NBC's Jay Leno books ABC's Jimmy Kimmel after night of mockery

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: Jimmy Kimmel, who spent the entire hour of his own ABC late-night program a night earlier mocking Jay Leno with a pointed, unflattering impersonation, accepted on Wednesday an invitation to appear on Thursday's edition of "The Jay Leno Show." : It's yet more proof that NBC's debacle at least has produced a bounty of comedic fodder. : NBC announced Kimmel will participate on Leno's prime-time program from the set of his own show. He will field questions in Leno's semi-regular "Ten @ Ten" remote Q&A segment, named for the program's erstwhile 10 p.m. start time in the Eastern and Pacific time zones. The show has aired at 9 p.m. on Chicago's WMAQ-Ch. 5, but is getting bounced in mid-February. : : With a wig, a fake chin and a bit of a lisp, Kimmel on Tuesday's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" acted like Leno, told Leno-like jokes and made the occasional snide remark in caricaturing the long-time TV comedian all night. Chicago's WLS-Ch. 7 delayed the start of the parody here until 1:06 a.m. Wednesday. (Video is available at the link below.) : "Hello, hello, my name is Jay Leno," Kimmel-as-Leno said, "and I'm taking over all the shows in late night." : It's said Leno called Kimmel on Wednesday to tell him he found the bit funny and extend the invitation to appear on his NBC show. : Leno's cancellation in prime-time and NBC's plan to move him back to his old time-slot following late local news, displacing his successor as host of "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien, has made him and NBC the butt of jokes on all late-night shows in recent days, even their own. : O'Brien released a statement earlier Tuesday saying he would not "participate in the destruction of 'The Tonight Show," noted the fake Leno, who then added, "Fortunately, though, I will." : All kidding aside, it is O'Brien's contention that to delay the start of "Tonight" would make it no longer "Tonight" and that will be a major bone of content as his lawyers and those representing NBC try to reconcile their interpretations of his contract and hammer out a resolution. : Leno referred on his program Wednesday to O'Brien's statement, calling O'Brien "understandably very upset." But he ridiculed O'Brien's complaint that "NBC had only given him seven months to make his show work" by pointing out "The Jay Leno Show" only got four before getting the ax. Leno was playing it for laughs, but he doesn't seem to be getting a whole lot of sympathy. Especially from other late-night hosts. : "Hosting 'The Tonight Show' has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me," O'Brien said on on "Tonight" Wednesday. "And I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it too." : CBS' David Letterman, who left NBC in 1993 when Leno got the "Tonight" job he wanted, on Tuesday talked up a new NBC drama to replace Leno in prime-time. The premise of "Law & Order: Leno Victims Unit" would be that: "In the television industry, there are two types of talk show hosts, Jay Leno and those victimized by Jay Leno -- these are their stories." : On Wednesday's CBS "Late Show," Letterman said he has "not been this entertained by NBC since Balloon Boy threw up on the ‘Today’ show." He said Kimmel's impersonation of Leno on ABC the night before was so convincing than NBC canceled him. : ABC, Kimmel said as Leno on the air, stood for "Always Bump Conan." : When a joke fell flat, KimmelLeno pointed out, "You know, on my show, everyone applauds after every joke." : One of his guests Tuesday on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was Chevy Chase, who first became famous through NBC's late-night "Saturday Night Live," had his own failed late-night talk show on Fox and now appears on the NBC comedy "Community." Chase came on stage wearing a Conan wig. : Lest one think there is absolutely no sense of perspective in late-night television, Letterman on Wednesday also made a pitch for viewers to help victims of the Haitian earthquake with a donations to the United Nations World Food Programme. : Information can be found online at www.wfp.org/lateshow. A WFP spokeswoman is scheduled to make her second appearance on "Late Show" next week, Letterman said.

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