Former Letterman writer Nell Scovell was a guest on the Joy Behar Show last night.  She was on to talk about the hostile environment that she encountered back in the late 80’s, while she was writing for the talk show host.

Things got so bad during her 5 month tenure on Late Night with David Letterman that she left because of what she characterized as a “hostile, sexually charged atmosphere.”    Scovell gave a blistering first-hand account in Vanity Fair under the header Letterman and Me.

Check out more photos and her video interview below.

Garry Shandling was a guest on The Late Show Monday night, October 12.  The comedian told David Letterman that he had flown the swine-friendly skies on his way from L.A. to N.Y.  He reported that a passenger seated in 1A was hacking and blowing his nose throughout the entire flight.  Apparently the guy was honking so loudly that others seated nearby were fearful he might attract a flock of Canadian geese.

What struck most people about his appearance last night was the fact that Shandling’s face shows strong evidence of plastic surgery.  We decided to do a comparison between a current photo and one taken in 2001.  The difference is compelling evidence that the guy has definitely had some work done on his mug.

We tend to agree that Shandling has a permanent stuck-in-a-wind-tunnel look after trading in his deep set lines somewhere along the way.  Does he wear lipstick or could those lips be tattooed?  We can’t swear that he has gone under the knife, but he certainly appears to be a fan of botox.  What do you think?

View our gallery of the Worst Plastic Surgery Disasters and check out Celebrity Implants Gone Wrong.

View more photos and video below.

Photos:  WENN

Despite what David Letterman told his viewing audience last Thursday night, rumors are circulating that suggest the affair between former intern Stephanie Birkitt and the talk show host was still very much ON just a few months ago and may have sparked the extortion attempt.

We know that Birkitt left her Girl Friday duties with Letterman to further her education in 2005 and subsequently moved in with Robert Joe Halderman.  She passed the Connecticut bar exam in February 2009 and has since reestablished herself at The Late Show as Dave’s attorney.  See more Birkitt pics and video here.

Letterman and Birkitt both live in Connecticut.  Reports indicate that he drove her home on an evening in August and the two shared a romantic kiss at the end of Halderman’s driveway, where she was living at the time.  That interlude, witnessed by partner Joe, is reportedly the catalyst that sent him down the extortion path.

Birkitt has since been placed on paid administrative leave following the grand jury testimony of Letterman and his on-air confession.

So where does that leave things between Letterman and his wife Regina Lasko?  We got a pretty good clue when Dave made a public apology to her earlier this week.  After his flip admission last week, this particular on-air statement, though an afterthought, seemed sincere.  We find it interesting that it came after a particularly “rocky weekend” at home….Dave’s words, not ours.

Some of that angst and ire was probably because Birkitt had accompanied the Letterman family on several vacation jaunts, including a Caribbean getaway to St. Barts.  She had also been a guest at their Montana ranch on multiple occasions, and would often set off alone with her boss to hike the property.

Another former intern Holly Hester, now 40, has acknowledged a year long affair with Letterman in the 90’s.  She admits that she was “madly in love” at the time.  She is now a California-based writer and producer for television.

Other than the reported fallout at home, Letterman appears to be enjoying a significant ratings bump.  It should be interesting to see if this just fades away or goes in some other direction.  Stay tuned…

View more photos below.  Check out Regina Lasko photos here.

David Letterman publicly apologized to his wife, Regina Lasko, and to his staff, during his monologue Monday, October 5th, 2009.

Opening the show with a bit of humor, Letterman asked, “Did your weekend just fly by?  I’ll be honest with you, right now I’d give anything to be hiking the Appalachian Trail.”

The joking took on a more serious tone when talking about the chill in the air.  “It’s fall here in New York City, and I just spent the whole weekend raking my hate mail,” he said. “It’s chilly outside my house. It’s chilly inside my house.”

Letterman said his wife was “horribly hurt” by his behavior.  “If you hurt a person and it’s your responsibility, you try to fix it” he said.

“At that point, there’s only two things that can happen. Either you make some progress and get it fixed, or you’re going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed.  So let me tell you folk, I got my work cut out for me.”

Letterman also apologized to his female colleagues, who have had to field “nasty” questions after his admission to having sex with some of them.

