David Letterman isn't taking his death threat too seriously.
Returning to the air for the first time since a call for his death appeared on a radical Islamic forum, Letterman devoted much of Monday's show to mocking it.
"You people are more to me honestly, more than an audience," he said, warming up the crowd. "You're more like a human shield."
He added: "I have a fatwa on me, and they say the guy that issued the fatwa is an Internet jihadist. Internet jihadist? And I said, well heck — who says Obama isn't creating jobs?"
Last week, the The Site Monitoring Service, a private intelligence group, said that a threat against Letterman had been posted on a popular forum for radical Muslims. The poster called for Letterman's tongue to be cut off because he had joked about an Al Qaeda leader's death.
Letterman said Monday the State Department was investigating.
"They're questioning, they're interrogating, there's an electronic trail — but everyone knows it's Leno," he said.
Letterman also ran a segment called "Who Hates Dave?" and devoted his Top 10 List to his thoughts when he learned of the threat. No. 8: "Why is the staff in such a good mood?" No. 4: "How can someone be so angry at a time when Kim Kardashian is so happy?" and No. 1: "Oh my God, they canceled the George Lopez show."
Watch his monologue and Top 10 List:
