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Tonight marks David Letterman's 30th Anniversary of hosting a late night talk show. Dave hosted "Late Night" from Feb 1, 1982 to 1993 and will have hosted the "Late Show" from 1993 to Feb 1, 2012).

The show will celebrate the same way it always celebrates an anniversary - by having Bill Murray on. Or not. Bill Murray was the guest last night (1/31). Instead, tonight's guest will be Howard Stern. Must be some mix up with the mail. During the show, Regis Philbin refereed as Bill Murray kicked a field goal to the sound of bagpipes. For Letterman, that's called "Tuesday".

Dave's 30 years in late night will be celebrated without much fanfare - no special, no "best of" clip show, and no media blitz interviews. The one place it will probably be acknowledged is in tonight's show (probably the Top Ten and the monologue).

Almost all of the news stories about this event mention that, as of tonight, Letterman will be surpassing Johnny Carson who hosted "The Tonight Show" for 30 seasons. It's just another (albeit insignificant) indicator of just how unimportant "facts" and "research" are in today's media. Every news story just parrots every other news story.

In terms of number of days being a late night talk show host, Letterman has already surpassed Johnny Carson. Letterman has reached his exact 30th anniversary (minus 3 months for the transition from "Late Night" to "Late Show", the hiatus for his heart surgery, and the shingles hiatus). And while Carson hosted for 30 seasons, it was 29 years and 7 months in terms of the calendar.

In terms of number of episodes, more of the same. Carson was the host of "The Tonight Show" for 4,531 episodes. Letterman = 1,819 "Late Night" episodes + 3,614 "Late Show" episodes for a total of 5,433 episodes.

It's only in terms of total number of hours of television hosting that it becomes somewhat of a question mark. Johnny Carson's smaller number of episodes is counteracted by the fact that "The Tonight Show" ran 105 minutes per episode from 1962-1966 and 90 minutes per episode from 1967-1980. Letterman's entire run has been in the 60 and 62 minute eras. In order to come up with concrete numbers I'd have to break into the Museum of Television and Radio. As best I can calculate (rough estimates and round numbers though still putting way more effort and thought into it than is called for), it's close but, again, Letterman comes out on top. The difference being the large number of times Johnny had a guest-host (well over 600 episodes) vs. only a handful for Letterman (heart surgery hiatus, shingles hiatus).

By any measure of time, Letterman surpasses Carson tonight in no way whatsoever. It already happened. Thus ends this sports-like examination of late night comedy.

And congratulations on an unprecedented 10,957 days of late-night television hosting.

Jammin' On The One

The man, the myth, the legend, Bill Cosby was on Late Night last night. He's getting up in age, he's a little bit slower now, he's a bit more rambling. But Bill Cosby not at the top of his game, is still better than almost everyone else at the top of their's.

His walk-on music was, what I call, "Jammin' on the One" from the episode when the Cosby family met Stevie Wonder and helped him make a song using the magic of synthesizers. Awesome. Later, as they throw to commercial, the music is interstitial music from "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids".

Unfortunately, the interview is so long, the excerpt of it on hulu is not the full interview so I had to create a clip out of the full episode. So the video will expire in a few days.

A word of advice to anyone who books Bill Cosby on their show: don't bother booking any other guests. That's the show.

Blog Poster's Fire

John Parr recently remade his hit song "St. Elmo's Fire" to ride the recent Tim Tebow hub bub. But Conan reveals that this isn't the first time he's done it.

You just can't put "fire" behind anything.

Weekend Update Roundup

First, Nicholas Fehn is back with another insightful commentary. Nick is known for taking a sideways glance at the week's news and in these tumultuous times, it's his time to shine. This one is one of his best.

And next Drunk Uncle stops by to offer his views on the year just completed and the year ahead.

Philly Phriction: Fey Vs. Quest

I was unaware of a feud but apparently fellow Philadelphians Tina Fey and Questlove of The Roots have developed either a misunderstanding or a feud or both.

In last night's episode of Late Night, it was time to either squash it or settle it behind the Wawa.

On a personal note, I love Tina Fey's Philly. I could listen to that all day. I wish I could do one. I can do about a million different accents (more or less badly) but I've never been able to do a Philly accent. It's weird.

The Nog Hog Revealed

When Conan first saw it he was appalled. He used his Executive Powers to cancel the sketch immediately. But the audience overruled him and the sketch has aired.

All who are weak of heart, turn away now. This is the Nog Hog:

Don't blame me, I voted "No" on the poll. I am the 10 percent.