Why Is No One Crying For Jay Leno?

@heywhat: true. and what's more shocking still is the network fawning over him as if the possibility of him jumping to another network to compete vs Conan was their biggest nightmare... I think Conan would slay him head to head..

@skahammer: I was certain that was a reference to Knotts Landing..

I've never been a regular Tonight Show watcher, and couldn't really care less about Jay Leno. But the impression I got from the quotes in the Sunday Times Magazine story on Conan was that Jay is an egotistical dick who is clinging to his youth and screwing Conan in the process. And he doesn't give a shit, because it's all about him. Yeah, it was a nice move to buy lunch for his striking writers, but his behavior the past few months has been so childish I can't stand it.

How's this for a clip for his final show: The night he asked Ryan Phillippe to look at the camera and give us his best "gay look"? He pounded on the guy the entire interview and then released a statement when he was universally condemned by the gay community that he and Ryan were "good friends". I treat my friends like that in public too. What a jerk. Yet whenever Reese is on the show I expect him to climb in her lap. He gives off a pervy vibe. I know he has a rep of being a "nice guy" but he gives me the creeps.

The man still tells O.J. Simpson and Monica Lewinsky jokes. Who cares about Monica Lewinsky and O.J. Simpson? Hey, why not pick on Tip O'Neill's drinking -- it's not like he's been dead 15 years! The worst thing is that Leno routinely, if subtly, uses racial and cultural stereotypes as punchlines. And he's never shy to make a gay joke -- Christ, how big a boon was "Brokeback Mountain" for this guy? These not-infrequent moments are like watching the black guys on "Airplane!" -- you know people in the '70s thought it funny, but really the gist of the joke was, "Black people talk weird." They're cheap laughs, when humor has thankfully managed to evolve into something more sophisticated and more biting and raunchier. Leno's humor -- and Leno the man -- are just not cool.

Awesome X

Other than the fact his jokes are stale and lazy, the reason why there is no outpouring of sadness is because the guy is NOT going away. He's going to be on at 10pm every single weeknight. Besides I miss my Conesy. Can't wait for him to return.

I refuse to take this article seriously for two reasons:

1. The use of "it's" for the possessive.

and

B. Not a single mention of Craig Ferguson.

gyrfaucon

@BitchyD: I'm more of a Porcell man.

@BitchyD: And then they fall asleep much to the horror of NBC affiliates throughout the country who's 11 pm/10pm newscasts will take a severe ratings hit.

I think it has a lot to do with the stories of a babyish Leno clinging to his show, unable to leave after his fair-and-square contract was up. He's done, and he shouldn't *have* a 10:00 timeslot show. Not only is Conan O'Brien only actually funny, but he's put in the work and deserves the promised prime latenight slot.

The argument about burning out vs. fading away applies perfectly to Jay Leno- in six years, look for him to be hosting the 17th hour of the Today Show.

In defense of the "Olds"- my grandparents find him unfunny and bland.
My grandmother faithfully watches Colbert.

I think Leno's appeal is entirely in his nice guy image, his charity, and his complete inoffensiveness. You could repeat a Leno joke in mixed company without fear of offending anyone. (Or making them laugh.)

irishflyesq

How many people still see the early baracuda days of Leno's Tonight Show reign when they look at him? That weird manager that died of cancer after playing mega-hardball with bookings? I think she's the reason Dennis Miller went bonkers (and remains there still.)

It's easy to play the nice guy when you have Hitler doling out the punches on your behalf.

Did Letterman ever forgive him?

Not a Leno watcher but stumbled on Billy Crystal there last night. He and Marc Shaiman did an Oscars-style salute that had its moments:

+ Watch video

Johnny always held a big part of himself back from his audience, with his four-week-long vacations and four-night-a-week schedule. Johnny never needed to please his audience, and it was a big part of his mystique. You always wanted more Johnny, and he refused to give it to you.

Leno is on five nights a week, does stand-up on Sunday nights up the road from his house and is on the road Saturday nights almost every weekend. Leno has a Labrador's endless eagerness to please. You always want less Leno, especially now, and he refuses to give it to you.