“I’m terribly sorry I put the staff in that position,” he said.  “Inadvertently, I just wasn’t thinking ahead, and, moreover, the staff here has been wonderfully supportive to me, not just through this furor, but through all the years that we’ve been on television and especially all the years here at CBS, so, again, my thanks to the staff for, once again, putting up with something stupid I’ve gotten myself involved in.”

The Late Show host also insisted the affairs were in the past, and that he felt he did the right thing by breaking the news about the alleged extortion plot.

“Through all the attention the embarrassment and heartbreak, I still feel I did the right thing,” he said.

“48 Hours” producer, Robert (Joe) Halderman was arrested for allegedly blackmailing Letterman for $2 million.

Halderman used diary entries from his former live-in-girlfriend, Stephanie Birkitt — a Worldwide Pants staff member, to allegedly blackmail Letterman, although he denies the charges.

View David Letterman’s apology video below:

We reported last night that David Letterman was the victim of a $2 million extortion plot and we have now discovered that according to New York public records, Stephanie Birkitt, 34, a former intern on The Late Show, lived with the accused extortionist Robert Joe Halderman, a CBS 48 Hours producer, and may have unwittingly fed him the information through the pages of her diary, photos and personal correspondence.

The 51-year-old Emmy award winning producer (view photo) was reportedly strapped for cash because of $6,000 monthly child and spousal support payments.  Father of an 18-year-old and an 11-year-old children, he divorced his wife Patty Montet in 2004.   He was arraignment on Friday afternoon on a charge of attempted grand larceny in the first degree, punishable by up to 5 to 15 years in prison.  He entered a plea of not guilty and bail was set at $200,000.

View David Letterman’s video here.

According to reports, a copy of Birkitt’s private diary was passed to an undercover agent by Joe Halderman prior to his arrest in Manhattan.  It provided details of office affairs and other specifics that could potentially damage the career of Letterman.  According to TMZ, Birkitt is one of the women who engaged in an affair with her boss, but ended it in 2003, prior to the birth of Letterman’s son.  New reports suggest the affair was still going on in August 2009 – see details here.

Born in Plymouth, New Hampshire, Birkitt graduated from Wake Forest University in 1997 with a major in history and a minor in communications.  Her younger brother Johnny is a field producer on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars.

Birkitt began working as a page for CBS New, 48 Hours, and The Late Show while still in college in 1996. She spent a short time as an associate producer on segments for correspondent Erin Moriarty but soon decided that she wasn’t a news hound.  That was when Letterman hired her as a personal assistant.  She was initially brought on to handle his charities and his Indy car racing team but her duties expanded over time.

Birkitt’s role eventually gained her some on-air time, including reporting on the Winter Olympics in 2002 and 2006.  She appeared in various stunts and comedy skits over the years and handed out prizes for segments of Stump the Band, Audience Show and Tell, and Know Your Current Events.  Dave often called her ‘Vicki’ on stage and apparently in a standing joke, she called him “Mr Carney’ – see video below.

Birkett went on to the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City beginning in 2005 and passed the Connecticut bar exam in February 2009.

Another former girlfriend Holly Hester has come forward.  The 1990’s intern for Letterman when he was with NBC, claims they carried on a one year affair and spent a good deal of time in his secret bedroom above the Manhattan studio set that Dave referred to as “the bunker”.  She said of the affair, “I was madly in love with him at the time.  I would have married him.  He was hilarious.”

Letterman married his long-time girlfriend Regina Lasko in March 2009.   They have a son Harry.   View family photos here.

View more photos below – click to expand.  We’ve also included video of ‘Vicki’ and ‘Mr Carney’ – 3:10 on the slider.

Robert Joe Halderman, a producer of CBS’s “48 Hours,” was arrested Thursday for an alleged extortion plot to expose David Letterman’s multiple affairs with women on his staff. (View photo of Halderman below)

The scandal was revealed Thursday night, when Letterman told his studio audience he was being blackmailed for $2 million by someone who threatened to expose his sexual relationships with female employees.

The Late Show host contacted the Manhattan District Attorney’s Special Prosecution Bureau, and was told to cut a phony check to the alleged extortionist.

