Obviously if I had the kind of money they have in the bank I'd rather do other things than go nuts writing my own stuff, but still.

Is it possible (and I didn't watch the show, so I don't know) that he wasn't actually any funnier than usual, but we're so starved for our nightly ha-has that our lowered expectations made him seem funnier?

Scabs?

Leno cut his teeth as a stand-up comic in the 70s. While Letterman also tried his hand at stand-up, it was never really his strong suit, and he pretty quickly moved away from that arena. Broadcasting has always been his forte: he started out in radio, did a stint as a TV weatherman, and hosted/guest-hosted various variety-, talk-, and game shows.

Leno's focus has always been on stand-up. To this day, despite having all the money in the world, he still takes his act on the road when the show goes on hiatus, so it's really no surprise that his delivery has stayed sharp. As for his material, I've always thought he was much funnier as a stand-up than as a TV host. It would seem he's playing to his strengths right now.

Letterman isn't writing his own stuff. He owns his own production company and was able to strike his own deal with the writers.

Scabs?

OK, but he said on the air that he wrote it himself, thus violating his own guild rules -- why would he do that? It'd be safer for him to say he hired scabs than to admit that he is a scab himself.

Letterman isn't writing his own stuff

that's what I said. he's less funny than Leno using all his writers. it's kind of weird, because he should have been able to bury Leno.

I didn't see any of the late night shows last night, but heard that Conan used his opening monolgue time to see how long he could spin his wedding ring around.

Because Dave has his own deal in place with the Writers, he can get actors from SAG to come on his show. The other guys will have to rely on yawnfest politicians and other non-hollywood types. Being a booker for these shows must be a treat right now. The fact that of all of the hollywood talent that could go on Letterman, they got Robin Williams is more than a little sad. It would be a great coup if this were 1988.

I have never been a fan of Mr. Leno's work and have not watched the show since just after he took the show over from Johnny. I do remember seeing on Talk Soup or some other program that he had this "Dancing Judge Ito" sketch that he drove into the ground around the OJ Simpson trial.

What will be interesting to see is when Jon Stewart and Colbert come back on Monday. Stewart and Colbert work well with political interviews and I'm sure the second tier candidates will be coming on, but probably no 1st tier republican and no Hillary.

How topical were the gags? It's often the case with TV programmes that the early episodes are the funniest and then it's all downhill from there. If the gags weren't topical, then maybe he spent ages writing them and will soon run out of material as the pressure to write and perform builds.

Leno is a stand-up comic, and still performs almost every weekend, whereas Dave and Conan are not. He's very experienced with writing his own material.

OK, but he said on the air that he wrote it himself, thus violating his own guild rules -- why would he do that? It'd be safer for him to say he hired scabs than to admit that he is a scab himself.

Leno isn't a scab for writing his own stuff. Per the guild the talk show hosts are allowed to go and aren't crossing the picket line as long as they write their own stuff, although I can't remember the details of that rule.

It's possible that Leno's been putting together and weening material since going off-the-air in preparation for such a return. Letterman just recently struck a deal with writers, so their backlog of material is theoretically much smaller.

I think your funny assessment will be interesting to revisit in a few weeks.

Incidentally, the Letterman agreement with the writers seems like cheating on both sides to me. I'll admit I haven't read the details, but the pure logic in the bigger picture of the labor dispute I really don't understand.

He's probably just churning through his "A" stand-up material... he gets big money for his dates, and they can't totally suck.

It won't last long.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike Leno?

I've heard from people who've been to the Tonight Show that the material he uses to warm the audience up is a lot funnier than his monologue. Maybe that's what he's using now.

It's hard for me to even remember now that I used to look forward to Jay Leno as a guest on the late night shows. I recall him being pretty damn funny and hsarp, but that seems like a weird dream now. I just don't like the guy and not only don't I laugh at ANYTHING he does, I often cringe when he's telling jokes (or even just a story). Was there a different comedian named Jay Leno in the late 70's/early 80s that I'm mistaking the late night tv douchebag for? There has to be.

He use to be a great stand up. i can't bear him as a host; his particular brand of glad handed pandering makes me cringe so badly i fear seizures.

I saw bits of Leno, Letterman, and Conan this week. I was struck by how bad all of the shows were without the writers. (I wasn't a huge fan before.) Leno was definitely the best.