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A lot’s changed successful precocious night, successful nan media and successful America successful nan 12 years since Jay Leno stopped being nan big of The Tonight Show.
“I mean, podcasts really are nan caller talk shows,” the Jay Leno’s Garage frontman says. “Joe Rogan is nan caller Johnny Carson,” nan 76-year-old comic adds, apt knowing he’ll get blowback.
Coming disconnected a week wherever Leno had erstwhile president Joe Biden arsenic nan impermanent connected Garage connected his YouTube channel, nan 1999-2014 Tonight host, nan compliment to nan UFC commentator will conscionable heap connected to governmental outrage successful polarized state connected our 250th birthday. Truth beryllium told, successful a wide ranging sit-down, Leno admits he’s beautiful utilized to it, and he cognize perectly good that nan Appointment TV days of his precocious nighttime domination are agelong long gone.
To that, Leno has immoderate ideas why precocious nighttime has faded away, why YouTube took complete and why he doesn’t interest astir nan critics, sloppy of what broadside of nan aisle aliases nan table they travel from.
DEADLINE: With each that’s going connected successful precocious nighttime now, your exit successful 2014 looks for illustration a prophetic move now, no?
JAY LENO: (LAUGHS) That’s beautiful funny.
You know. I make my surviving arsenic a stand-up comic. TV is simply a occupation that either lasts 13 weeks aliases less. Okay, I was lucky, excavation lasted 22 years. But nan time nan Tonight Show ended, I was backmost connected nan roadworthy nan adjacent nighttime successful Florida for 5 nights, and that’s what I do now. So, for me, thing really has changed. People ever think, how’s retirement? Well, I’m not retired. I do 200 dates a year, and I do deliberation I do a bully show. I’ve sewage a fewer different things going on, for illustration nan Garage show, that I enjoy. I person a bully life aft precocious night
DEADLINE: Well, you are a YouTube prima now pinch Garage since it near CNBC backmost successful 2023 …
LENO: You know, it seems for illustration nan aforesaid point to me, really. I mean, I bask it. It’s different, but I bask it.
DEADLINE: Inadvertently you were up of nan game, and you get to beryllium your ain boss, which can’t beryllium bad?
LENO: It’s funny, because I was truthful fortunate that my supplier dropped maine correct earlier I sewage The Tonight Show successful 1992. I later worked it out, I saved $30 cardinal successful commissions.
DEADLINE: Jesus…
LENO: I know, I said, each right, good pinch me, you know? I mean, I’m 1 of those people, erstwhile everyone wants to break up pinch me. I don’t plead, I go, “fine, okay, you’re cool. “And that was nan aforesaid thing, you know, pinch nan agent.
I mean, I retrieve nan aforesaid point happened erstwhile I was successful The Tonight Show, and they’re gonna switch maine pinch Conan, and they called me, and said, “You know, I did number 1 for for illustration 17 years. One of nan executives says “we want what’s supra number one, “and I go, “okay, what is supra number one?” I mean, I conscionable started to laugh, and they realized really stupid nan connection was. I said, tin you want maine out? I’m out. Fine. And past I was out.
DEADLINE: It wasn’t pretty, I remember.
LENO: Yeah, but past what happened was Craig Ferguson came along, and he started beating Conan. Then I sewage a telephone from Jeff Zucker saying, “I deliberation I made a mistake.” I said: “Yeah, I told you.” Zucker said “we’d for illustration to person you back.” Okay, “Fine, I’ll travel back, immoderate you want, you know. I don’t person manager; I don’t person a full-time agent. I discuss everything myself.
DEADLINE: Jay, dude, why fuss astatine this point? Who needs nan stress?
LENO: Yeah, I know, it’s really stupid. Then again, I person a location successful Beverly Hills, truthful it’s moving out. The bully point astir doing your ain negotiations, you find retired precisely really group feel. The customer mightiness say, “Leno sucks, I can’t guidelines that guy.” If you person an supplier doing your negotiations, what you perceive is “Oh, he likes you, he conscionable doesn’t person thing for you correct now.” Yeah, sure.
DEADLINE: Don’t person thing for you now, sounds for illustration an epitaph for precocious nighttime successful 2026. There’s almost ne'er 1 logic for anything, but pinch Colbert gone, Kimmel thriving but nether threat and everyone looking complete their firm enarthrosis for attacks from Donald Trump, their ain bosses aliases Greg Gutfeld, why do you deliberation precocious nighttime mislaid its swagger?
LENO: It’s boring, but here’s nan point that I deliberation wounded precocious nighttime nan most: excessively galore commercials.
They passed immoderate caller rules earlier my tenure astatine The Tonight Show, that aft 11:30 astatine nighttime you could adhd different for illustration 5 aliases six minutes to nan hour. It came successful in waves, but by nan extremity of my clip (at nan Tonight Show) alternatively of doing for illustration 48 minutes of show, it was only for illustration 42 and surgery up more.
DEADLINE: That’s from 1984, erstwhile nan FCC pulled disconnected limits connected nan magnitude of advertisement time. By 2014, erstwhile you near Tonight, it was measurement up there, for illustration you said 18, aliases 16 minutes for nan hour.
LENO: Yeah, truthful erstwhile I move connected precocious nighttime now, sloppy of really I’m watching, you know, if I spot Jake from State Farm again, I’m gonna sprout myself successful nan f*cking head.
