'War' stories

Bill Carter's new book, "The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy," is filled with eye-popping anecdotes. A sampling:

• Before Jimmy Kimmel committed to ABC, he was aggressively wooed by Fox, which offered to "groom" him by giving him a show at its Minneapolis affiliate, KMSP, Channel 9.

• There was actually a 1986 unaired pilot called "The Jay Leno Show." It featured a guest appearance by David Letterman, who is "killed" by Leno in the opening sequence.

• Conan O'Brien didn't even own a sports coat before auditioning for "Late Night." (His buddy Lisa Kudrow took him shopping.) Jon Stewart, Drew Carey and Michael McKean also tried out for the gig.

• O'Brien roomed with "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Jeff Garlin during a short stint in Chicago. At night, the two would do a fake talk show in their apartment, with O'Brien playing the role of George Takei.

• When O'Brien was working on "Saturday Night Live," he would sneak onto Letterman's set late at night and write sketches at the host's desk. At one point, O'Brien applied for a writing job on "The Late Show" and was turned down because Letterman thought he already had too many Harvard guys.

NEAL JUSTIN