is in New York City (Kimmel tapes in L.A.) and is sitting in front of a green screen to make it look like he's with Kimmel. You also figure out what's going on once you see Stern and Kimmel attempt to kiss and they can't quite line up their, um, tongues.

Stern also gives Kimmel a free Sirius Stiletto radio. He did the same thing on Letterman last week. I wonder if Dave and Paul feel cheap now? Video after the jump! (Note: the video also includes a 90 year-old woman having an orgasm.)