Jennifer Aniston stopped by the Late Show tonight for a chat with David Letterman. It was... awkward? Letterman randomly recited Aniston's filmography for her, brought up her age, obsessed over a magazine spread of her house, and more. Video inside.

Bill Murray hobbled out onto Letterman last night in crutches, shorts and a parka to do an "interview", but it was more like two comedic masters trying to outweird each other the whole time—and it was hilarious.

Last night on The Late Show Dave and his staff re-imagined what Obama's first State of the Union address was like. Weirdly enough, it portrays George Bush as the cool kid-type who shows up late to the school assembly.

It's a 25,000 dollar Neiman Marcus cupcake automobile, and it's customizable! There are wheels, icing, a throttle, sprinkles, and most importantly a hat. Look at Dave go!

David Letterman loves his Tesla Roadster so much that he invited Tesla CEO Elon Musk onto the Late Show last night. The question he should have asked: How long will Musk keep his job?

Though David Letterman's held a late-night career for almost thirty years, he's rarely had as many consecutive buzz moments as he did in 2008. Whether he was expertly dissecting reality show stars, driving the nervous star of Twilight to a pipe for solace, or launching the full-scale Letterman/McCain War of '08, the ornery talk show host never lost his ability to fluster guests into their weirdest possible publicity stops. Thanks to video editor Richard Blakeley and intern Stacey Fitzgerald, we've assembled eight of the most magic moments in one clip. Vera Farmiga, don't fret: there's always next year.

If Hollywood is soon to lose Nicole Kidman to motherhood, at least she's going out in a blaze of glory! The actress appeared on Letterman last night to promote Australia (we've seen it, and we feel safe in saying that Kidman's nose gives her finest performance ever), and the host/guest interaction was so uncomfortable that even Kristen Stewart sent Kidman flowers afterward (with a note attached that said, "Damn, girl. Loosen up!").Hard to say exactly what went wrong, but things simply seemed off from the start, as Kidman seemed acutely unable of more than two-word responses, and repeatedly failed to pick up on David Letterman's conversational cues. "I'm just smiling!" Kidman insisted. Oh, so that's what that was!

Naturally, we at Defamer think the world of Emma Thompson — after all, who doesn't? (Don't answer that, Branagh.) Still, we didn't expect much from her appearance last night on Letterman; maybe some cute banter, some veddy English trilling, but certainly nothing on the level of Helen Mirren's "I'm a crazy British woman" press tour.However, Thompson immediately bucked our expectations by marching onto the set while brawling with a stuffed fox who would not let go until it got a firm disavowal of Love Actually. Sure, Thompson was most likely satirizing Letterman's previous guest, who had survived an animal attack on her own, but we prefer to think of Thompson's stunt as a singular, non sequitur bid for attention. You've won this round, Thompson. Now go do something at Ellen's dunk tank and we can really crank it up.

Now that Russell Brand's been virtually blacklisted from British television, he's made a return to America to ply his wares (yes, that sound you heard was Jordin Sparks stomping an Ugg boot in frustration). Appearing on Letterman last night to promote his upcoming Adam Sandler movie, Brand bewitched the talk show host with the thicket of hair whipped up over his head like a haphazardly thrown-together bird's nest.Though we'd figured the layers of locks held some sort of Samson-like ability for the British lothario, Brand explained that really, his intent is to get closer to God — or serve as a calling tower for extraterrestrials, should they exist. Still, the powerfully hypnotic effect of his hairstyle on Letterman ought to give Brand hope: perhaps a simple question of "Do I have something in my hair?" to his crush, Helen Mirren, could result in another red two-piece hanging off his bedpost.

Alec Baldwin appeared on Late Show last night to reprise his own, sub-Tina Fey impression of Sarah Palin while recounting to Dave the (completely justifiable!) circumstances of Palin's visit to SNL. Unlike her offer to Fey that night, Palin did not serve up Bristol as a potential babysitter to Baldwin's daughter, but that's not to say these two unlikely scenemates didn't find something in common to talk about.Still, even though the two bonded while discussing Baldwin's "right-winger" brother Stephen, Alec's vote is all sewn up. And, as he says, the candidate he's pulling for is not the "guy running with Bible Spice." Still, if Bible Spice would be down for a February sweeps cameo on 30 Rock, then bygones!

On The Hills, Lauren Conrad can usually end an awkward situation by staring into the middle distance as the Black-Eyed Peas take us to commercial, but on last night's Late Show, she had to simply sit there and take it as David Letterman suggested an alternate take on all the friend drama Conrad's been through. "Maybe you're the problem," he said.Letterman then launched into a story about his own realization that he was a destructive "idiot," a story that prompted the well-compensated reality novelist opposite him to complain, "Does that make me an idiot, though?" Watch it, Dave — Lo may be back in the green room sucking on her dinner Jolly Rancher, but she's not afraid to defend Mama Bear. Fight!

