Leno to address Rudolph-Adolf comparison?
The fact that ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani is visiting Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” on Wednesday isn’t that interesting – until you remember that, last April, Leno branded Giuliani a “fascist mayor” on”Tonight” and compared him to Hitler.
The ruckus started when Leno was talking to guest Judy Sheindlin (“Judge Judy”) about Giuliani’s efforts to establish a mayoral arts “decency” committee overseeing museums receiving city funding.
“Now in New York, you have this kind of fascist mayor thing going – Giuliani,” Leno said to a stunned Sheindlin, who defended Giuliani.
“He wants to have a committee to judge art to deem whether he feels art should be seen,” Leno said. “Now, [Hitler] had an art program where any art which was abstract or cubist or any of this was, oh, this was just the worst thing, and unless it’s a little house and a son and a waiting family, it wasn’t art.”
Leno was traveling over the weekend and was unavailable to comment on whether he’ll raise the “fascist” issue with Giuliani on Wednesday’s show.
‘Self’-absorbed: Jennifer garners attention
“Alias” star Jennifer Garner and her husband, “Felicity” co-star Scott Foley (Noel), were treated to dinner over the weekend by Self editor-in-chief Lucy Danziger and VP/publisher Beth Brenner. They were wined and dined at Sushi Ko – Garner/Foley’s favorite restaurant (it’s where they got engaged). Garner met Foley when she guest-starred as Noel’s girlfriend, Hannah, on “Felicity.”
Self has Garner, who’s been nominated for a Golden Globe award, on its January cover – which ABC has been featuring heavily in promos for “Alias.”
PAX, Clark get Frank with Rao’s owner
If you missed PAX’s “Mary Higgins Clark’s Pretend You Don’t See Her” (whew!), it will air again on Saturday, Feb. 23 (9 p.m).
That will give you the chance to see if you recognize the voice who’s crooning the title song – Frank “Frankie” Pellegrino, the owner of Rao’s restaurant in Harlem.
A few years ago Pellegrino – who used to perform with The Holidays – sang “Pretend You Don’t See Her” to Clark and producer Sonny Grosso. They, in turn, opted to use the song as the book (and, later, the movie’s) title and let Pellegrino sing it for the PAX movie.
Clark, movie co-star Emma Samms, Grosso and Pellegrino celebrated over the weekend at Baldoria’s in the theater district.
This just in . . .
* “Maury” notched a season-high 3.6 million households (week of Dec. 24) – a 13 percent jump over the previous week.
* New VH1 shows: “Fresh: New Music” (tonight at 9); “Driven” (tomorrow at 9 p.m.); “TV Moments: Rock Style” (tomorrow at 10 p.m.); and “Forever Wild” (Friday at 10 p.m.).
* Last Friday I wrote that “Dateline’s” interview with Wen Ho Lee was his first TV interview. What I should have said is that CBS’ “60 Minutes” snagged the first interview with Lee – in any medium – back in August ’99.