Sumner Redstone is feeling rather friendly these days, judging from his comments on conference call to discuss earnings for CBS Corp and Viacom Inc. (He’s the chairman of both).

Maybe its because CBS and Viacom reported better-than-expected earnings. Or maybe Redstone’s just drawing closer to his handpicked executives — Les Moonves at CBS and Philippe Dauman at Viacom — amid a public squabble with daughter Shari Redstone.

Check out what Redstone had to say about Moonves during the conference call:

Making this possible is, of course, a highly committed, highly creative team of top-tier professionals, led by my very good friend, the incomparable Les Moonves. I’m truly excited really about what the future holds for this great company. Now Les will tell you all about it.

Moonves thanked his boss for “the nice words.”

But that was nothing compared to the praise he heaped on Dauman during the Viacom call:

One of the smartest moves that I and the Board have ever made was to ask Philippe Dauman to assume the role of CEO at Viacom, along with our longtime colleague Tom Dooley as CFO… Across the company, their strategic leadership is an inspiration. It is in inspiring innovation. It is creating collaboration. It is promoting efficiency… With that, of course, let me turn it over to my friend and CEO, Philippe Dauman.

Dauman, of course, also noted Redstone’s nice words:

Thank you, Sumner, my friend, as always.

So has Redstone gone totally mellow?

Seems unlikely. Keep in mind that media writer Ken Auletta once said Redstone had such a strong will that he was able to survive a fire in a hotel in 1979 by climbing out of a third floor window and clinging by his fingertips from a ledge until help came even though flames had engulfed his body.

“When he was rescued, after 10 minutes, the prognosis was that Redstone would not live,” Auletta wrote in his book “The Highwaymen.”

“He later underwent 60 skin grafts. While Redstone still battles the pain, the sole visible reminder of the fire is his right hand, which is bright purple-red with three gnarled nail-less fingers.”