Getting Laura Bush to comment on anything remotely controversial is like trying to extract water from a rock. This trait makes her a fine former First Lady, but a fairly bland talk-show guest.

So Kudus to Greta Van Susteren, who was able to get Bush to talk about the Tea Party during an interview she conducted with Mrs. Bush on 'On the Record With Greta Van Susteren' (weekdays, 9 PM ET on Fox News.)

"I think people are worried about spending, I think that's really the whole thing behind it," was how Bush explained the Tea Party movement.

Then Van Susteren started to present a point about how Tea Partiers are different from how Baby Boomers envision anti-government protesters:

"I sort of have my concept of what a typical protester is, having grown up in the sixties and early seventies," Greta explained. "And (the Tea Party) don't look like ... they sort of look like ..."

"Next door neighbors," Bush interjected, completing Van Susteren's thought. Though she neglected to mention if they look like the kind of next door neighbors you'd want to borrow a cup of sugar from, or the kind of next door neighbors who might motivate you to build a fence in your backyard.

When former first lady Laura Bush dropped by 'The Tonight Show' (weeknights, 11:35PM ET on NBC), Jay Leno had a few questions for her about photos in her new autobiography, 'Spoken from the Heart.' In particular, Leno asked her to explain a slightly racy (for the 1940s) black-and-white picture in which a woman is smiling up from the middle of a bubble bath. After all, it's not the type of image one would expect in a book by the buttoned-up librarian.

"That is my mother," explained Bush. "And that's a picture she sent to my father when he was overseas during World War II ... He carried [it] with him for the whole time he was there."

Leno's curiosity didn't end there, asking, "Did your dad ever ask your mom who took that picture?" and, "Have you ever sent George a picture like that?"

Good news, everyone! The Jay Leno Show was funny this week. There were some funny guests, genuinely funny comedy correspondent moments, and another Real Housewives quiz show, this time with the ladies from Atlanta.

Jay even managed to get a quick jab in to the bosses at NBC during an archery "Earn Your Plug" with Wanda Sykes. "This is NBC," he said to her. "I'm used to getting shot in the back." I've grown to respect Leno during his 10 o'clock experiment. He's a trouper doing what NBC is paying him to do, but you can tell he thinks the whole situation's about as screwed up as we do.

Even better, there were only two "10 @ 10" segments and no "Green Car Challenge" races, which allowed for more room to bring on Frank Calliendo and Sebastian Maniscalco to do stand-up routines. This is what I was expecting Leno to be doing, showcasing comedy rather than driving around a track trying not to hit Al Gore.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. The First Lady has gone from being a guest on NBC's Today show to becoming part of it.

Mrs. Bush will guest host the 9 am hour of Today next Tuesday, April 22nd (that also happens to be the day of the Pennsylvania primary). That later part of the show is usually quite a bit softer, with less political talk and more topics aimed at women. Laura Bush will also appear earlier in the broadcast with daughter Jenna to talk about their children's book, Read All About It!. And she will give Ann Curry a tour of the family's Crawford, TX ranch.

I think we can officially slide Today over to the same category as The View, rather than a news program. But many people probably did that when Meredith Vieira took Katie Couric's spot on the show. It's not as if Mrs. Bush is going to be asked who she endorses to replace her husband as president while she's co-hosting. Oh, wait. I can totally see that happening. Ed Murrow is rolling over in his grave.

Comedienne Sandra Bernhard recently appeared on The View. She made a few remarks about Mariah Carey's album and an immediate tension grew between her and Star Jones. Then, Bernhard made a some politically-charged comments, calling Laura Bush "heavily medicated", and Elizabeth Hasselbeck jumped to the First Lady's defense. Claws came out, everyone started talking at once, Joy Behar stalked off for a few seconds, and I suddenly remembered why I can never sit through ten consecutive minutes of this damn show. Whenever an argument starts, all the women start talking over each other, louder and louder, until all their shrieks turn into a unified wail, too high for human ears. For a while, I thought I accidentally sat on my remote's "mute" button, but then I saw my neighbor's dog's head explode.

There's video here if you really feel the need to see it.