It’s like, geez, it’s you watch nan big comes out, does nan monologue, past it’s correct distant complete to six minutes of commercials. You travel back, nan big talks astir who’s coming up and everything out, we’ll beryllium correct back, and truthful on. All trim up.
Enough already.
Why watch that erstwhile I tin move complete to streaming aliases YouTube and I tin watch an hr pinch Harrison Ford talking disconnected nan apical of his head, arsenic opposed to conscionable having fewer minutes pinch nan impermanent aliases pinch nan host, you know? Johnny utilized to person existent conversations. I tried to person existent conversations. That’s seems to beryllium gone, and nan assemblage cognize it.
DEADLINE: Can it travel back?
LENO: It’s not that group are amended aliases worse, it’s nan truth that nan full mean has changed. The thought that you person to move nan TV connected 11:30 p.m. to perceive what was being said, for illustration assignment television, that sounds ridiculous now.
DEADLINE: Devil’s advocate, why?
LENO: Because you tin watch TV whenever you want now, you tin watch immoderate show immoderate you want, you know, truthful that’s what’s really ruined it. There’s nary immediacy. People utilized to say, “Oh, let’s spot what David Letterman aliases whoever had to opportunity astir nan president’s point today,” and you and nan full world simultaneously astatine 11:30 what they thought. Now you tin look it up anytime, and whenever you watch it, if you miss it, that’s okay, you know. So, yeah, that’s what’s really changed.
DEADLINE: Sounds for illustration Jay Leno is channeling Marshall McLuhan. That you’re saying, it’s nan medium, not nan message?
LENO: Yeah, I deliberation that’s adjacent to say.
I mean, podcasts really are nan caller talk shows. Joe Rogan is nan caller Johnny Carson.
Yeah, Joe talks to everybody astir everything. There’s nary FCC to measurement successful and opportunity what you opportunity and can’t say, truthful you really do get an unfiltered thought of what everybody thinks. So, yeah, I mean, to me, that’s what’s besides changed precocious night.
I talk to young people, they don’t cognize CBS, NBC, aliases ABC, Channel Four, they cognize Channel 682 aliases whatever. They conscionable spell to YouTube. Which is amazing. If you had predicted YouTube would beryllium nan astir celebrated transmission successful nan world 10 years ago, I deliberation group would person said “what are you talking about?” But it is now.
DEADLINE: You’re return connected precocious nighttime has gotten you spanked much than a fewer times. As good arsenic calling you a hypocrite almost a decade agone complete your Monica Lewinsky jokes successful nan precocious 1990s and your calls for civility, John Oliver successful peculiar has taken you to nan woodshed complete your disapproval of precocious nighttime getting excessively partisan It’s ironic, because, let’s beryllium honest, you’re a pal of ex-presidents, but you’ve been beautiful governmental complete nan years pinch your zingers too.
LENO: Well, pinch John Oliver, I did interview past twelvemonth pinch nan caput of nan Reagan Library astir nan joke of Ronald Reagan. Talked astir having meal pinch him a mates times, and blah blah blah astatine nan White House and stuff, and you know, conscionable telling funny stories.
One of nan questions nan interviewer, David Trulio, asked maine was thing for illustration “how do you deliberation you and Johnny handled politics?” Well, we tried to make nosy of some sides equally. You know, you humiliate degrade everybody equally, that’s it. I mentioned nan pressures of life and group cozying to 1 broadside much than nan other. I said, “I don’t deliberation anyone wants to perceive a lecture, why spell for conscionable half an audience?” He wanted maine to opportunity that Republicans laughter astatine each different much than Democrats, I’m not judge I agreed.
Anyway, this was each while Colbert still had a occupation astatine CBS
Two weeks later, Colbert gets fired. Interview comes out.
Soon after, I picked up nan insubstantial and they person a image of maine making an angry look and saying precocious nighttime hosts are doing it wrong. I didn’t opportunity that, I didn’t, but John Oliver goes, “hey, Jay Leno, f*ck you, f*ck you for saying that astir Colbert. But I ne'er said that, I ne'er said it.
That’s why I thin not to return immoderate of it excessively seriously. I ne'er mentioned different feline being amended aliases worse aliases anything. I deliberation they each do a bully job. Funny is funny. All nan rest, it’s conscionable nan times we unrecorded in, that’s all.
DEADLINE: On nan flip of that, you had Joe Biden connected Jay Leno’s Garage this week. You look to for illustration Biden, what benignant of guidance do you expect from nan GOP and MAGA connected you guys cruising astir successful Biden’s Corvette?
LENO: (LAUGHS) They’ll constitute and opportunity “I will ne'er watch your programme again.”
Yeah, I sewage it.
But here’s nan thing, first of all, it’s free connected YouTube. I don’t really attraction if you watch it aliases not, you know. But there’ll beryllium each these group that you cognize will spell connected that Biden’s a crook, blah blah, That I conscionable had his constituent of position connected Trump, it wasn’t nan full gamut. Whatever, it’s conscionable america driving around. I don’t really interest astir it.
DEADLINE: Really?
LENO: Yeah, for illustration I said, we utilized to brag astir nan truth that Johnny and I would effort to make nosy of some sides equally. Looks for illustration that doesn’t activity anymore. The assemblage is each complete nan place. I conscionable deliberation nan astir important point is to retrieve funny is funny.
