David Letterman tells Howard Stern he declined Jay Leno’s invite

David Letterman kicked off his last full week of “Late Shows” with an appearance from Howard Stern. And in typical Stern fashion, the SiriusXM host was sure to bring up the decades-old rivalry between Letterman and his former late-night competitor, Jay Leno.

Many have speculated that Leno, who was once a frequent guest on Letterman’s old “Late Night” program on NBC, would make a final appearance on “Late Show” to put to rest the feud that began when Leno got “The Tonight Show” gig instead of Letterman in 1992.

But when Stern pressed Letterman for details, the soon-to-retire host professed ignorance of any Leno appearance plans and even seemed to downplay the possibility of Leno’s appearance at all.

“You know, Jay asked me to be on when he was finishing his show,” Letterman said. “I said, ‘That’s a lovely offer, but I think it should be more about just Jay on his final week of shows. So I declined.”

“Good for you,” Stern said.

“I think he may feel the same way about this situation,” Letterman continued.

Leno left “The Tonight Show” for the second and final time in February 2014.

Though Letterman has spoken on his show several times about the rivalry, he and Leno have only appeared together once, for a Super Bowl commercial also featuring Oprah Winfrey in 2010.

Follow me on Twitter: @patrickkevinday