CROWE AND CRUISE DO DAMAGE CONTROL.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Russell Crowe on the East Coast, Tom Cruise on the West Coast. It was dueling damage control on late-night TV.

Crowe appeared on David Letterman's ``Late Show'' Wednesday to apologize for throwing a tantrum and telephone at a hotel concierge, and show Americans he's not always such a hothead.

At the same time, Cruise talked to Jay Leno on ``The Tonight Show'' to show fans that he may be crazy-in-love, but not crazy.

``If there's levity surrounding it, it makes the moment a lot more palatable,'' said veteran Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman of fifteenminutes.com. ``If you go on CNN, you're not going to get the laughter.''

Going before Leno or Letterman to make fun of an embarrassing moment makes a celebrity seem like a regular guy or gal, with a healthy ability to laugh at themselves. Even if they're not, of course. Politicians have known this for years.

The template for such appearances came in 1995, when actor Hugh Grant came to ``Tonight'' after his arrest with a prostitute.

Leno got a laugh - and got to the point - with his first question: ``What the hell were you thinking?''

Crowe had already been booked on Letterman to talk about his upcoming movie. But the show provided a perfect opportunity to talk about what was already on everyone's mind.

``This is possibly the most shameful situation I've ever gotten myself in in my life, and I've done some pretty dumb things in my life,'' the Australian actor said. ``So to actually make a new No. 1 is spectacularly stupid.''

Letterman's sight gag - taking the phone off his desk and pre-emptively moving it offstage - was repeated on news shows the morning after.

That's another big advantage: You're trying to avoid news networks, but you get on them anyway - in a way that makes you look good.

Cruise was trying to defuse an appearance on another talk show. People wondered if he'd become unhinged after he went on ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' last month and repeatedly jumped on her couch in excitement over his love affair with actress Katie Holmes, saying his love for Holmes was ``beyond cool.''

So Cruise made fun of himself by jumping on Leno's couch and pumping his arms to a cheering crowd. ``When I start to think of her, things happen,'' he said.

The appearances are such a natural that it's a wonder B-list celebrities don't purposely get themselves in trouble to snag a Leno or Letterman date, said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.

``You need TiVo to catch all the celebrity mea culpas,'' Thompson said.

'ROADTRIP' PARKS IN WESTWOOD: ``Roadtrip Nation'' is a PBS documentary series about three somewhat aimless Pepperdine students - Mike Marriner, Brian McAllister and Nathan Gebhard - averting their midlife crises in their 20s by crossing the country and interviewing such leading lights as Bill Gates, Hugh Hefner, Mark Burnett and Starbucks honcho Howard Schultz about how they chose their successful paths. The authors will be at Borders Books, 1360 Westwood Blvd., [phone], at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, where their book is on sale. Check out the green RV they use as their home, transportation and sometimes studio. The interview subjects signed the ceiling. (The show repeats at 11:30 p.m. Sunday.)

FOO TV: If you do or don't like today's programming on MTV2, send your props or complaints to the Foo Fighters. The network has turned over its Times Square studio and programming operation from 9 a.m. today through 9 a.m. Sunday to Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett.

TRIAL TELEVISED: Court TV delves into a dark chapter of American history with the live daytime telecast beginning Monday of the murder trial of Edgar Ray Killen. Now 80 years old, Killen is accused of the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers, the crime at the center of the movie ``Mississippi Burning.'' If convicted, he faces life in prison.

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