According to to sources, Halderman, 51, lived with one of the women Letterman was involved with.  Halderman needed money, and decided to target the talk show host.

The affair happened before Letterman’s son was born, although he was living with longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko, whom he married in March. (View photos)

The woman still works for the show, but is no longer involved with Letterman.

Letterman testified this morning at a Grand Jury hearing, and was asked if he had ever slept with a member of his staff.

“My response to that is, yes I have,” Letterman told his studio audience.

“Would it be embarrassing if it were made public?  Perhaps it would,” said Letterman.  “I feel like I need to protect these people.  I need to certainly protect my family.”

Halderman, 51, was arrested for attempted grand larceny in the first degree, and has been suspended from “48 Hours” pending the results of the investigation.

Robert Joe Alderman photo and video of David Letterman October 1, 2009, apology video  below:

Madonna was a guest of David Letterman on the CBS Late Show Wednesday night.  She made quite an entrance on the shoulders of the NY Rangers.  She talked about her new greatest hits album Celebration and Dave managed to turn the conversation to her fling with Alex Rodriguez.

The Material Girl also touched on the breakup of her marriage to Guy Ritchie and the fact that the eight-year union had the couple living across the pond.  Madonna offered by way of explanation, “It was the Bush years…a good time to be out of America.”  She had this to say about her chances of marrying again, “I think I’d rather get run over by a train.”

Dave’s staff had done their homework and discovered that Madonna had never eaten pizza before, ‘a cheese thing’, so they made a quick trip next door to a pizzeria where their pre-ordered slices were waiting.  Madge made a show of taking a bite of her olive adorned pie that was cheese barren.

Check out more photos and the video below.

Photos courtesy CBS/WENN.

President Barack Obama was a guest of David Letterman Monday night, the first sitting president to appear on his show.  The discussion was lively and showcased the fact that amid all of the background noise surrounding the White House, the Commander in Chief has managed to keep his sense of humor.

When Letterman asked Obama about former president Jimmy Carter’s assertion that racism is behind recent political attacks, Obama responded, “It’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election.”

The discussion took on a serious tone with the tough subjects of war and health care.  Obama said the country gets “riled up” with big change.  He said, “People are just frustrated and angry right now because they have gotten a raw deal.”

The Letterman crowd was on its best behavior, giving the president a standing ovation at the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway.  The band even managed a drum heavy Hail to The Chief.

After the early taping, Obama reportedly put on his gym clothes and a baseball cap and played some basketball with his aides at a church across the street from his Midtown Manhattan hotel.

On a side note, Obama had a fan at the 2009 Emmy Awards on Sunday night.  Soap star Victoria Rowell was sporting a dress festooned with large oval photos of the president.  Unfortunately it may have earned her the Worst Dress of the night honors – check it out here.

View more photos of Obama’s security detail and the Obama Letterman video below.

Photos:  WENN

Artie Lange, 41 was a guest on Late Night with David Letterman the other night and talked about his new HOT 25-year-old girlfriend Adrianne.  The co-host of The Howard Stern Show reportedly met her in a New Jersey tanning salon.

Lange complained to Letterman that his new lady love is the outdoor type, and struggles to get him motivated to join her in physical pursuits.  That got a big laugh but actually the couple have been spending many hours on the water while jet skiing.  Artie, who has dropped 50 pounds since last year, reports that he can burn 500+ calories an hour while riding the watercraft.

Lange hit a snag with law enforcement officials on July 10 when he was involved in a New Jersey fender bender that resulted in a charge of DUI.  He reported to listeners on The Howard Stern Show that the only drug in his system at the time was the antidepressant Lexapro.

View another photo of the couple and video footage where Lange talks about his new love.

Photos:  HRC/WENN

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Britney Spears made an appearance last night on The Late Show with David Letterman.  Spears delivered the top 10 reasons the world would be different if she were President.

Looking hot in a black bikini and sporting a flower in her hair, Britney glowed as she read the list.  She posed seductively and appeared to be having a great time.  She has been photographed several times this week in bikini mode – see photos here.

Spears last appeared on Dave’s show in 2006.  We have her prerecorded segment below.  We think that her #1 reason is a classic.

Photo:  WENN

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