@gonzosmom: What, you make your bruschetta on crackers or something?

@Pope John Peeps II: What you may not know is that millions of American kids who never watched the Tonight show still greatly enjoyed Johnny Carson's Traveling Fire-Safety Expo and Unicycle Juggling Act.

@cdmunch: the hambone dramas of the time

I will not stand for this defamation of Falcon Crest!

@Jackish: When Carson died some lady came into work and just wouldn't shut up about him. I told her the only channel my family watched was Univision and that Don Francisco was the man of the hour. That shut her up.

BitchyD

@user_21938: But didn't they retire Masturbating Bear?

xhack

It's not like Leno's going anywhere, just moving an hour earlier so that the Baby boomers can tuck in with a glass of warm milk.

BitchyD

There are plenty of reasons that poor Jay arouses no passion, but I think the main one is this: He's a "grinder." By this I mean that, unlike Johnny or Dave or Conan, Jay seems to have no natural talent or charisma, only a seemingly bottomless reservoir of ambition and uncomfortable energy. I find watching him to be exhausting because he always seems to be working so fucking hard, and at that hour of the night, I want to be entertained by talent, not hard work.

He's like a loaf of white bread - no value whatsoever.

gonzosmom

I didn't read a word of this post, but this is why no one cares about Leno's last tonight show:

1) He is not funny
2) Olds and red state residents have no sense of humor
3) Olds and red state residents don't care about the Tonight show
4) He is not going away
5) this blog post was most likely a waste of time

GoldenShowersFillYourEyes

Basically Leno is not funny and Conan is funny uh-oh not funny ha-ha. The only true Carsonic successor was Letterman, as he was Johnny's choice. Leno should just keep to writing about cars in The Times (and no, not the New York one).

@ae38: Baldwin being from EW

ae38

I think Kristen Baldwin summed it up best: He's not going anywhere, rather, he's coming back stronger with an earlier time slot. Never watched him all these years, why bother now?

ae38

@Jackish: "I still miss Johnny Carson. I never watched him"

Yeah. Nice one.

I still miss Johnny Carson. I never watched him; my parents did, but when he retired, I wept like a good friend was leaving.

I love Letterman, who is genuinely funny and whose admiration for smart, good and noble people is obvious. His ongoing ridicule of Bush, Cheney, et al. made the Bush years slightly more tolerable.

As for Leno, hate to say it, but who cares? I will be glad I can watch Conan when Letterman is a rerun.

Jackish

Because Jay Leno isn't funny. Plain and simple. He's way too vanilla.

And I'm encouraged by Conan's recent promos for the Tonight Show. They're offbeat, like his old show. He's still got that edge, it seems.

My parents watch Leno, much to my chagrin and horror and they are exactly the type of people who would "mourn" about an icon stepping down. And yet they could give a shit about Leno leaving which I think says a lot. He is a bland, mildly entertaining rube who has no comedic style. It has always baffled and bugged me that he routinely beat Letterman in the ratings. Even if people tuned in for Leno's safe, middle of the road, predictable monologue, I thought they would surely tune out by the time the interview segment came. I think that is the best part of Letterman's show and he really is good at trying to make the person seem interesting and funny. And when they aren't, I enjoy when he mocks them in front of their faces because I think he is as upset as I am that this person would waste everyone's time by appearing on tv to shill their crap all while thinking that we should be grateful that they're even there. Leno on the other hand talks over his guests and repeatedly cuts them off to break in with his own anecdotes. I cannot believe he is now going to have another t.v. show so that he can continue to torture us with his mediocrity.

heywhat

I think part of the reason there is no sentimental good bye is that he's not really going anywhere. He's just f-ing up the whole network line up with that illconcieved 10pm show.

That being said, I like the guy. I think he's got a good personality. However, I never watch the Tonight Show and I most likely will never watch his new show either.

