00:00You make a pretty good point there, pal.
00:01Yeah, I think so, David.
00:05That's right. That's why we're here.
00:06Somebody made a point on this show.
00:08Long-time David Letterman rival and former Tonight Show host Jay Leno is speaking out about Letterman,
00:15who will be honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center October 22nd.
00:20The award celebrates the achievements of American comedic talents
00:23and has been awarded to such past honorees as Richard Pryor, Steve Martin,
00:28Whoopi Goldberg, Ellen DeGeneres, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Bill Murray, and, yes, Jay Leno.
00:35When we started out together in the early 1980s, Dave's performance skill wasn't quite there yet
00:40because he hadn't done it enough, Leno tells The Hollywood Reporter's Patrick Shanley.
00:44But he was a natural.
00:45When I first met him, I asked him, how can you be so natural up there? I'm scared to death.
00:51He said, I just do it.
00:53While Leno claims that the best days of his career were doing Late Night with David Letterman on NBC,
00:58he admits that some of their storied rivalry was serious.
01:01The idea that there was a huge rift between me and Dave?
01:04Yeah, of course there was, says Leno.
01:06I think Dave felt really sad he didn't get The Tonight Show, and our shows were very competitive.
01:11Whether it's two sports teams or two boxers, you can trash talk each other,
01:15but it doesn't mean you don't respect each other.
01:17I think there was a mutual admiration.
01:20It's not that we have a lot in common.
01:22We don't, but I think that we have a mutual admiration for each other's ability to make each other laugh.
01:27Leno says you have to be reasonably thick-skinned in the late-night business,
01:31but some of the negativity he's endured has not made him laugh.
01:35When other people go, Leno's an asshole.
01:37Well, that's not funny, I'm sorry.
01:39But Dave would always go about it in a funny way.
01:41There was no animosity there.
01:42Comics have a bond.
01:44You have more in common with your worst enemy if they're a comic than you do with your best friend,
01:48because you share something that regular people just don't get.
01:52The ex Tonight Show host says he hasn't spoken to Letterman recently.
01:55He can be a quirky character, says Leno.
01:57It's just Dave being Dave.
01:59When I see him with the beard, I smile because other people go,
02:02why does Dave have that beard? He looks creepy.
02:05That's just his sense of humor.
02:06But I'm thrilled that Dave is getting the Mark Twain Award.
02:09It's a great award.
02:10It's Mark Twain, and it gives my Mark Twain prize in 2015 credence.
02:14For more from Jay Leno on David Letterman, head to THR.com.
02:18And let us know your favorite Letterman memory in the comments.
02:21For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Neha Joy.
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