Posted on 02/08/2014 8:18:02 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Congratulations to President Obama on being reelected president of the United States. Turns out it is not all bad news for the Republicans. It seems that depression is covered by Obamacare.
As Jay Leno nears the end of his nearly 22-year run as the host of The Tonight Show, the lantern-jawed comic with the thick Boston accent finds himself in an unusual predicament. Having won the War of Johnny Carson’s Succession (1992), successfully fended off a challenge from upstart Conan O’Brien during a brief interregnum (2009–10), and gracefully bowed to the inevitable with the accession of Jimmy Fallon to the late-night throne next year, Leno now finds himself cast in a new role: conservative hero.
Leno’s always played his politics, or lack of them, close to the vest, insisting that his job as host of The Tonight Show is business, not politics. And he’s right, of course. Hard as it may be for younger readers to believe, there was a time in this country when not everything was political, and you could get through one whole day at work without talking about #$%@BUSH!*&@ or Barry with your co-workers.
At the same time, comics used to play their historical role as jesters to the hilt, mocking the Kennedys at the height of Camelot (Vaughn Meader), whaling away at a scowling Tricky Dick (David Frye), impersonating a bumbling Gerald Ford (Chevy Chase) or an inarticulate George H. W. Bush (Dana Carvey). Reagan and Clinton also came in for substantial comic abuse during their administrations, and Will Ferrell made an entire cottage industry out of ridiculing George W. Bush.
And then, with the election of Barack Obama, it all stopped. Suddenly, there was nothing funny about the president of the United States — not his massive ego, his pomposity, his Bush-like inability to speak extemporaneously, his golf game, even his jump shot. “The only person that’s made jokes about President Obama in the last five years is him,” observed comic Colin Quinn. “He has to do it at the White House Correspondents Dinner. That’s how bad it’s gotten.”
Enter Leno Unbound.
One of President Obama’s winning points last night was about how sanctions against Iran are crippling their economy. And believe me, if anyone knows how to cripple an economy, it’s President Obama.
As Leno edges both out the door and perhaps slightly rightward, he’s become an object of derision for the Left. Jay’s appeal to Middle America drives them crazy, since they inherently dislike the good old-fashioned, homey virtues of flyover country that Leno embodies and celebrates in his comedy. Further, there was never anything “post-funny” about Leno — no hip, ironic detachment like David Letterman’s, nor Conan’s wisenheimer Harvard snark. With nothing to lose, Jay seems fresher and freer than he has been in years.
And yet, in a 2004 interview with Nikki Finke, the reigning queen of Hollywood gossip and news, Leno described himself as a liberal (“I’m not conservative. I’ve never voted that way in my life”) and an equal-opportunity jokester who had a grand total of zero Republicans on his writing staff. What he wasn’t, he insisted, was partisan:
You know I did the White House Correspondents Dinner this year, and this is the most partisan crowd. You do a joke about Bush, and half of them sit like this [his hands are in his lap] and the other half are applauding. And then I do Kerry jokes, and half the people are like this [his hands are in his lap again]. It’s like the most juvenile atmosphere you could possibly imagine. And every now and then you do a joke that will cross both sides, so they both laugh.
Getting both sides to laugh has been the secret to Leno’s success for decades, a task made easier by his image as a nice guy, which he is in reality too. When NBC took an axe to The Tonight Show’s $100 million budget last year, he took a major salary cut to keep as many on his staff employed as possible. I had a chance to watch him backstage and on the set in Burbank a few months ago, and it’s clear he engenders strong loyalty from the folks who help make The Tonight Show such a long-running success.
But is Leno a closet conservative? In a town where open conservatives are still fairly rare — there are plenty of conservatives, but with a few prominent exceptions (e.g., Jon Voight), they prefer to keep their politics to themselves — there’s no percentage in coming out if you don’t have to. Should Leno decide to unretire and perhaps join the Fox network (not Fox News) as host of another late-night talk show, it would say absolutely nothing about his politics one way or the other.
Did you hear about this? The IRS has admitted they were targeting conservative groups. President Obama called it outrageous and said he would immediately have his Benghazi investigators look into it.
Okay, that one smarts. And there are signs that even the lefty comics are beginning to take the gloves off; libertarian Bill Maher has been especially tough on the president lately:
President Obama was in Germany and spoke at the Brandenburg Gate, which divided that city during the Cold War. Obama said: “It’s taught me a lot. When I was a kid, West Germany taught me the importance of standing tall, and East Germany taught me the importance of reading everyone’s mail.”
So does that one. The thing you need to understand about Hollywood is that at the creative level, politics is not paramount. Some conservatives who’ve never worked a day in the Industry like to imagine that there’s a vast conspiracy against them, but the fact is, Hollywood rewards good old-fashioned conservative virtues like talent, hard work, and an unwillingness ever to give up.
Just ask Jay Leno. But don’t expect an answer.
— Michael Walsh is a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. Writing as “David Kahane,” he is the author of Rules for Radical Conservatives: Beating the Left at Its Own Game to Take Back America.
While Leno, unlike most of the late-night crew, will skewer leftists on occasion, if you tally it up, he does so to conservatives with far more regularity and on issues where it’s far more forced.
I guess I’d just say he’s LESS leftist than the others.
“I guess I’d just say he’s LESS leftist than the others.”
Yeah. You here is proud pronouncement on his last night that his studio was a union studio. It was no small part of his sign off.
Leno knew he had to at least partially direct some comical ire at the left to be the least bit credible with the viewing public. He was all about securing a vast base of viewers. He was smart enough to know that the couldn’t be full retard left all of the time and do so. He had to toss some poop at the left of center to be credible.
No doubt he is a Dem voting CaliCrat who loves the current Admin. He just sort of knew the audience better than most.
During Jay’s final sign off Thursday night, he made a point of saying that his Staff was Union, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Was it necessary for him to point out that he had a Union Shop, of course not. It just showed that despite his middle of the road jokes, a matter of opinion, he has never gotten over being a Democrat from Boston.
Granted Jay seems less partisan, but that is because we compare him to all the other Late Night Hosts and Comedians.
I like the guy, but after watching his grilling of Senator Cruz, my opinion of him was lessened. It doesn’t mean he isn’t a nice guy, because he is, but he completely blinded to the fact that the people he supports hate this Country for what it is (or was).
It isn’t the jokes that let you know he is a liberal it I s the interviews. While he is polite he questions conservatives and liberals differently. He agrees with the liberals and disagrees with the conservatives, but he was never nasty or abusive about it. In the monologues he was more even handed.
Watched both (final sign off/union mention and Ted Cruz) and agree completely with your post, on each.
Oh there’s no conspiracy against conservatives. It’s right out there in the open.
I have a conservative friend that is a very high end tax consultant....I asked him how he could do their taxes as a conservative....He laughed and said....I give them the same same service I give all my clients...Every legal deduction I can....But!..I charge them 20% more for my service
Leno might not have had any Republicans on his full-time writing staff in Burbank, but there a couple dozen gag writers across the country he buys monologue jokes from on a per-joke basis. At least a couple of those guys are conservative/libertarian/Republican, and that’s where he got most of his anti-Obama jokes from.
But for many reasons, he knows where his bread is buttered.
Don't forget that he took over from Johnny Carson, and that his audience is mostly a middle of the road over 50 crowd.
So to please his insane pro-abortion wife, but not alienate half of his viewing audience he has to tread lightly.
This is why I think that Fallon will fail.
70 year olds will just not like his brand of all the time, balls to the wall leftist "humor".
And his writing staff will be befuddled as to why he isn't "liked".
Racism is the only possible answer. People probably hate "The First Black President" so much it spills over and gets on Fallon.
Jay Leno was a complete pr**k to Ted Cruz that ...
NO
He’s a lib.
He is more watchable than say Jimmy Fallon or that **** Letterman though.
I think NBC made a big mistake.
LOL!
I get more random laughs on the internet than I get from Jay Leno and other late nite hosts, alleged comedians comedians. They never make me laugh. Letterman is the worst. He looks awful and same for whatever comes from his mouth.
Breaking Bad and House of Cards with their black humor are funny. But not these late night alleged comedian dudes. If more states legalized marijuana their ratings would rise.
I liked to watch Leno on occassion. However, I have no interest in watching the guy who came up with the “Preezy of the Sneezy”.
Thick Boston accent? Have they ever seen him on TV?
He would end up divorced and lose half his empire if he turned conservative.
He still gets it right sometimes...
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