PamBeesley

@vinceneilyoung: Conan said plainly that he had no intention of toning things down. Fuck people's expectations :)

user_21938

Johnny Carson spanned an incredible era in American history- from 1962 to 1992 and was a mirror to the social and entertainment shifts that happened from Kennedy to Reagan. During that time, he not only created the late night talk show format, he dominated it. (I realize Jack Parr and others came before, but Carson modernized and genuinely mastered it into an art form.) The stacking of Letterman after Carson also had so much going for it, it was truly a formidable combination of innovative television, an antidote to all seriousness of news and the hambone dramas of the time.

There was also the sense that after his last show, Carson really was going away and was not going to be seen on tv regularly again. It felt truly final. I think that's what made it meaningful and touching.

Leno, on the other hand, did his schtick during a time when there were plenty of other late night options, he had neither the class nor the wit of Carson and now that his stint on the Tonight Show has finished, he's not going off the air, he's simply moving to another time slot. His guest appearances always struck me as crude mini PR events, preceded by predictable comedy and followed by bad music. As a kid, I loved Carson like some oddball character in a David Sedaris book and could never forgive Leno's mediocrity.

cdmunch

@vinceneilyoung: But the red state olds actually like someone a little saucy. That's why they won't be shedding tears or staying up for Leno.

Leno is bland, fawning, unfunny, and mediocre (did I write that, or was I just thinking that?). Conan is a gazillion times more talented (and vastly more interesting). Huge improvement here.

AuntieFreeze

People were mourning the loss of Conan's edge, as he's moving to a time slot that will require him to play to the olds and people who live in red states. Jay was toothless at 11:30, and he'll be toothless in prime time. No huge loss.

Plainly put, we're clearly getting an upgrade here. When Carson left, who in god's name could replace him? He was a legend, and some guy named Jay Leno wasn't going to do any better. This isn't true this time around. Conan will be much, much better than Jay, and I think everyone is happy for it.

user_21938

Why no tears? Because after 17 years, he still seems like the new guy in Carson's chair. He was the placeholder that wouldn't leave.

There's no big promo blitz because in all this time, he hasn't managed to amass a full hour's worth of memorable clips. There was Hugh Grant after the hooker. And...that's about it.

Just play him off already.

I think 20 yrs from now if someone mentions Jay Leno to me, I won't think of anything he said or did; I'll just think of the poor, desperately avoidant mom in "Happiness."

SW-2

@MrInBetween: Hearted!

ameliabedelia

@Pope John Peeps II: No, I didn't watch him because I had to go to bed. But I could hear the tv in my bedroom and listened to the show many times while in bed. Is that good enough for you?

Jackish

Leno is furniture--you can just move him around and forget him. His 10:00pm show will almost certainly tank because people want some adult drama after the kids are tucked away and Leno is like watching furniture sit around and age.

Tattertotter

My hope is that the 10pm Leno Annoyance Hour will fail spectacularly, and this will finally drive out Ben Silverman.

When was this guy ever funny?

I once dumped a dude because of his Leno-like chin. It made me very uncomfortable.

I stopped watching the Tonight Show when Carson left and I only watch it now to see a guest or band I like but then if I am not already watching Stewart/Colbert or asleep. I am usually asleep. I am glad to see O'Brian taking the chair because I like him even less than Leno. Fewer choices is always better.

reddingofish

@ConAir34: That proves nothing -- every show in the 80s had Lorenzo Lamas.

He was even on my high school's CCTV coverage of student council meetings. Did the narration, and occasionally filled in as a substitute anchor when the regular kid had an orthodontist appointment.

@MrInBetween:

This

ConAir34

I have always thought of Leno as a second rate stand up and he has not changed my opinion of him in his entire run.

Carson was a class act that ruled his show with an iron fist. Leno is a suck up.

I have liked Conan since he first started though. I mainly watched it for the "who the hell is this guy" factor but he quickly hooked me as a real talent.

ConAir34

@lobstr:

I was thinking Dynasty actually.

Couldn't be Falcon Crest though. That show had Lorenzo Lamas.

ConAir34

@xhack:

Nope

ConAir34

The only thing that we can really give Leno credit for is 'Collision Course,' his buddy cop film with Pat Morita. The best part? He was the bad-ass! http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1746508800/tt0097081

SevatiChelios

@forwardmotion: Yeah. I'm not sure David Letterman and Conan O'Brien would agree about how "nice" Jay Leno is.

