The historic victory of the New Orleans Saints at the Super Bowl was the most-watched program in television history. That translated into a lot people watching one of the most buzzed about TV ads from the broadcast: the secret gathering of Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman in a memorable 15 second spot. Click on the clip below to see what all the chatter is about now.
In 2007, late night television's now-reigning king, David Letterman, offered Super Bowl viewers a cheeky surprise with a TV spot co-starring daytime's reigning queen of chat, Oprah Winfrey. In 2010, Letterman caught Super Bowl viewers by surprise again. This time, they were greeted with the image of Letterman, Winfrey and...Jay Leno!
Letterman, who made light of his supposed feud with Winfrey with the "Super Bowl of Love" spot three years ago, secretly added Leno into the mix for a whole new variation of that ad for this year's game. The 15 second spot, which had a single airing, comically plays on the fact they are soon-to-be late night rivals again with Winfrey as the annoyed middleperson.
No camera trickery was involved to create the spot, which "Late Show with David Letterman" executive producer Rob Burnett said came about after the network offered them a slot to promote the show during the Super Bowl.
"Dave had this idea," Burnett explained to the Associated Press' Frazier Moore. 'What about getting Jay and Oprah together with me?' and he wrote it. We said, 'This is too funny to pass up.' First we called Oprah." Then Leno was approached, and he, too, signed on. That was two weeks ago."
After the recent media storm surrounding the late night war between Leno and Conan O'Brien, which also had Letterman adding to caustic televised barbs, that the entire production was kept a secret is impressive. Both Leno and Winfrey had to be to mobiliized from Los Angeles and Chicago to be in New York City for the taping.
"Security was a big priority for us," Burnett added. "We really wanted to keep this under wraps. There were a lot of internal logistical conversations about how to even get Jay and Oprah into our building secretly."
Filming for the spot was set the Tuesday before the big game at the Ed Sullivan Theatre, which is the home of "Late Show." Burnett confirmed that Leno arrived to the taping in disguise for the half-hour shoot.
"It was quick, it was easy," he said. "The attitude was professional and cordial. Dave and Jay were fine with each other."
How long that cordial tone will last remains to be seen once Leno returns to "The Tonight Show" on March 1.
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