Robert 'Joe' Halderman (right) pleaded guilty to extorting David Letterman. (AP)

A television producer has pleaded guilty to trying to shake down David Letterman over the comic’s sexual affairs.

Robert “Joe” Halderman entered his guilty plea to attempted grand larceny Tuesday in a Manhattan court. He is being sentenced to six months in jail and 1,000 hours of community service.

He was charged last fall with demanding $2 million to keep quiet about Letterman’s love life. The case spurred the late-night TV icon to tell viewers he’d had affairs with women on his staff.

Halderman’s lawyers initially said he was just offering to sell Letterman a thinly veiled screenplay about the comedian’s life.

Halderman is a producer for CBS’ “48 Hours Mystery.”

Much like rock ‘n’ roll started with the song “Rocket 88″ and reality TV began with An American Family, Saturday Night Live’s tradition of comedy rap really began with “Lazy Sunday”.

(And that opening paragraph is three arguments waiting to happen, but I digress.)

At any rate, Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell have really only performed it one time — on the second SNL Digital Short broadcast on Dec. 17, 2005.

Until, that is, Monday’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

That’s when Parnell reunited with Samberg, and with The Roots backing them up — and that’s a pretty cool thing, right there — they performed it live for the first time:

Thanks to Warming Glow for the link, and remember, Red Vines plus Mr. Pibb equals crazy delicious!

Conan O’Brien’s reported show in Phoenix on April 30 has been pulled from the schedule.

Movieline reports that Ticketmaster, which had posted the show last week with tickets to go on sale Monday, has since yanked the event from its site.

The report says a Ticketmaster representative told Movieline’s Julie Miller that they had “no record of that show”, and neither did a representative of the theater he was supposed to play, Phoenix’s Dodge Theatre.

However, a glimmer of hope in this report lies with O’Brien’s reps, one of whom say there will be an announcement this week.

As Conan O’Brien waits out his contractual agreement to stay away from TV until September, word is spreading that he’s not staying out of the spotlight: He’s taking it to the stage.

According to Ticketmaster’s Web site, O’Brien will be performing at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix on April 30.
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Sarah Palin says she’s going to play Tina Fey in an upcoming Las Vegas show.

Just kidding.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee turned into a standup comic on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” Tuesday, dropping one-liners about the White House, Congress and Fey – the “Saturday Night Live” star known for her impression of the former Alaska governor.

Palin told Leno’s audience she planned to speak at a gun-rights convention: “Be there or else,” she warned them.

She said Alaska is different from California. In Los Angeles, “when people have a frozen look on their face, I find out it’s Botox.” Read the full story

Opinions about Jay Leno’s first night back at The Tonight Show are all over the Internet — it’s a very easy opinion to hunt down.

However, few could make as informed, well thought out and also pointed a opinion about Leno as Howard Stern. Stern — whose opinion of Leno is well-known (if you don’t know by now, he despises Leno, and told Conan O’Brien before Conan left for The Tonight Show that there was no way Leno would let him keep that show) — lights into Leno during this segment of CBS’ The Early Show with Harry Smith:

Thanks for the link, Gather!

Jay Leno will sit down at his old seat on “The Tonight Show” Monday.

Flashback: Jay Leno Says Good Night to 10 P.M.

The 59-year-old talk-show veteran will return the program nine months after leaving it. Contrary to earlier reports, Leno’s longtime band leader Kevin Eubanks will be returning to the show, as well, although perhaps in a smaller role. Leno will launch his return to late-night TV with several high-profile interviews over the next two weeks, including Olympic champs Shaun White, Apolo Ohno and Lindsey Vonn; former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, “American Idol” creator Simon Cowell, “Idol” star Adam Lambert, Matthew McConaughey, “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart and the cast of “Jersey Shore.”

See Exclusive Photos of Jay Leno
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Dumped by NBC, former Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien has found a new platform for himself — Twitter.

With a single tweet, O’Brien joined the microblogging service on Wednesday night, and already has created a stir.

The red-haired comic wrote, “Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to commercial. Somebody help me.”

According to CNET blogger Chris Matyszczyk on his blog Technically Incorrect, O’Brien has already passed Jay Leno, his Tonight Show predecessor/successor, in number of followers. O’Brien has eclipsed 240,000 followers as of 9 a.m. today, while Leno has barely broken 30,000.

Clearly, Jay Leno’s going for the ratings right away when he returns to The Tonight Show on March 1.

On his second night back, Leno will have Sarah Palin pay a visit, along with Shaun White, the two-time Olympic gold-medalist snowboarder, according to Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer.

Leno’s second stint opens Monday with actor/singer/comic Jamie Foxx, Olympic skiing gold-medalist Lindsay Vonn and country star Brad Paisley.

But getting the one-time VP candidate shows how quickly Leno wants to get back into the ratings ring.
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When Jay Leno returns to the air in March as the once and future host of The Tonight Show, his bandleader won’t be coming with him.

Kevin Eubanks, the show’s bandleader since 1994, has decided he “wants a change” and won’t be joining Leno when The Tonight Show returns March 1, Los Angeles radio station K-EARTH 101 reported.

Eubanks, who joined the band in 1992 after releasing several albums on his own as a jazz guitarist, says he wants to pursue other opportunities, according to Extra.
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