Tuned In

The Morning After: Another Late Night

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ellen_dave.jpgJohn Paul Filo/CBS

I caught only Jay Leno’s opening monologue last night in the midst of blogging the caucus coverage, but I have to imagine it won’t do much to appease the writers’ guild officials who say Jay is breaking strike rules by writing the monologue. (The New York Times rounds up the controversy here; see also Nikki Finke’s extensive he-said-they-said on the dispute.) His opener wasn’t exactly groundbreaking comedy–hey, didja know that Bill Clinton’s something of a horndog?–but it was admirably polished (or suspiciously so, depending on your point of view) for a second solo outing. [Update: In the interest of fairness, I see that David Letterman also went to the impeachment-joke well last night. Woo-hoo Bring on the Hugh Grant jokes!]

I have to wonder if the WGA would be more willing to look the other way on Leno’s monologue if not for the inconvenient fact that he trounced a WGA-written show on his first night back. Anyway: thoughts on the second night of late night’s return? Was Dave any sharper? Who did you caucus for last night?