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Jay Leno gives the jokes their due on tour
By John Benson
Jay Leno is a survivor, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering he’s currently in his fifth decade as a touring stand-up comedian.
Throughout his career, the funnyman overcame the rigors of stand-up comedy in the ’70s, the stigma of taking over for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” (including the high-profile battle to get the gig over David Letterman) and the Conan O’Brien debacle regarding the iconic late-night show, which eventually went to current host Jimmy Fallon.
Whatever the audience’s perception of Leno is, the 65-year-old funnyman could care less. He’s still touring, with a show scheduled for Friday at Packard Music Hall in Warren.
The Vindicator talked to the former undisputed king of late-night television about his past, present and future.
Q. First of all, your love of cars is well known. Any chance you’ll be driving a Packard to your Packard Music Hall performance?
A. No, I won’t. I have a bunch of Packards but none I would drive from California to Warren. The last time I played Warren was a long time ago. I did a comedy club there like 35 years ago, so it’s fun to come back.
Q. It’s just over two years since you left “The Tonight Show.” Do you miss anything?
A. “The Tonight Show,” you do different jokes in the same place every night. On the road, you do the same jokes in a different place. And there are advantages and disadvantages to both. The advantage to “The Tonight Show” was if something happened today, I could be the first one out there with a joke about it tonight. The disadvantage to that is the next day I think of a better joke on the same subject or another punch line for the joke, and I can’t do it because I already did it. Whereas when you’re on the road you can try it out on a Monday and change a little bit on Tuesday, and when you get to Warren, Ohio, on Friday, you’ve got it down. So that’s the difference. On the road you can let the story breathe a little bit. You don’t have to move so quickly.
Q. Obviously, hosting “The Tonight Show” for so long made you a mainstay of late-night television. Did your tenure ending in an odd way tarnish your legacy?
A. It didn’t really end in an odd way. They did that thing with Conan. OK, fine. And they want to bring me back, and I said fine. Johnny took the show to No. 1. My job taking it from Johnny, I kept it at No. 1, and by the time I handed it off to Jimmy, who I think is fantastic, he’s kept the show No. 1. That’s your real job. My thing is, I was a stand-up comedian long before I was a TV host. TV jobs are always temporary. People always talk about this, but I didn’t touch a dime of my TV money. I live on the money I make as a performer. Because if you live on TV money, you become lazy, you stop writing jokes, you think you’re interesting, and then you think you’re funny just talking off the cuff. You’re not. You need to go out and work material and make sure it’s funny and tight.
Q. You’re on the road about 210 dates a year. When talking to your audience, what do they ask about the most?
A. The funniest part is, I’ve been doing this so long, I used to get, “My girlfriend is a fan of yours.” And now I get, “Oh, my girlfriend’s grandmother is a fan of yours.” And it’s fine. I’m getting older. I have no problem with it because your act grows with you. You just talk about life and things that happen. It’s fun.
Q. Finally, do you see retirement anywhere in your future plans?
A. It’s still fun. If someone tells you a funny joke and you tell it to each person who passes by your desk, after the day you’ve got your joke down. And now you’re waiting for people to pass by your desk so you can tell them the joke. That’s kind of like what this job is like. I did this for years when nobody wanted to see me, when I was opening for rock bands and getting booed off the stage. So to go to places where people actually come to see me, oh my God, that’s fantastic.