Jay Leno begs Oprah for forgiveness today

Leno today making his pilgrimage to the first Station of the Cross on his road to redemption before NBC re-anoints him host of "The Tonight Show." First stop is always Oprah. Really -- it's a rule. Anyway, lucky people who live in Chicago will get to see it first because Oprah's syndicated show airs there at 9 a.m. CST. Here in Washington, we can't see it until 4 p.m. EST. But Oprah's camp, Harpo Productions, tossed us a meager scrap that's supposed to tide us over until 4 (or until the plucky Associated Press reporter in Chicago files a report -- or some plucky reporter at the ABC station in Chicago, which has the broadcast rights to "Oprah" in the Windy City).

Here's the scrap:

Oprah: Have you talked to Conan in person?

Leno: I haven't talked to him through all this. No. I haven't.

Oprah: Did you want to pick up the phone?

Leno: Yeah, but it didn't seem appropriate.

Oprah: Why?

Leno: I don't know. I think it...let things cool down and maybe we'll talk, you know.

Oprah: Were any of the things that he said about you hurtful?

Leno: No. They were jokes. And that's OK. I mean...

Oprah: So jokes don't hurt you.

Leno: It's what we do, you know? You can't...it's like being a fighter and say when you got punched in the head, did it hurt? Well, yeah. But you're a fighter. That's what you do.