David Letterman makes light of bizarre New Mexico restraining order.

Late-night television host David Letterman, slapped last week with a temporary restraining order signed by a Santa Fe judge at the request of Colleen Nestler, told a joke on Thursday's show, then quipped, "By the way, that wasn't a joke; it was a coded message."

Nestler doesn't claim she has ever met Letterman personally but that he has been sending her messages in "code" through his television program for years, seeking some kind of relationship with her.

But the really strange thing is -- according to a story you saw first in the Albuquerque Journal this week -- state District Judge Daniel Sanchez of Santa Fe granted Nestler's Dec. 15 request for a temporary restraining order on the day she filed it, ordering that Letterman "not threaten, harm, alarm or annoy" Nestler and not telephone or contact her in any way "either directly or through others."

And, according to documents filed in the case, Nestler had only asked that Letterman be ordered to stay at least 3 yards away from her, but the judge actually extended the stay-away zone to 100 yards.

Sanchez told the Journal this week that he had reviewed Nestler's application (which was accompanied by a rambling 6-page typed document alleging a bizarre scheme involving Letterman and other TV personalities) before he granted the order.

"If they make a proper pleading, then I grant it," said Sanchez, who made a similar explanation on this morning's "Today" show segment on the rapidly spreading story.

If Letterman is treating the whole thing lightly, his attorneys sure aren't. They've asked the judge to quash the order and permanently enjoin Nestler -- who is representing herself in the case -- from filing "these sorts of allegations," and certainly not without the assistance of an attorney.

Letterman's Los Angeles attorney has called the claims "absurd and frivlous on their face."

In their 6-page expedited motion to quash the order, Pat Rogers and Brian Nichols, Albuquerque attorneys appearing for Letterman in New Mexico, wrote, "While Ms. Nestler may deserve compassion and assistance, allowing her to bring claims against Mr. Letterman is not in her interests or in the interests of justice."

Meanwhile, Sanchez has moved up his hearing on the TRO, originally scheduled for Jan. 12,  to next Tuesday, according to a brief item in today's Albuquerque Journal.

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