Andy Richter Accidentally Shared an Awkward Breakfast with Jay Leno

To most of us, Jay Leno is just a vaguely annoying former talk show host who occasionally makes headlines for nearly dying in fiery vintage car wrecks. But you’d probably have a lot more animosity toward Leno if you were among the staff of the short-lived The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.

Famously, Leno’s refusal to leave NBC behind and fully cede the Tonight Show reins to his red-headed successor led to one of biggest controversies in the history of late-night television. So one would imagine that Conan’s longtime sidekick, Andy Richter, likely wouldn’t be up for grabbing breakfast with his one-time TV enemy — but he ended up having to do just that.

During a recent interview with CinemaBlend, Richter was asked about his recent stint on The Masked Singer. Last week, it was revealed that Richter was the celebrity inside the Cotton Candy Dog Turd, er, Dust Bunny.

But prior to Richter’s unmasking, judge Rita Ora guessed that the pink monstrosity was, in fact, Collision Course star Jay Leno. 

Asked about the potential awkwardness of being mistaken for Leno, Richter admitted that he couldn’t really blame Ora for the guess considering the clues she’d been given. He did, however, take umbrage with the suggestion that the Dust Bunny was Mel Brooks, considering that it would be wildly irresponsible to force the 98-year-old comedy legend into a “foam rubber mountain” suit.

Another reason why the guess didn’t bother him is because, despite their “complicated history,” Richter ended his beef with Leno in the recent past, after the two ended up inadvertently dining together. “I actually sat down at the diner counter a couple of years ago and it was a busy Sunday morning at a very popular restaurant in Burbank,” Richter explained. “There was one seat left at the counter, and I sat down, and I turned to my right and there was Jay Leno eating breakfast.”

Instead of just ghosting Leno or fleeing the restaurant in a panic, Richter acted like an adult. “It was like, ‘Well, I guess we're gonna chat now.’ And it was fine, you know, I mean, all of that showbiz rivalry is like high school rivalry. Once you're past it, it’s not that important.”

This is a far cry from how Richter felt soon after the Tonight Show controversy. While filling in for Regis Philbin on Life with Regis & Kelly, Kelly Ripa straight up asked Richter: “Do you have any ill feelings toward NBC and Jay?”

“Yes! Yes, I do,” Richter responded. “Why wouldn’t I? I mean, my God, I’d be some kind of self-hater (not to).”

But that was over a decade ago, and clearly everyone has mellowed and matured since then. 

Hopefully, Leno didn’t spend the entire breakfast telling Monica Lewinsky and Judge Ito jokes.

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