Not that this is necessarily the best way to get national recognition for a local news story, but Jay Leno included a mention of one of our hottest topics in his Monday night monologue.

With a “How bizarre is this?” lead-in, he mentioned the escape of Phillip Paul at the county fair last week. “Apparently he blended in with the carnival ride operators.”

If you missed it and are dying to see the whole 1-minute bit, it’s at about 6 minutes into this clip. Sorry it’s the whole show from hulu.com, but it didn’t make the monologue highlights on the NBC site.

For those who forgot to set the DVR, then fell asleep with the TV on and didn’t wake up until Jimmy Fallon was on, here’s President Obama’s appearance on the Tonight Show.

They talk about a range of topics, from AIG to puppies.

Question for discussion: Would this have been a better interview if Obama had done Letterman instead?