Letterman's Late Night Rivals Take Hits at Extortion Scandal

David Letterman has spent years ridiculing the sordid details of celebrities' personal lives, but the tables were turned Friday as other late-night hosts seized on his admission that he had sex with employees.
Letterman's longtime rival, Jay Leno, was the first to take a swing at Letterman, who said Thursday he was the target of an extortion plot over the affairs.

David Letterman admits affairs, claims extortion

"If you came here tonight for sex with a talk-show host, you've got the wrong studio," Leno said on Friday's The Jay Leno Show. "First Conan hit his head and then someone tries to extort money from Letterman? I am so glad I'm out of late night.""I'm happy to say I've never had a sexual relationship with any of my staff members," Leno concluded as Primetime band drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith jokingly stormed off the stage.On Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher joked about his own sexual escapades. "I've never had sex with members of my staff — the guests, yes, of course, but not the staff." Later in the program, Maher added: "Hey, next to Roman Polanski and Mackenzie Phillips' dad, I think Dave looks pretty good."

Letterman suspect pleads not guilty

Letterman's new 11:35 p.m. sparring partner, Conan O'Brien, made no mention of the news during his monologue. Drew Carey was the only guest to bring it up."Man, I would hate to be opposite Letterman tonight with all that sex stuff going on. That's got to be tough," Carey laughed. A visibly uncomfortable O'Brien side-stepped the issue with a terse, "No comment."Letterman's scandal gave his show a 22 percent ratings bump over O'Brien Thursday.Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's host was the last to throw his two cents in. "There's a new book out called Why Women Have Sex that has a list of the 237 reasons why women have sex, and Letterman knows the top ten," according to EW.