On last night's episode of The Jay Leno Show, forever known now as the last night before NBC renewed the late-night wars, comedian Jim Norton appeared for another edition of his special correspondent segment, "Uninvited Guest." Norton aimed to teach golfing legend Tiger Woods a little something about how to leave a proper voice mail to his improper dalliances. I enjoyed Norton's rant more before NBC shortened it and watered it down for primetime — Norton tried this riff out Monday night at the UCB Theatre's Whiplash show — but still, having him on is one of the edgier, smarter things Leno has been doing lately. Anyhow. Roll it!
Speaking of Leno, what's new with him depends upon what rumors you want to listen to and read today. One thing's for certain after reading the reports from TMZ.com and the New York Times' Bill Carter (he who wrote about the Leno/Letterman late-night wars of the 1990s), is that NBC's programming lineup will look different after the Winter Olympics. But if they move Leno out of 10 p.m. and after the news, no matter what they do with Conan, Fallon and Carson Daly (yes, he's still on, too!), don't they still need to have something on the channel from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. five nights a week? No matter how many pilots they produce this winter, no matter how many of those they like enough to put on the TV, they won't be ready to do that by March. Or am I missing something here?
In the meantime, Norton followed up his rant last night on voice mails by leaving a cruel one of his own this afternoon to address the Leno rumors.