David Letterman’s already moved beyond his sex scandal — at least on the air.
At his taping today, the “Late Show” funnyman returned to yuks about Sarah Palin and swine flu without a single reference to the revelations of his sleazy office shenanigans or the failed extortion plot against him.
There were no more apologies for seducing his staffers. No more contrite promises to make things right with his jilted wife Regina Lasko. No more quips that his alleged extortionist shakedown reminded him of his in-laws.
Instead, he joked that it’s more fun to drive a jeep into a tree than read Sarah Palin’s new memoir.
It was the first taping since Letterman went public Thursday that he failed to mention the ongoing scandal.
And that’s fine with Dave’s fans.
“Americans are starting to think more like Europeans. They don’t take this sort of thing so seriously,” said audience member Pedro Gill of Brazil.
Likewise, lifelong fan Katie Teller, 27, of St. Louis, Mo., approved.
“It’s kind of cool he didn’t say anything, it’s no one’s business,” she said. “Let him be a comedian. All famous people have women on the side.”
Letterman, a recently married father of a young son, shocked his audience Thursday by admitting he had seduced his female staffers over the years and was then subject of a hare-brained extortion attempt.
It since emerged that the extortionist, “48 Hours” producer Joe Halderman, was the ex-boyfriend of Letterman’s own paramour Stephanie Birkitt, an assistant on his show.
Letterman’s guests today also avoided the elephant in the room.
Even Vince Vaughn, whose humor can run on ribald side, didn’t utter a single guffaw despite joking about his own engagement woes.
Actress Cary Mulligan didn’t bring it up.
And Roseanne Cash, a crooner who is no stranger to relationship drama, stayed mum.
In a sign that Letterman is trying to publicly put the scandal behind him he even ribbed a female audience member by saying she could “do better” than her current husband.
At yesterday’s taping, Letterman only addressed the scandal once during his monologue and once during his audience warm-up.
On Monday scandal talk dominated the entire show — the monologue and during his guest interviews.