Posted on 01/28/2014 6:08:19 PM PST by rickmichaels
Those old enough to remember Johnny Carson will recall copious tears over the course of his two-day Tonight Show goodbye – capped by Bette Midler’s serenade of One For My Baby.
That was how people felt about Carson. He’d been a part of a nation’s lives for three decades, the last person besides their spouse many people saw before going to bed.
I can’t imagine Jay Leno’s final Tonight show Feb. 6 generating that much emotion. Guest (and heir apparent) Jimmy Fallon will be amiable and polite. Billy Crystal will ladle on Hollywood schmaltz about Jay’s 21 great years (subtracting six months for the nasty Conan O’Brien experiment).
But in the end, I expect there won’t be a wet eye in the house.
Leno was an odd success. He was a consistent ratings winner, yet was never exactly loved by the viewing audience. His unlovable side lurked near the surface. After out-manoeuvring David Letterman for the Tonight host job, Leno fired his long-time manager Helen Kushnick as Tonight Show executive producer four months in.
He was obsessed with the press and seemingly read everything anybody wrote about him (in the ‘90s, pre-Google). Leno once phoned the Toronto Sun after then TV critic Claire Bickley had interviewed a Canadian Tonight Show intern, who claimed to have written a joke that was used on-air. “(Leno) denied he ever used the intern’s joke,” Bickley recalls. “He was quite livid about it, very angry. I wondered why he wouldn’t just let it go. That call was like using a jackhammer to kill a gnat.”
But it was his fellow comics who fell out of love the hardest. From early complaints that he was stingy with the time allotted to comics on his show, to the widespread opinion that the once-edgy Leno had softened his persona to mush, to vicious public feuds with the likes of Jimmy Kimmel and George Lopez, Leno lost the cachet he once had as a Comedy Store pioneer and comic’s comic.
No one knows where the Lopez feud started, but at Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival in 2007, he told us simply, “I hate him,” when asked about Leno. The hard feelings deepened after Leno approached someone he thought was Lopez at a party, intending to mend fences. It turned out to be Paul Rodriguez, another Chicano-American comic.
“That is the kind of guy he is,” Lopez said. “He’s known Paul Rodriguez for 25 years. There’s people who think he’s a f---in’ a-----, and I’m one of them. He can spend the rest of his life wondering why people don’t like him.”
Andy Kindler is famous for his State Of The Industry Address every year at Just For Laughs. His regular targets at the roast-like event include Leno, who he says, “is in the Guinness Book of Records for going the longest time without an authentic moment.”
A few years ago, Kindler said, “Leno’s car broke down near where my wife was living at the time. I looked at his car and tried to walk past him, and he said, ‘That’s the guy who hates me!’ He really does know everything that people say about him.”
But it was Kimmel who said it to his face. When Leno still had his 10 p.m. NBC show, but the announcement had been made to boot Conan from Tonight and put Leno back in the chair, Kimmel came on as a guest.
Asked about his favourite prank, Kimmel told Leno acidly, “I told a guy, ‘Five years from now, ‘I’m going to give you my show.’ And then when the five years came, I gave it to him, and then I took it back almost instantly.”
Later in the interview, Kimmel said, “Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children. All you have to take care of is cars. We have lives to lead here. You have $800 million. For God’s sake, leave our shows alone!”
Or was it all the Obama jokes Toronto Sun?
I’ll be getting sleep after the news, Jimmy Fallon makes me want to puke!
Probably the whiniest and wussiest group of people are comedians (at least the modern ones)
They all hate Leno because he is successful...and he actually tells jokes on Democrats and Liberals.
Fact is that the Conan O’Brien stuff was mainly his and his agent, Gavin pollone, smearing all kinds of garbage about Leno. NBC knew Conan’s show was tanking, and Conan refused to listen to any suggestions on improving his show. NBC buying out Conan looks smart, as Conan has zero ratings on TBS.
You figure by now, with Leno’s ratings success...that comedians would nut up and start telling some jokes about Liberals...instead of pandering to them
Good for him and I hope he enjoys his remaining years with all his stuff and gets to keep some of his stuff if his pal Obama doesn't figure out how to take it.
