Jay Leno might just be ready to park the past and ride into a reunion with David Letterman—awkward silences and all. The legendary late-night host recently opened up about the idea of reuniting with his longtime rival-turned-cultural-footnote during an appearance on In Depth with Graham Bensinger.
And spoiler alert, he’s not opposed.
“Oh, yeah. I would like to do that. I think I have no problem with it,” Leno said when asked if he’d be game for a sit-down with Letterman. “I think Dave might be awkward.”
Leno’s not throwing shade—he’s just calling it like he sees it.
“He’s a quirky guy,” Leno added, before quickly clarifying, “I don’t mean that in a bad way.” Jay even admitted he’s no stranger to quirks himself, “But opposite sides of the coin.”
In true Leno fashion, he rolled out a story to back it up—this one featuring motorcycles, a surprise visit, and a whole lot of orange juice tension. He recalled the time he and fellow comic Wil Shriner decided to pop in on Letterman at his Malibu home.
It didn’t go quite as planned.
“‘We’ll just surprise him at his house.’ It was the most awkward. Dave’s like, ‘Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, come on in.’ And we’re like, ‘Oh, this is a mistake,’” Leno shared.
“It was just so awkward,” he continued. “‘So, uh, you want a glass of orange juice?’ ‘No, I’m OK. Yeah. We gotta get going.’” Jay chalked it up to their different interests, noting, “You really, you have nothing else in common other than comedy really. Dave’s a sports guy. I’m not a sports guy…”
Still, despite their differences—and, let’s be honest, a few late-night scars—Leno insists he’s down if the stars, and schedules, align.
“But I mean, believe me, if they want to do something, I would do it,” he said. “But I’m not gonna… I tend to get my hand bitten when I instigate those kind of things.”
Their famously complicated relationship dates back to the early ‘90s when Leno was chosen over Letterman to succeed Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, a twist that inspired the 1996 HBO film The Late Shift.
More than three decades later, it looks like Leno might be ready for a sequel—preferably one with fewer awkward house calls and no surprise juice offers.
