See you next week!

• Bernie Madoff, the 70-year-old trader accused of defrauding investors of billions, will be pleading guilty, and could be sentenced to 150 years in prison. With good behavior, he could be released right before his 200th birthday.
• A first edition Harry Potter book was sold for $19,000. And they say there’s a recession! Specifically, it was Harry Potter and the Disappearing Savings Account.
• Coolio has been charged with crack cocaine possession. We talked about it in the writer’s room, and we decided this story needs so punchline: Coolio’s enough of a joke as it is.
• Chris Brown and Rhianna are reportedly recording a duet together. It’s reportedly a remake, entitled “Anything you can do, I can do battered.”

Boom! Good luck with tonight’s show, Jimmy!

So… Jokes for tonight’s show coming later today!

His opener to greet the crowd: “You sound excited — I guess you  missed the first three [shows].” Love self-deprecation. In fact, I think it’d be great for Jimmy to have some self-deprecating crowd greeting each night. We shall see.

Although I thought Jimmy looked less jittery tonight, I did in all honesty think the monologue leaned a little too close to to the “applause line” vs. “laugh line” side.

The noteworthy moments included Jimmy’s afterthought following the Bill Gates joke (he doesn’t let his kids use an iPhone or iPod; they have to amuse themselves by playing with piles of money). He then added, “It’s a fun game.” And then: “Not that I would know.” Heheheh. Jimmy, it’s okay to acknowledge that you’re a wealthy man! We love ya for it!

I was also intrigued by Jimmy’s joke about the New Jersey lottery winners (though he didn’t use mine): He said that the $260 million winners, under Obama’s tax plan, would now owe $300 mil. You don’t hear too many jokes attacking Obama and his policies yet, and I love that Jimmy went there. (Regardless of whether you like the president, which Jimmy and I both do, there’s no sense treating him as a sacred cow during Late Night.)

Jimmy and his writing staff are packing a lot of bits before the interviews. Last night there was a goofy “Flashback Master” skit, a sketch with Donald Trump, the audience president elections, and a follow-up with the new audience president all before Donald was brought out around the 15-minute mark. I love the idea of doing more sketches and bits; my sole complaint is that I thought the monologue got clipped a bit. It felt very short last night.

I’ll be back with joke suggestions for Jimmy’s first Friday show later today.

This was honestly my least favorite of the first three monologues Jimmy’s done. The opening Madonna joke did nothing for me. The Chris Brown / asteroid joke was funny (“The asteroid could have done as much damage as two atomic bombs. Or one night with Chris Brown!”), but I’m thinking Jimmy needs to give himself a roll of punchlines to run through on great setups like that. (“Heck, it could have done as much damage as Rosie O’Donnell at a buffet. Or OJ Simpson at a place where people are living.”)

As promised, Jimmy continues to make lots of references to modern living and technology, with his second Facebook reference in two shows (Iraqis can get on Facebook now — if your face is covered with a veil), and his second dig at Microsoft, too. But there weren’t enough solid laugh lines — more the “applause” lines. Jimmy showed on Weekend Update that he can generate actual laughs at his topical jokes, and doesn’t need to settle for the Jay Leno-esque “that was a joke” recognition applause.

The “Bromance Novels” bit was cute, and the audience seemed to really enjoy it.

I’ll post some joke suggestions for tonight’s show a bit later on.

The Fed today announced that the outlook for the economy is “poor.” They also announced that they’re changing their name to the “Department of Obviousness.” (Do you think the Chairman of that new department should be called Captain Obvious?) But seriously, the economy is really hurting. There’s a homeless guy I pass on my way to the studio, and each day he asks for me a dollar, and I always give him one. But today, with the economy being what it is — he asked me for two.

An asteroid whizzed right by the Earth yesterday, and scientist’s said that it was a close one. Of course, it was nearly fifty thousand miles away — which apparently, scientists think is close. The same scientists are like “I am THIS close to scoring with Angelina Jolie.” Yes, you are both humans on the same continent, that doesn’t make it close. And I’m guessing these scientists are no Brad Pitt. I, of course, am THIS close.

Robin Williams had to cancel a few Florida stand-up gigs because of shortness of breath. Now, that’s definitely something I can see affecting Robin — (this is really just a setup for Jimmy to do a moment of his spot-on impression. So yes, I’m pitching a joke that’s all set-up, with Jimmy’s own impression as the punchline.)

(Answer: Yes.)

The monologue tonight was stronger than Jimmy’s debut. He seemed to make a few more off-the-cuff follow-up remarks to his own jokes, which I loved.

I thought the “Facebook status” audience bit was a big improvement over the first night’s “licking” one. But the monologue’s my real obsession, and I was impressed by this one. Jimmy touched on the economy and the weather in one smart joke (“The Dow reached 30 below”) that the audience didn’t love, but I did.

There’s a definite issue where as a light-night comedy show you don’t want to discuss “bad news” that could bring people down, so I was happy that Jimmy’s willing to address obvious downers like the economy with humor.

Joke suggestions for tonight coming later today.

• Musical artist Prince will be releasing his next album exclusively in Target stores. This is what it sounds like when Wal-Mart cries.
• Lindsay Lohan is reportedly converting to Judaism. She’s given men and women a spin — apparently now it’s time for a dreidel.
• Both Britney Spears and Michael Jackson are planning comeback concert tours this year. And as a new host of a late-night talk show, let me just say: “Thank you, God.”
• A new study shows that animals can benefit from acupuncture. A spokesman for sheep warned that we should pay attention to the details of study saying: “You’re only supposed to put in a very specific kind of little prick.”
• Did any of you see The Bachelor last night? On the live episode that followed the finale, the bachelor dumped his fiancee and said he wanted to be with the runner-up instead. I haven’t seen a TV relationship end that fast since Fox cancelled Chevy Chase.

Can’t wait to see what Jimmy and his team come up with!