Jimmy Kimmel: 'I don't believe Jay Leno has actual feelings'

Jimmy Kimmel has made no secret of his disdain for Jay Leno, whether dismissing him as "a master chef who opened a Burger King" to doing a mocking impersonation of him on his late-night show. Not that Jimmy is worried about upsetting Jay.

"I always feel bad if I hurt anybody's feelings, but I don't believe Jay Leno has actual feelings," the funnyman tells the March issue of Playboy (yes, there really are articles). "And he doesn't seem to be that worried about other people's feelings." 

Kimmel, who zinged Leno mercilessly after NBC's 2010 schedule shakeup that left Conan O'Brien out in the cold, added, "Strangely, I don't even like talking about him anymore. The only time I think about him is when I'm asked." 

That said, "I believe he's not just a smart politician but also a smart guy," acknowledges Jimmy. "I haven't met anyone who knows more than he does about how ratings and the business of late-night television work."

Not that he gives that much credit. "I have a filter mechanism in my head every night when I put together the monologue for our show," reveals the comedian. "If I can imagine Jay Leno telling a joke, then I won't do it, even if it's a good joke."

Kimmel, 45, has far kinder words for fellow late-night host David Letterman.

"Dave transcends any time slot," he gushes. "He is the father of comedy as we now know it. I wonder if he knows what he means to every comedian under 50 years old. That NBC 'Late Night with David Letterman' show was a revelation."

As for Jimmy, he says the guy you see on-screen is no affectation for the cameras.

"I don't have the qualities you need to be phony, which is a huge drawback in show business," he admits. "I never had any option other than to be myself. I doubt I'd be able to keep it up. I'm a guy who's not particularly handsome or well-spoken; I'm just kind of a funny guy."

See some of that humor as he takes some cringe-inducing shots at Leno on "The Tonight Show" over the Conan keruffle ...