Remember the Super Bowl ad where Oprah, Letterman and Leno are on the couch?
Letterman grouces, “This is the worst Super Bowl party ever.” and then Oprah says, “Now, Dave, be nice,” only to have Leno chime in, “Oh, he’s just saying that ‘cause I’m here,” the NBC host says.
Apparently, it was a top secret mission.
To pull off the surprise Super Bowl spot he did with rival David Letterman, Jay Leno flew secretly to New York on the NBC jet last Tuesday and managed to sneak into the Ed Sullivan Theater undetected wearing a hoodie, sunglasses and a fake mustache.
Rob Burnett, executive producer of the “Late Show,” said keeping Leno’s participation under wraps was the key to preserving the effect of the 15-second promo, which featured the two late-night comedians uncomfortably watching the Super Bowl together, with Oprah Winfrey trying to keep the peace.
“We wanted desperately to keep this a secret,” said Burnett, who said the only CBS official who knew of the plan was Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. “Most of the staff didn’t know. We just knew we had to keep the circle extraordinarily tight.”
How David Letterman, Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey pulled off their secret Super Bowl promo for CBS' 'Late Show'