David Letterman may be unable to follow up last night's John McCain appearance with one from his vice presidential running mate, but at least he's got the next best thing: Tina Fey! The 30 Rock actress has already taped her guest spot on tonight's Late Show, and we have this clip where she breaks down her Sarah Palin impression. So what exactly are her influences?Turns out, it's "a little bit Fargo, a little bit Reese Witherspoon in Election," with just a soupçon of her friend Paula's grandma from Joliet, Illinois. Fey downplays her frightening accuracy by claiming it's the easiest impression to do since Billy Bob Thornton mmm-hmmed his way through Sling Blade, but we have to give credit where credit is due. Now, Tina, where the hell is 30 Rock? Can't you pull some strings and get Palin to fire Ben Silverman? [CBS]

As promised, John McCain finally made it to the Late Show with David Letterman tonight, and we've got CBS-supplied footage of many of the highlights. Not included: the twenty minutes of relentless McCain jokes that Letterman opened the show with to signal that this would hardly be a pushover appearance for McCain. And it wasn't!Things started to get somewhat heated just before the first commercial break, when Letterman clearly surprised McCain by meeting his Ayers reference with a question about McCain's association with Watergate criminal G. Gordon Liddy. As McCain struggled to figure out a response (eventually, he decided to embrace Liddy), Letterman pricelessly threw to commercial, leaving the candidate stranded. Also, Letterman? Not that confident in Sarah Palin's ability to lead! Peruse some of these highlights and see for yourself. [CBS]

The entire political season has been leading up to this moment: no, not November 4, but tonight's appearance of John McCain on the Late Show with David Letterman! Ever since the presidential candidate canceled his September appearance at the last minute, the McCain/Letterman War of '08 has raged on, with a celebrity army (comprised of Paris Hilton and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) ready to fall on their swords for the late-night host. Now, finally, McCain has taped a make-up appearance set to air later tonight, and details are beginning to trickle out:

As we watched David Letterman tear into John McCain with renewed vigor during last night's Late Show monologue, we couldn't help but think that this might make the rumored negotiations for McCain's reappearance a little awkward. Turns out, scheduling stipulations between the two camps had already turned contentious, as Letterman revealed when he sat down at his desk. Still, McCain's loss is Letterman's gain, because the talk show host gleefully continued to demolish McCain using some of his slyest, most cutting language yet.At this point, should McCain cut his losses and abandon renegotiations with Letterman, knowing full well he's likely to be slammed to his face if he finally put in his guest appearance? Or does he have no choice but to stop the Late Night bleeding by any means necessary? Ladies and gentlemen, the McCain/Letterman War of '08 has officially resumed after collapsed talks. Stock up on your munitions now.

Change We Can Believe In: Though John McCain recently made headlines for conceding the swing state of Michigan to Barack Obama, there's one battle he's not giving up on, and that's the perilous McCain/Letterman War of '08. Begun not with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand but with McCain's Late Show cancellation, the war has raged on for two perilous weeks without a peep from the presidential candidate, allowing Letterman to gather strength (as well as a celebrity army comprised of Paris Hilton and Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Now, says the New York Post, "McCain representatives and Late Show executives are negotiating an appearance on Letterman's show sometime around the final presidential debate on Oct. 15," when McCain will be in New York for the Hofstra University-set debate. Start steeling yourself for the awkward, self-effacing "heh heh hehs" now. [New York Post]

It looks like John McCain will be heading to tonight's presidential debate after all (according to this priceless pool report from McCain's plane, which also states, "General atmosphere is utter confusion"), but one no-show is continuing to cost the candidate, and that's McCain's now-notorious skipped Late Show appearance. David Letterman continued to rip into McCain during his monologue yesterday, even conscripting guest Paris Hilton (who had her own memorable run-in with McCain) into the proceedings. Meanwhile, executives at CBS News are up in arms about the live news feed Letterman tapped into on Wednesday night's broadcast that showed McCain getting made up in advance of his Katie Couric interview:

Well, isn't this interesting. Hours before the anticipated David Letterman evisceration of John McCain aired on the East Coast, a YouTube popped up (by a user who had never posted any videos before and registered today) with all the highlights. Thanks, CBS mole! Video after the jump:

John McCain announced today that he would suspend his presidential campaign until the current economic crisis is settled, leaving some big holes in this week's TV schedule — most especially, this Friday's suddenly in-jeopardy presidential debate, which McCain is seeking to postpone (Barack Obama and debate organizers have rejected the idea). In the short-term, however, McCain pulled out of his planned appearance tonight on Late Show with David Letterman, and the host is pissed. Seems McCain told Letterman that he was canceling so that he could rush back to Washington D.C., but then Dave caught wind that McCain hadn't gone anywhere — that, in fact, he was just down the street taping an interview with CBS anchorwoman Katie Couric. What followed was an on-screen excoriation, according to the Drudge Report:

Even though we’re a day late on this, Dark Knight’ s “ironic” lingerie model Maggie Gyllenhaal appeared on Letterman Wednesday night and charmed the pants right off Dave with talk of everyone's favorite celebrity topic: drugs. Speaking in her standard sweetly candid tone, Maggie told a tale of a nurse whose number we’d really like to get a hold of — seems this kooky practitioner who aided Maggie with a broken toe is more than eager to push bundles of those morphine-patches-disguised-as-"painkillers"—Percocets—on her patients.