So glad you can be a petulant homophobe and still be described as "nice."

Not too long ago I watched some clips of Johnny Carson (I hadn't seen him in years). TV has gotten so banal that it's easy to forget when there were fabulously talented people on it. Jay Leno is not one of those people.

Watching the old Tonight Show (the REAL Tonight Show), with Carson, was like being a fly on the wall at a really cool party. Watching Jay Leno's Tonight Show is more like being at a once cool club that's now full of bridge & tunnel crawlers. A bore.

Carson was the real thing. Leno is a pretender who sat in his chair for too many years.

(And then there is all that about how he schemed his way into that chair, and how he was never really anyone's first choice, and you've got why nobody cares).

18PercentGrey

I don't think of Leno as nice. Just talentless.

forwardmotion

perhaps no tears are being shed because jay isn't retiring at all. he'll still be on tv. when carson left, he LEFT. off the air. nowhere to be found. sitting in a hammock. et cetera. jay, on the other hand, won't go away, and per the nyt article, he's still finding a way to f*ck over somebody, and in this case, he's f*cking over conan by sticking around in the last hour of prime time.

which is worse - mourning that jay will still be on t.v. or mourning that nbc's last hour of primetime which could be scripted t.v. is being swapped out for jay leno?

Not totally buying it. Carson wasn't a rebel, either. He was just really fucking good. Leno, not so much. That's his problem.

LilybellFergasun

@unclevanya: Carson relaxed by playing the drums, had a set given to him by Buddy Rich, and you could say he had the musician's sense of timing and an inside understanding of how to make something happening spontaneous and live seem on the outside very simple. Jay relaxes by being an auto-mechanic, he chooses to labor on engines that powered exotic dream-machines of yore. Do I have to continue this analogy?

Still, I think Carson/McMahon Tonight Show legacy is also somewhat over-rated, and SCTV, for one, had caught the hammy-essence of the show already by the 1980s.

A121Author

@LilybellFergasun: Also, Carson behaved like the audience's eyes and ears. People were totally in sync with him, which is why he could get big laughs merely by glancing at the camera. The audience could read his mind, because most of the time they were thinking the same thing.

Jay never had that, so he got by on his "I'm going to outwork everyone else to survive" shtick. Which is what he did - he survived 17 years on The Tonight Show, as oposed to leaving any kind of mark on it.

#goodriddancejayleno

as we say on that other website.

disasterevolved

what if you live in a red/blue state? that stuff is tired, by the way. anyway, leno is just not funny enough for late night. he lacks any sort of edge. and those set-up bits with asking idiots on the streets dumb questions is as low-rent as it gets.

Simply put - there is no outpouring of emotions for Leno because he is hated by almost anyone who has ever been unfortunate enough to have to deal with him. But, since he won't go away, discretion is seemingly the better part of valor.

wackiland

It's Karma time for Leno. He stole the Tonight Show out from Letterman, rode it on the strength of affiliates, and now has sanctimoniously done the same thing again. What most people don't realize is that Jay's prime time deal was the reason he stepped down in the first place. Jay knows that no one is staying up late anymore and 10 o'clock is the new 11:30. For Conan, the Tonight Show is a lateral move. For Jay to say "I will still have the pleasure of saying "Stay tuned for Conan" is his way of saying "Fuck You -Conan still follows ME".
When Carson died, and Letterman did a monologue of jokes that Carson had supplied him over the years. It became radiantly clear that Letterman was supposed to take over the Tonight Show. Carson wasn't sending Leno any material. Letterman is superior as a host, comic, intellectual and even a nice guy. I think Letterman is going to finally get his much deserved 'Time' and Leno is going to go down the 10 o'clock toilet.

itsmegerald

I agree with the comment regarding Craig Ferguson. He is the only late night host with an interesting monologue, much of which is improvised. Sometimes he bombs but mostly he's hilarious, unlike all the others with their boring, predictable one-liners. For laugh-out-loud, wet-yourself comedy watch his lip syncing of Brittany Spears' "Oops I did it again" (on Youtube).

SanwariNangified