Tag Archives: jay leno

Feb 08

No story tonight

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I was really counting on a long and funny story from Dave Letterman tonight about the taping of the Super Bowl ad with Jay and Oprah. But there wasn’t one; he made a very brief monologue joke, and then later at the desk he dryly thanked “the actors who played Oprah and Jay Leno.”

Part of the problem may have been that tonight’s Late Show was chock full anyway, with little time for desk chat — Super Bowl QB Drew Brees, Sandra Bullock, the unveiling of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover, and some unexpected crisis in the form of stage manager and frequent cast member Biff Henderson injuring himself. Dave, in Brees’ honor, was tossing the pigskin to various members of the crew and the CBS orchestra, and Biff fell down trying to make a catch. Dave said he was fine, but they apparently took him out on a gurney with his leg in a splint.

I actually watched the first few minutes of “The Jay Leno Show” tonight — the first time I’ve done so since Jay started whining at the peak of the late night crisis — and I have to admit that Jay did a nice job talking about the spot, and about how he had to sneak into the Ed Sullivan Theater in a hoodie, shades and fake moustache for the taping last Tuesday.

Top NBC officials had to approve Jay’s appearance on the CBS promo, but it was kept so hush-hush that a lower-level NBC functionary actually came to Jay a day or two after the taping to tell Jay about a rumor that Letterman had taped a Super Bowl promo with a super-secret guest, which the executive figured might be … Barack Obama. Jay listened with great interest and instructed the NBC executive to keep him informed.

Bet that guy felt stupid when he saw the promo.

Jan 19

Why? ‘It’s just fun!’

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Dave Letterman owns up to Dick Ebersol’s charge that Leno critics are “chicken-hearted and gutless,” and also admits the real reason he’s making fun of poor, put-upon Jay: “It’s just fun!” And, after all, Ebersol should be looking after more important matters, like picking Bob Costas’ sweaters for the Winter Olympics:

Jan 16

Live from New York, redux

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I’m an idiot.

In my earlier post about how and whether SNL would address the late night talk show controversy, I didn’t give a moment’s thought to tonight’s SNL host, Sigourney Weaver.

I had known in the past, but long since forgotten, that she was the daughter of an NBC executive from the 1950s, Sylvester “Pat” Weaver.

During his tenure at NBC, Weaver is responsible for creating two shows that became NBC’s flagships and are still on the air today.

One of them is the “Today” show.

The other one …. well, let’s just say the other show Pat Weaver created has been in the news this week.

SNL addressed the late night controversy in the cold open, an amusing but relatively-toothless sketch with Jay, Conan and Dave as guests on “Larry King Live.” (Cast member emeritus Darrell Hammond played Jay, Bill Hader played Conan, and Jason Sudeikis was a wordlessly-mugging Dave.) But then, in her monologue, Sigourney made very brief reference to it, noting her father’s role.

I’ll wait and see if Seth makes any reference to it during Weekend Update.

The show is still falling prey to this year’s recycling epidemic; the first sketch, about a women’s darts tournament on ESPN, is recycled from a previous sketch about a women’s bowling tournament.

Jan 14

The LaRosa conundrum

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People understand that actors play parts. Whether you think of acting as “pretending” or whether you subscribe to method-acting notions of empathetically channeling some part of your own personality, everyone understands, or should, that the character and the actor are two different people. I have never met Jack McBrayer, but I doubt he’s exactly like Kenneth the Page on “30 Rock.”

We have all heard stories about actors specializing in easy-going heroes who turned out to be ambitious or misogynistic jerks in real life, or about great horror villains who, in real life, are adored by their friends and love to play bridge and make tiramisu.

I think we also admit that a similar dichotomy is possible for people who play “themselves,” whether as radio personalities or talk show hosts or observational comedians. Even in these cases, the private personality might be different in some ways from the public persona — and we’re usually OK with that, as long as we aren’t slapped in the face by it. But sometimes the gap between the persona and the personality is too jarring to get over.
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Jan 13

Ingracious Jay

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Jay Leno’s monologue tonight, coming on the heels of his monologues for the past week, sort of annoyed me. I statused about it, but wanted to expand on my thoughts a little bit.

Jay, like every other comedian in late night, is continuing to take potshots at the NBC executives. But from him, it sounds ingracious and ungrateful. And he took a potshot at Conan tonight designed to reinforce the point that, in his own mind, he is a bigger victim in this mess than Conan.

I don’t buy it.

I do understand why Jay sees himself as a victim. He feels that he was forced out of the “Tonight Show,” even though he was winning his time slot, and now he’s being hastily forced out of his prime time show in a way that makes him seem like a failure.

But the fact of the matter is, if Jay, Conan, and Jimmy Fallon were all thrown out the window, Jay landed on top, his fall cushioned by those beneath him. Everything that’s happened in the week since the cancellation of the “Jay Leno Show” has been designed to placate Jay, at the expense of Conan and Jimmy, and so Jay’s whining comes off as, well, whining.

Let’s not forget: Jay agreed in 2004 to give up “The Tonight Show” in 2009. He issued a statement saying that he was pleased with the orderly transition. Was he forced into that decision?

Well, in late 2008, he had enough clout that NBC executives made a drastic change in their prime time schedule in order to prevent him from taking his services to FOX or ABC. Why would he not have had that same clout in 2004? No, I think he agreed to the transition and then had Brett Favre-like second thoughts as 2009 drew closer. So for him to whine about NBC executives “firing” him from “The Tonight Show” is neither accurate nor gracious.

If Jay feels betrayed by NBC management, fine. But he should remind himself that he’s getting back the time slot he claims he never wanted to leave to begin with, and that by doing so he is delivering a career setback to (and this is, of course, opinion) a much more original and talented comic writer and performer. In other words, he should man up, adopt a big-shoulders policy, and let everyone else take potshots at NBC executives, and at Jay Leno. He should stop whining and spend his time trying to convince the American public that he deserves to return to his former post.

Of course, perhaps he’s trying to mimic Letterman, who has turned griping about network executives into a minor art form. It wouldn’t be the first time Leno’s stolen comic material from Letterman.

Jan 07

Gallows humor?

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Leno, to his credit, had fun with the rumors in his monologue tonight, saying that if he were canceled, he and bandleader Kevin Eubanks could go traveling.

“I hear the weather at FOX is lovely this time of year,” he quipped.

He also joked that NBC stood for “Never Believe your Contract.”

Jan 07

Jay & Conan update

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The latest rumor is that NBC would put Jay on with a half-hour show at 11:35 Eastern (10:35 for us here in Tennessee), and push Conan back to 12:05 Eastern (11:05 Central). Not sure which one would be called “The Tonight Show,” although I’m guessing they might let Conan keep that title as a consolation prize for getting pushed back a half hour.

Jan 07

History repeating itself

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In the early 1990s, NBC gave “The Tonight Show” to the bland, predictable, derivative Jay Leno instead of to the man who had single-handedly reinvented late-night comedy (and who was Johnny Carson’s personal favorite as heir apparent).

Now, it looks like NBC may give “The Tonight Show” back to the bland, predictable, derivative Jay Leno by taking it away from another genuine and often-misunderstood comic talent. I realize Conan O’Brien isn’t for all tastes, but I think he’s hilarious, and I’ve enjoyed him all the more since he brought Andy Richter back as his sidekick upon taking over the “Tonight Show.” I frequently watch Conan live and Letterman on the DVR, which for me is saying something.

If NBC does this thing, I hope Conan is able to get out of his contract and go to FOX or somewhere else.