It is strange that he gets huge rating, yet the company is always trying to get rid of him.
I wonder if he will move to cable?
Bttt for your comment.
I like Leno better than any other late night guy I can think of. Can’t stand Letterman.
Nice snarky article by a nobody. Jealous?
Leno is miles better than that pervert Letterman, and who is Jimmy Kibble? Sarah Silverman’s lesbian lover? Anybody who doesn’t like George lopez is good with me. Leno is the only comedian I can think of who isn’t a head case, and if some leftie Canadian paper trashes him, that’s just proof he’s OK.
His nickname is Coco just like the women’s perfume.
NBC’s determination to replace Leno is one of the more mystifying decisions in recent network TV history. Leno has been a consistent #1 in the ratings since 1994, yet the network was determined to push him out the door in favor of someone who was young and would (presumably) deliver a younger demographic.
They gave the show to Conan because his ratings had improved (thanks largely to Leno’s lead-in), and his reps were threatening to O’Brien somewhere else. NBC panicked and the resulting debacle cost them at least $100 million, in terms of lost advertising revenue and the expensive buy-outs for Conan and his staff.
Five years later, they’re going to do it again. Jimmy Fallon is being touted as the new king of late night, someone who is a guaranteed success. But it’s also a fact that the audience at 12:30 is much different than it is at 11:30. Fallon has many of the same, snarky, irritating qualities that he shares with Conan. It may appeal to younger viewers after midnight, but it won’t play with slightly older viewers who tune in after the late news.
Fallon will bomb, just like Conan did. But this time, NBC won’t have a fall-back plan in Jay Leno. He will likely head to Fox, which can open up the checkbook and give him an earlier start than Fallon, Letterman or Kimmel, since Fox doesn’t program the 10 pm eastern, time slot.
What amazes me is the willingness of network execs to not only move the wrong guy into the host’s chair, but stick with someone who has been a miserable failure. Case-in-point: David Letterman. He makes even more than Leno, yet he’s been a distant #2 or #2 in the ratings since the mid-90s. Yet, CBS always proclaims how “happy” they are with Letterman.
If you’re a member of the media liberal elite, you can always get (or keep) a job. Letterman should have been dumped years ago, but he’ll occupy the 11:30 slot on CBS until he’s ready to retire. Ditto for Keith Olbermann, Anderson Cooper and a host of other failures. Apparently, ratings no longer matter at that level; it’s all about your “connections” and how much you’re loved by the fawning entertainment press.
I didn’t know that Lopez was a comic. I thought he was just a racist.
That could so be me. I've known people for thirty years and will absolutely draw a blank if I see them somewhere outside of the place I usually see them.
A few times I've had people take that as an insult, but not too many. I'm not in show business.
What a bunch of drivel. I’d love to grab a beer and talk to Leno at his airport garage. I have no doubt Leno could wrench on any of his cars and probably does.
I grew up on Carson and thought Leno did good. I remember watching Letterman when he had those stupid fountains and thinking, this guy is in the running for the tonight show? Now he acts like a bitter fag hag.
He’s certainly got a lot more sense than most in Hollywood. Says he likes electric cars but they’re a rich man’s toy. He said he can drive his the 30 miles to work and let it charge for 12 hours but most people need a lot more than that from their cars. He’s also not ashamed of his money.
I know a guy who works for the Henry Ford Museum who is acquainted with Leno and has taken him on a private tour. He says he’s very friendly. Says that Leno will talk to you like a best friend immediately if you know cars and engines.
I doubt they can afford him but Leno could be the fix the American version of Top Gear needs.
George Lopez is the black hole of comedy. He sucks up all the funny around him. Not only is he completely devoid of any hint of humor, nobody else can be funny in his vicinity.
I think your analysis is spot on. Did they re-animate Robert McNamara, JFK’s so called genius secretary of defense to pick Fallon? I only see negatives for Fallon, bottom line, he’s not funny. Jay Leno was a great stand up comedian and it shows.
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