Next Thing You Know, He’ll Be Doing Di Jokes

The trick with irreverent comedy stylings is knowing where to draw the line. That’s something Craig Kilborn is still learning.

The host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” the cable channel’s quasi-talk show, was suspended without pay from his duties for making “inappropriate comments” that were included in an Esquire magazine article.

The comments, unprintable in a family newspaper, involved Kilborn calling “Daily Show” writer and co-creator Lizz Winstead a profane name. He also suggested that she would perform a sex act on him.

Stating that the “regrettable remarks” were mere jokes, Kilborn apologized. “I realize I have made a terrible mistake for which I am truly sorry,” he said.

Winstead is boycotting the show, with pay, in protest.

Loose talk

Rebecca DeMornay, explaining why she turned down the marriage proposal of Patrick O’Neal, father of her just born baby daughter: “We’ve been together for two years now without the benefit of marriage. What’s the hurry?”

The years have gone by in a flash(dance)

Jennifer Beals turns 34 today.

Seems to us Charles has been naughty on occasion, eh?

David Puttnam is best known as the producer of “Chariots of Fire,” the multiple-Oscar-winning film of 1981. But his prestige has plummeted in the hallways of Buckingham Palace with the announcement that he has hired porn star Christina Hance to play the late Princess Diana in a forthcoming movie that Puttnam insists will be a “loving” tribute. Reports have it that when Hance is not making x-rated films, she hires out to parties “where she specializes in whipping naughty men.”

We can see the marquee: Saint B.B. and the Catechisms

This just in: Following today’s concert at Vatican City, blues artist B.B. King is expected to donate his favorite guitar - named Lucille - to Pope John Paul II.

The culprit? Stand in line, pal, stand in line

Joan Rivers got a bit of bile on Tuesday when someone splashed red paint on her and the full-length sable coat she was wearing. Saying that the coat was a gift from her late husband, Edgar, Rivers added, “If an animal had to die to keep me warm for 18 years, that’s OK.”

Nothing cools off a career like popularity contests

The readers of Total TV magazine have had their say, and the result is: Jonathan Taylor Thomas of “Home Improvement” and Larisa Oleynik of “The Secret World of Alex Mack” have been voted “TV’s Hottest Teens.” “It’s a great honor,” said Thomas.

But John Tesh made the top 10, right?

Dinosaur rock is alive and well. That’s the word following reports that the Rolling Stones made 1997’s top-grossing tour, earning them a cool $89 million. According to Performance magazine, U2 ($78 million) was runner-up, Metallica ($37 million), Fleetwood Mac ($36 million) and Reba McEntire/Brooks & Dunn ($33 million).

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster