David Letterman addresses controversy, invites Sarah Palin on his show

As if the late night battle couldn't get any hotter, David Letterman has spent the past couple days dealing with the controversy over some jokes he told involving Sarah Palin's daughter. On Wednesday night, Dave spent a full segment of his show addressing the issue and inviting the Alaska governor to come on his program as a guest.

"I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl," said Letterman sincerely. "I mean, look at my record. It has never happened. I don't think it's funny. I would never think it was funny. I wouldn't put it in a joke."

"Governor Palin, if you're watching, I would like you to consider coming to New York City -- you and Todd as my guests, or leave Todd at home."

Dave told the jokes in the apparent belief that he was talking about Bristol Palin, who became America's most famous unwed teen mom during the 2008 campaign. "During the seventh inning [of a Yankees game the Palins attended during a trip to New York], her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez." In reality, the governor attended the game with 14-year-old Willow, not 18-year-old Bristol, leading her to denounce Dave's jokes as "sexually perverted" and "disgusting."

Following a Stupid Human Tricks segment in which a man shoved a fork up his nose and used it to feed his wife spaghetti -- watch it on the "Late Show" web site, if you dare -- Letterman welcomed Kathy Griffin, who referred to the governor as a "moron" and her snow-machine-riding husband Todd as a "tool." It was the first "Late Show" appearance for the comedian since 1997; she has claimed in the past that she was "banned" from coming on the show, but at the end of her segment, Letterman invited her back. Griffin's jokes about her 89-year-old "alcoholic" mom, Oprah sidekick Gayle King and Ryan Seacrest didn't seem all that controversial after the Letterman/Palin dust-up.