David Letterman was back at the “Late Show” on Monday after a two-week vacation, his first day at work since a threat against his life was posted on a jihadist website.

Outside the Ed Sullivan Theater before the mid-afternoon taping, it was pretty much business as usual.

CBS has declined to comment on any special security measures being taken for the busy day.

A bomb-sniffing dog was led around the periphery of the midtown Manhattan theater. Meanwhile, ticket-holders queuing up on the sidewalk seemed relaxed about attending Letterman’s first taping since the assassination threat.

Some were even unaware that his life had been threatened.

“I’m not worried. They’ve got metal detectors,” said Kendall Phillips, a 25-year-old from Houston, noting a standard provision in the TV world for screening audience members.

“Plus, it’s like really hard to get tickets.”

The website contributor, who identified himself as Umar al-Basrawi, wrote that Letterman had referred to both Osama bin Laden, who was killed by a U.S. strike team, and al-Qaida leader Ilyas Kashmiri, who was killed in a drone attack, and said that Letterman, in discussing Kashmiri’s death, had “put his hand on his neck and demonstrated the way of slaughter.”

Al-Basrawi, which is likely to be an alias, has made some 1,200 postings to the Muslim website, according to Adam Raisman, an analyst for the Site Monitoring Service. Raisman said the online forum is often used by al-Qaida.

Kate Winslet among guests who flee burning house

LONDON — Guests including Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet escaped uninjured when fire destroyed Richard Branson’s Caribbean home in the middle of the night, the British businessman said Monday.

The Virgin Group boss said about 20 people, including Winslet and her children, were staying in the eight-bedroom Great House on Necker, his private isle in the British Virgin Islands.

Branson said he was staying in another property around 100 yards away with his wife, Joan and son Sam, 25.

He said the fire broke out around 4 a.m. during a wind and lightning storm, and Sam managed to help evacuate Winslet and other guests from the house.

Branson said the guests, including his 90-year-old mother and his daughter Holly, 29, all managed to get out safely.

“Kate Winslet, her boyfriend and her family were there and Holly and some of her friends were also staying,” Branson said. “My mother was there and they managed to get her out and she is fine.”

Winslet’s spokeswoman, Sara Keene, confirmed the actress was unharmed.

Branson said the house was “completely destroyed” and the fire was not entirely out Monday.

‘Survivor’ icon says IRS tax woes have left him ‘destitute’

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Richard Hatch, the winner of the first season of “Survivor,” is claiming he’s “destitute” as he seeks a court-appointed lawyer to help him appeal a nine-month sentence for failing to settle his tax bill in his tax-evasion case.

Filings in U.S. District Court in Providence made public last week show Richard Hatch believes he should be given free legal representation to fight the prison sentence handed down in March.

Hatch, 50, of Newport, is back in prison for violating terms of his release for failing to pay taxes on his $1 million winnings from the CBS reality show.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond is recommending Hatch be denied free legal counsel.

 

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