Bobby Costas, last night at the Beijing Laff Factory

It happened again far after most of you went to sleep last night, as the dumbstruck judges were still explaining to Marta Karolyi and Nastia Liukin's dad how a tie-breaker works and Bela Karolyi had stopped blaming everyone.
At about 11:45 p.m., as the rooster was clearing its throat, NBC's Bob Costas went from a report about the women's pole vault to something that apparently the writers from Jay Leno's on-hiatis show decided to submit:

"Changing subjects -- we're getting reports that our broadcasts may be causing some issues with your sleep back in the states. And we just wanted you to know -- we feel your pain."
For Costas, a few minutes before noontime where he sat, the only pain was deciding what to have catered in for lunch.
Then it went to a taped feature, with Costas narrating:

"America, we are listening. We're listening to your stories of Olympic dedication ... we know you stayed loyal as Nastia and Shawn dueled for their title in the wee hours ... and of course, there was the hypnotic power of Michael Phelps ...
"America, we know your'e tryig to cope with these sleep-challenged Olympics as best you possibly can ... We hear you, America and ..."

We've agreed to change the prime-time window? Adjust the schedules so more of it is at a normal hour? At least show what's really "live" to the West Coast as well as to the East?
Naw, we're just jerking you around ...

"We want to offer some advice," Costas said, setting up the "gag."
(Maybe it's so late to be acceptant of jokey material at this point, but considering we're just a little on the cranky side, why couldn't they have presented this at the start of the show, so people could have actually seen it?)

The graphic goes up on the screen: "Top Olympic Viewer Tips by Dr. Nancy Snyderman."
1. Stay hydrated.
2. Tell yourself you only need four hours sleep -- really.
3. Wear sungalsses to hide red eyes.
4. Crank up your iPod and listen to anything Michael Phelps listens to.
5. Skip work (you're never going to see an Olympics like this again anyway).

No. 1, we've done. No. 2, we've tried. No. 3, we do on a daily basis, day or night. We're just that cool.
No. 4, we have no iPod (we barely have eye lids right now) and No. 5, this is work for us, but on behalf of the rest of the American population -- hardy har har. So we have a big chuckle together, and all's good. Right?
Right?

Costas later provided the inadvertant punch line after brining Cris Collinsworth onto the set for some other non-essential segment (you think a 10-minute highlight of the U.S. men's basketball team would have deserved some prime time aside from its 5 a.m. original air time?)

"Did you know that the repeat (of prime time) in the 3 a.m. broadast on the East Coast (again, no mention of the West) is -- no lie -- presented by Ambien. There's irony there somewhere."

Yeah, it's Carlin-esque.
Like Costas, the jumbo shrimp.
He's got shows tonight and through the rest of the week, and should be at the Shanghai Funny Bone after the Games end.
You've been a great audience. Really.