Top 8 Talk Show Feuds

In March 2009, during one of the worst economic crises in U.S. history, Daily Show host Jon Stewart took to task business network CNBC, financial commentator Jim Cramer, and his popular program Mad Money, for placing entertainment above journalism. But for every salvo Stewart lobbed, Cramer fired back, during visits to morning news programs The Today Show, CNBC’s Morning Joe and even Martha, Martha Stewart’s lifestyle talk show. The feud culminated in a meeting between the two. Guess who apologized?

It started in June 2009 when David Letterman made a questionable joke during his Late Show monologue that included New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, and – allegedly – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s 14-year-old daughter, Willow. Palin didn’t appreciate the jokes and said as much the next morning on The Today Show. The back-and-forth eventually boiled over – and a number of potshots where tossed about – before one of the two combatants apologized.

It was nearly headline news back when it happened – back with former View co-host Rosie O’Donnell took on billionaire Donald Trump after Trump pardoned Miss USA winner Tara Conner for past indiscretions. O’Donnell said Trump was far from “the moral compass for American youth.” Trump shot back on the Late Show calling O’Donnell a “degenerate.” The fight only escalated from there.

David Letterman’s clashes with political pundit Bill O’Reilly are the stuff of legend. In January 2006, when O’Reilly was on the Late Show, Letterman told him “I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap,” after O’Reilly criticized activist Cindy Sheehan. When O’Reilly returned in April 2009, Letterman told O’Reilly, “I think of you as a goon. I think you’re too smart to believe what you say.”

Rosie O'Donnell dished it out with her former boss, Barbara Walters, and with the show in general back in November 2008. Seems that Barbara admonished Rosie for comments she made during a press conference, promoting a variety special. On The View Barbara said some former hosts have criticized the show, feeling the need “to dump on it, maybe for their own publicity.” She added that such words no only hurt her, but “I resent it.” It seemed obvious she was referring to O’Donnell. Rosie followed that tongue lashing with a video blog entry, in which she reacted “live” to Barbara’s comments, saying, "I do not know what Star Jones and Debbie Matenopoulos (both former hosts of The View) did, but ooh -- she is pissed off!"

During a morning call-in clash on The View, it looked like Rosie O’Donnell and Live with Regis and Kelly star Kelly Ripa might start a feud. When Clay Aiken, was a guest co-host on Live with Regis and Kelly, there seemed to be tension between Ripa and Aiken. Then during an interview Aiken covered Ripa’s mouth with his hand in an apparent attempt to get a word in. Ripa, reportedly uncomfortable with the contact, rebuked Aiken, saying, “I don’t know where that hand’s been.” Rosie commented on the incident and Ripa’s comment to Aiken, labeling it homophobic. Upset that Rosie labeled it such, Ripa called The View to explain that she felt his actions were out-of-bounds and rude, and that O’Donnell was wrong in her interpretation.

Not every feud is mean-spirited. This little dust-up between Stephen Colbert and billionaire Richard Branson caused a bit of a stir when it happened back in 2007. After all, who doesn’t wonder what’s going on when a talk show host gets water thrown on him from a guest, as Branson did to Colbert. But the truth was the gesture was more in good fun than anything else.