For Jay Leno, Parting Is Such Sour Sorrow

Jay Leno, flanked by Ben Silverman (left) and Marc Graboff, goes after the bald truth. (By Paul Drinkwater -- Nbc)

At Monday's session, Leno was virtually unrecognizable, heavily made up as a bald, bearded reporter wearing glasses, as he lobbed questions at Silverman and Graboff.

Kimmel had sounded bitter/funny. Leno sounded bitter/bitter:

The Green Bay Packers' "Brett Favre retired and then wanted to come back. The Packers said no. What do you make of that?" Leno asked from the back of the room.

"Everyone's entitled to change their mind. But I'd imagine that puts management in an impossible situation," Silverman said, weakly.

"Is it true you've offered Leno a fifth hour on the 'Today' show?" Leno continued.

"That's a great idea, actually," Silverman said. "Would that work?"

"Nah -- it's a crappy idea," Leno shot back.

"I know you brought back 'Knight Rider' -- any chance 'Manimal' will be coming back?" Leno cracked.

When it was over, Graboff told critics Leno's appearance should be construed as "just a great show of support for NBC," adding, "We can't thank Jay enough. He's a class act."

When Kimmel did his shtick, it took the air out of the Leno controversy. When Leno did his routine, it only wound the critics up:

"That was all very much fun and nice, but what's going to happen . . . when Leno goes to ABC and kicks Conan's [heinie]?" one of them asked.

"We really believe in the decision we made with our partners, including Jay, and we'll really be standing behind them because we love the talent we have on NBC and we love the franchises that we have on NBC and we think there's opportunity for a lot of great talent to play," Silverman said, going into the cotton-candy patter for which he's famous.