The Letterman Scandal: Here Comes The Dirt!

David Letterman may have come out ahead of the curve by using his own show to announce details of the extortion attempt/sex scandal last Thursday, but now that the muck is starting to be raked, we're seeing a very different picture of the reclusive talk-show host emerge.

Reports of a secret "love nest" within the Ed Sullivan Theater, confirmation that Letterman is a super-stud who's been routinely working his way through female staffers on the show (all of whom, apparently, have only good things to say about him), and that he knew the blackmailer (currently free on $200,000 bail), but didn't like him, even banning him from attending show events alongside his then-girlfriend, Stephanie Birkett (the woman at the centre of the scandal). Interestingly enough, CBS is currently purging all existing online versions of Dave's Thursday-night confession. Hmmm.

I watched Friday night's show (which, because of Letterman's four-day-a-week schedule, was actually taped on Thursday) in hopes of seeing further comment, but Dave didn't mention it again. That being said, there were a few awkward moments, and he was clearly rattled, well off his game.

Meanwhile, over on "The Tonight Show," Conan's guest Drew Carey, quipped, "Man, I would hate to be on opposite Letterman tonight with all that sex stuff going on. That's got to be tough!"

Conan's terse repsonse: "No comment. So how are things going with you?"

So far, a former intern named Holly Hester has come forward and admitted that she had a year-long fling with Dave in the late 1990s, but he ended it by telling her the age difference between them was too great.

Dave's ex, comedy writer Merrill Markoe (they were together for many years in the '70s and '80s), posted a blog entry titled: "Here it is: My big comment on Mr. Letterman."

"It is this: As you can imagine this is a very emotional moment for me because Dave promised me many times that I was the only woman he would ever cheat on."

Ouch!

Anyhow, I'll definitely be tuning in tonight to see how/if Dave handles this scandal — to say nothing of the irony of guy who's cracked thousands of Bill Clinton intern jokes suddenly transforming from joker to punchline.