Leno and Letterman Back in the Day

According to US magazine, David Letterman goes to the trouble to slyly snipe at Jay Leno when he talks to Oprah Winfrey about their “feud” in an installment of Oprah’s Next Chapter, set to air on January 6th.

“We were always friends before all of this happened,” Letterman tells Winfrey. “He has a way…he’s an unusual fellow. I’ve never met anyone quite like Jay.” He claims to think that Leno is the funniest guy he’s ever known, describing his nightclub act with additional superlatives such as “the smartest,” calls Leno “a wonderful observationist” and says he is “very appealing as a comic.”

Then comes the slam — when Letterman says “the fact that he is also maybe the most insecure person I have ever known… I could never reconcile that.”

So we dug up a youtube that shows the two comics in 1985 when Leno appeared on Letterman’s show. Here it is — 27 years ago.

Ironically, Letterman also had a feud with Oprah and now he’s appearing on her show, so we can probably safely assume he will one day make nice with Jay Leno.