What Does A.I.G. Stand For? Don't Ask.

The tortuous Paulson Plan to stabilize the economy, criticism of the American International Group's lavish marketing seminars, the housing crisis, and the crony capitalism of the Bush years all came in for ribbing on late-night talk shows over the weekend.

Jay Leno on the Tonight Show:

"Do you know A.I.G. stands for? I didn't even know. You know what it means? Alliance In Greed. I had no idea."

"The economy is so bad, A.I.G. executives are only drinking domestic champagne now."

"Yesterday, they held the Great Southern California ShakeOut. There was a giant drill to prepare us for the big earthquake. Now, don't confuse it with the government giving money to Wall Street. That was the Great American Shakedown."

"Actually, geologists said that the point of the drill was to show what kind of damage a 7.8 earthquake could do. ... They said it would destroy almost as many homes as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae."

"Oh, and you know that $750 billion bailout money they needed right away to correct the crisis? ... Turns out it isn't going to be used for what they set it up for. Treasury Secretary Paulson changed his mind and is going to use it for something else. Hey, we changed our mind, too. Give us our money back."

David Letterman on the Late Show took a shot at a familiar corporate target:

"But the Bushes are packing up. This is eight years they've lived in the White House, and this is interesting. They're going to be gone in January, and the $4 billion moving contract went to Halliburton."