Tressed for Success, Sanjaya Makes the Media Rounds

This Day in Sanjaya:

Sanjaya Malakar and His Pettable Hair, fresh off their triumphant stealing of the show at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, continued to dazzle on the talk show circuit yesterday, the Fifth Day of the Rest of His Life After "American Idol."

On "Live With Regis and Kelly" Sanjaya battled Kelly Ripa for control of the spotlight.

First, he reprised the performance of "Bésame Mucho" that "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell had declared "wasn't horrible" during Sanjaya's inexplicably long, cheesetastic run on the Fox singing competition.

Then, Kelly came out with her hair done up to sort of look like his.

"I'm trying to do my Sanjaya best," she cooed.

"It almost looks better on her than me," Sanjaya said. (Note: "almost.")

"You have the best hair in the business," Kelly said -- the only comment she uttered that did not have "I" in it.

(Mostly, a Kelly "interview" of an "American Idol" It Boy goes like this: Did the judges' words hurt you -- did your feelings ever get hurt? . . . People forget you're 17 years old and if I was 17, I would be reduced to tears. I usually am anyway, and we all know that I'm 27!)

Undaunted, Sanjaya confided to Bryant Gumbel, who was filling in for Regis Philbin, that he's now so famous he can't even walk without getting mobbed by paparazzi and fans who want to give him hugs and get his autograph. Fans like, you know, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer who, Sanjaya said, came up to him at the correspondents' dinner last weekend and said, "I'm a fan -- I vote."

Ha! Try topping that, Kelly!

"It's really weird -- I mean, I'm just Sanjaya from Seattle," said the guy who just a couple of weeks ago was welcoming Cowell to "The Universe of Sanjaya."