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The Buzz
2/8/2010
If you're way more obsessed with show business than the average person should be, then you have to agree that the best Super Bowl commercial, HANDS DOWN, was the one featuring DAVID LETTERMAN, OPRAH WINFREY and . . . JAY LENO.
--It was a commercial for Letterman's "Late Show" . . . so it was pretty mind-blowing that Dave would ask Jay to do it . . . and that Jay would agree.
(--Although maybe it's not THAT surprising that Jay would agree. He's got a lot of image rehab to do. He probably thought this would help. Also, he's about to go head-to-head with Letterman in late-night again. This helps get the word out.)
(--If you haven't seen the ad, check it out here . . .)
--Letterman's producer, ROB BURNETT, talked with "Entertainment Weekly" about how the ad came together, and it's pretty interesting.
--He said that Dave came up with the initial idea. They pitched it to Oprah first, and she liked it. Then they went to network boss Les Moonves, who also, quote, "got it immediately."
--When they pitched the idea to Jay, his reaction was, quote, "This is the way show business should be." Then Leno's producer cleared it with the bosses at NBC, and everything was a go.
(--Yeah, it seems crazy that NBC would go for it. But again, they probably thought it would help restore Leno's image.)
--The next hurdle was keeping it a surprise. Here's how they did that: Last Tuesday, NBC flew Jay into New Jersey on their corporate jet.
--The spot was filmed at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, where Dave does the "Late Show". They had to sneak Jay through the door IN DISGUISE. He wore a hoodie, dark sunglasses and a mustache. (--Oprah was NOT in disguise when she arrived.)
--The Big Question is . . . how did Jay and Dave get along??? There were no hugs, but things were strangely okay.
--Burnett says, quote, "It was great, very professional, very cordial. We shot it in 25 minutes, and it went really, really well. It felt like one of those things where you wake up and say, 'I had the strangest dream.'
--"There was no frostiness. We were focused on trying to execute the joke. It would have been a more taxing event had it been us all going out to dinner. If anything was awkward, it was how it wasn't awkward."
--One last note: If you're wondering what possessed David Letterman to go through with the idea . . . well, it was all in the name of comedy.
--Burnett says, quote, "There was a lot of internal conversation about whether this was a good thing to be doing from a PR standpoint. Are we rehabilitating Jay's image? Dave has a simple edict: If it's funny, we do it."
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