Things got awkward on Thursday's Jay Leno Show when Leno welcomed Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel participated in Leno's "10 @ 10" segment, which involves a celeb answering 10 questions via satellite.
Leno asked Kimmel to relate his best prank ever.
Kimmel said that he told a guy five years ago that he'd give him his show, and "then I took it back." (In 2004, Leno agreed to surrender The Tonight Show to O'Brien in 2009, after 17 years as host. NBC is now deciding whether Leno will resume his 11:30 p.m. slot; O'Brien recently said he would not accept NBC’s request to move his show to 12:05 a.m.)
At that point, Leno asked Kimmel. "Ever order anything off the TV?"
"You mean the way NBC ordered your show off the TV?" Kimmel replied. During a discussion on strippers, Kimmel said, "I don't like strippers because you have a phony relationship with them for money. Sort of like the way you and Conan were on The Tonight Show together passing the torch? You know what I'm saying."
He also told Leno: "Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children, all you have to take care of is cars. I mean, who have lives to lead here. You've got $800 million, for God's sakes… leave our shows alone." (Kimmel made fun of Leno on Tuesday's Jimmy Kimmel Live. Wearing an exaggerated fake chin to play Leno, he joked that he was taking over all late-night shows, including Kimmel's, and announced that ABC stands for "Always Bump Conan.")
Meanwhile, Leno and O'Brien are continuing to rip each other.
"Hi, I'm Conan O'Brien, NBC's 'Employee of the Month,'" he said in his monologue Thursday. "There's a rumor that NBC is so upset with me, they want to keep me off the air for 3 years. My response to that is, if NBC doesn't want people to see me, just leave me on NBC."
Leno fired off jokes on his show as well: "In other TV news, Sarah Palin has signed with Fox News to be a correspondent. Fox says, if she does a good job, they'll sign her to a long-term contract. And if it doesn't work out, they'll just blame Leno.
"With all the controversy going on here at NBC, actually," he continued, The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien's ratings have gone up. "So, you're welcome!"
