You Could Say They’re Rather Happy About It

Loose talk

Jay Leno, still milking away (on “The Tonight Show”): “We finally have a DNA match. The skin under Connie Chung’s fingernails matches that from Dan Rather’s neck.”

Some people weren’t too sorry to see Connie Chung get canned as the CBS news co-anchor.

Take Kathleen “Kit” Gingrich, whose supposedly confidential comment that son Newt called Hillary Rodham Clinton a “bitch” was broadcast across America.

Chung “got what she had coming when she played dirty with me,” Gingrich said. “I can’t say I feel sorry for her.”

Asked for his reaction, the House speaker said: “You can draw your own conclusions.”

And for David Lettermen, it meant material. The “Late Show” host’s top 10 list of the real reasons for Chung’s departure included “CBS was forcing her to change her name to ‘Dr. Chung, Anchorwoman,”’ and “Two years co-anchoring with Dan and still no baby.”

The paper towel she uses? Why, Diva, of course

Beverly Sills turns 66 today.

Meet your co-anchors, Crow and Tom Servo

Chung already has one job offer, to become managing editor and anchor of the Comedy Central News. Wrote Bob Kreek, president and chief executive officer of the cable network: “We think you’ll welcome the opportunity to work at a network on the way UP for a change.”

She’ll be back playing with R.E.M. in no time

Peg Phillips, who portrays the no-nonsense shopkeeper Ruth Anne on “Northern Exposure,” is recuperating in a Seattle hospital after suffering a ruptured aneurysm. Her publicist says a full recovery is expected.

And at weddings, we always think of Peggy Sue

Director Francis Ford Coppola, whose next project is the dramatic comedy “Jack” starring Robin Williams, has no small opinion of himself.”No one can talk about Vietnam and not mention ‘Apocalypse Now,”’ he says. “No one can talk about the Mafia and not mention ‘The Godfather.”’

Hope the marriage doesn’t come unplugged

Among the entertainers at Eagle Don Henley’s Malibu nuptials last weekend: Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Sheryl Crow, Jackson Browne, Sting, Tony Bennett, the Chieftains, Bruce Hornsby, J.D. Souther and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra performing selections from Bach, Handel and Mozart.

Oh, sort of like where his career is headed

Don Johnson and Bruce Willis toured the Korean border Tuesday after opening a Planet Hollywood restaurant in Seoul. Said Johnson: “You can damn sure feel the tension. It’s a tangible sense that this is the front line in the last outpost of the world.”

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino