Night Moves

"We're an alternative," says PI's Maher. "[Leno and Letterman]basically run comedy-variety shows; there's less and less actual conversation there. Hell, Jay tries to insert comedy bits in the middle of his interviews. There's a lot more meat on our bone, stuff for people to think about." Maher likes his niche and doesn't pay much heed to the ratings. "Jay calls me and tells me when we do well: 'Hey, you did big numbers! Y'know why? Ya had Dana Carvey on! I gotta book him again soon!' I'm not obsessed with the numbers the way Leno is."

Indeed, sometimes the numbers and common wisdom don't tell the whole story. For instance, I've been noticing something about Leno, night in, night out: When there's a legit political story in the news, his monologues become pointed and amusingly critical — he drops the gotta-please-everybody attitude and regains his old nightclub snap. And Letterman is on his own creative upswing. His taped segments gleam with fresh zing; his Manny the Hippie post-jail interview was a stitch. Just as Leno's symbolic turning of the tide occurred when he landed a hooker-bemused Hugh Grant on his July 10, 1995, show, Dave's therapeutic June 6, 1997, session with a scattered Farrah Fawcett made him the talk of America again. Hey, maybe if Tom Snyder got Angie Dickinson to blow a gasket on The Late Late Show...