Jay Leno wonders why his battle with David Letterman has gotten so nasty

<br>NEW YORK (AP) _ Jay Leno says he doesn't understand why things are so ``nasty'' between him and David Letterman. <br><br>The host of ``The Tonight Show'' complained in an interview

Friday, April 5th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Jay Leno says he doesn't understand why things are so ``nasty'' between him and David Letterman.

The host of ``The Tonight Show'' complained in an interview that while he's had nice things to say about Letterman's ``Late Show,'' he never hears anything similar in return.

``I don't know why it gets so nasty,'' Leno, whom NBC chose over Letterman for ``Tonight'' when Johnny Carson retired in 1992, told TV Guide magazine.

``I mean, I am very grateful to Dave,'' Leno said. ``He did a lot for me when I first started out. Two guys went up for a job, and one guy got it. ... It wasn't my decision. ... You'd think after all this time it would be, 'Oh, well, he's successful, I'm successful, everybody is rich beyond their wildest dreams.' I don't know why there has to be such animosity. It just seems odd to me.''

Letterman has derisively mimicked Leno on the air and it's clear NBC's decade-old selection still rankles; he joked about it last month when he chose to stay with NBC instead of moving to ABC.

In his comments, Leno wasn't referring to anything said on the air. It was about private comments he's heard through the entertainment community, said an executive close to the NBC star who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Letterman, who turns 55 next week, hasn't given press interviews in years. He reportedly has said that he's never seen Leno as host of ``The Tonight Show.''

Rob Burnett, Letterman's executive producer, said the ``Late Show'' camp would be more inclined to praise Leno ``if we didn't hear from people that privately he bad-mouths us at every turn.''

Leno, 51, had no further comment on Friday. In the TV Guide article, he denied saying anything derogatory about Letterman.

Letterman beat Leno in the ratings the first two years they were matched head-to-head, but Leno took the lead in 1995 and hasn't relinquished it _ even as Letterman won Emmy Awards and was the subject of a bidding war between CBS and ABC.

Leno said that he doesn't necessarily consider himself the better broadcaster, but that ``I'll take ambition over genius any day of the week.''

He said it didn't bother him to make less money than Letterman. Leno's salary is a reported $17 million a year; Letterman's is $31.5 million.

``I take a certain perverse pleasure in doing more shows per year, for probably half of the money Dave makes, and the show is more profitable, and I get along with the people I work with, and I'm very happy,'' he said.

CBS disputes the contention that ``Tonight'' is more profitable than Letterman's show.