FIRST PUBLISHED: September 3, 2008 8:24 AM EDT
LAST UPDATED: September 3, 2008 8:29 AM EDT

NEW YORK, NY --

The pregnancy of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s unwed daughter was fair game for late-night comics, but they tread lightly.

Three of the comics, in fact, made Democrat John Edwards the butt of their jokes about the situation. Edwards, the former presidential candidate, admitted this summer to an affair after first denying it.

“Governor Palin announced over the weekend that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months’ pregnant,” Jay Leno said near the top of his “Tonight” show monologue. “And you thought John Edwards was in trouble before! Now he has really done it.”

Both Craig Ferguson and Conan O’Brien, who compete against each other in the early morning hours, went down the same road.

“I don’t think that a young lady getting pregnant should even be news,” said Ferguson, of CBS’ “Late Late Show.” “Unless John Edwards is the father. Then that is kinda news.”

NBC’s O’Brien joked that Palin said that “we should never have introduced her to John Edwards.”

David Letterman, on CBS’ “Late Show,” made the pregnancy the subject of only his fifth and last joke about the selection of the Alaska governor as John McCain’s running mate.

“Here’s good news, ladies and gentlemen,” Letterman said. “The Palin family crisis that we were talking about on Sunday and Monday, that has been solved now and, today, the baby is being adopted by Angelina Jolie.”

Jon Stewart of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” kept his lacerating wit away from the topic. There was only one allusion to it in a Samantha Bee weather forecast skit, when a cloud in the shape of a pregnant woman floated by.

Leno, before moving on, touched on the situation with three gentle jokes. He said that apparently Palin’s daughter is named “Juno,” a reference to the movie about a hip unwed teenager who gives birth to her child.

His third joke was about telling McCain about the pregnancy, but “into his bad ear.”

O’Brien’s monologue made reference to the opening of the Republican National Convention.

“The theme for tonight’s Republican convention is `Who is John McCain,’” O’Brien said. “Tomorrow night’s theme is, `Who forgot to check if the vice president’s daughter is pregnant?’”

Copyright 2009 by Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Keep your Access to everything in Hollywood! Breaking news and personal commentary from Nancy, Billy, Tony, Shaun, Maria & all of our producers! Follow us on and now!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What Do You Think?

How many times will you see ‘New Moon?’

  • Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in ‘New Moon’
     
  • Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart chat during the presentation of their new film ‘The Twighlight Saga: New Moon’ during the HVB youth event at the Olympic Hall on November 14, 2009 in Munich, Germany
     
  • Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson arrive at the afterparty for the premiere ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ at the Hammer Museum on November 16, 2009 in Los Angeles, California
     
  • Robert Pattinson runs his fingers through his hair as he hits ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ premiere red carpet, LA, Nov. 16, 2009
     
  • Michael Sheen in Summit’s ‘New Moon’
     
  • Alex Meraz, Kiowa Gordon, and Chaske Spence as werewolves in ‘New Moon’
     
voteview results & comments