Posted on 03/13/2019 10:25:13 AM PDT by Monrose72
Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno has some choice words for the current generation of late night hosts. In an interview with NBC’s Today, Leno lamented the current state of late night shows, which he believes have gone downhill now that “everyone has to know your politics.” The comedian went on to say that he’d like television to bring back “a bit of civility,” as he believes shows have become too “serious” for viewers. While the likes of Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee may disagree, Leno has at least one supporter: on Wednesday morning, President Trump praised the longtime host’s remarks on Twitter, saying that “the one-sided hatred on these shows is incredible.” When asked if he misses being on The Tonight Show, which he hosted for over 20 years (over two different stints), Leno was clear that he does not. “No, it’s different. I don’t miss it,” he told Today‘s Al Roker. “You know, everything now is, if people don’t like your politics, they — everyone has to know your politics.” Leno explained that he followed the “model” set by Johnny Carson, his Tonight Show predecessor, and it seemed to work. “I kind of used Johnny’s model. People couldn’t figure it out. ‘Well, you and your Republican friends’ or ‘Well, Mr. Leno, ‘You and your Democratic buddies,'” he said. “And I would get hate mail from both sides equally. And I went, ‘That’s fabulous. That’s exactly what I want.'”
(Excerpt) Read more at decider.com ...
“Listen to this..have you heard about this?”
Johnny Carson was the best. The guests were great and even the guest hosts were great like Joan Rivers. That America is no more.
These talk shows nowadays remind me of a tribe of pygmies making fun of giants in a place they think is safe for them.
Just as a joke, I wish Trump could hijack the networks one night and we would be introduced to three new pro-Trump late night hosts. That would be ultra funny just thinking of the people who tune in to get their nightly fix of Nevertrump.
“It’s late night with Dennis Miller.”
yeah baby.
The more time that goes by, the more I appreciate Jay Leno. I think I like him more than I liked Johnny Carson. Despite what people say about Carson today, I remember that he could be nasty and demeaning. And from what you would read about his personal life, you knew that his on-air persona was an act. With Leno, there was much more of a sense that what you saw was who he was. I haven’t watched late night TV in years so I couldn’t comment on the current crop of hosts, other than what I read about them.
Leno was great. He entertained instead of bashing political opponents. And off the set, he is a easy going guy. And he has a cool car collection.
Every outlet that is not conservative and some they claim they are.
Agree. But IIRC, he was asked why he didn’t make jokes about Obama and he sai ‘he’s not funny’. That was AFTER the ‘57 states’ and ‘my Muslim faith’ comments. I figured he had been told not to joke about Obama. NBC had signed a contract with Fallon a year and a half before Leno left, and that is why Leno was out of the show when he was. But yes, he did make some mild jokes about Obama in his later years as host.
Miss Leno.......we always DVR’d the show to watch the monologue, but rarely bothered with many of the guests.
Carson was the master of late night talk shows. He could find comedy in any politician and make people laugh. Today’s hosts are just nasty, vile and ugly about their political “humor”.
I remember how Carson made jokes about Wayne Newton being gay, on an almost nightly basis (try that nowadays). I later read that one day Wayne Newton was so ticked off he drove to the studio and told Johnny if he ever did that again he would physically beat the daylights out of him. Carson never did another joke about Newton.
Brilliant!
The echo chamber is made up of public schooled, liberal arts majors which I call The Illiterati."
I didn't watch the tonight show with Leno as host much, but from what little I have learned about him, he seems a decent, midwestern upbringing kind of guy.
For instance, since he became an adult, he has always had two jobs, and he would always live on the lower paying job, putting the money from the higher paying job in the bank. His first jobs were repairing motorcycles, and doing standup. Since standup paid less, he lived on that money. When he started earning more as a comedian, he switched and put that in the bank, living off motorcycle repair. Then he got the Tonight Show gig, and put that into the bank, still keeping his standup going. After 15 or so years at the Tonight Show, he has still never spent any of the money he earned there, it's still in the bank.
Apparently he walked back his comment today on the View and talked about how much he liked the late night comics, Obama, etc etc
I watch Jay Leno’s Garage on CNBC.
He had Joe Biden on once driving his Corvette and he had Mitt Romney on driving a Car he owned as well. Tim Allen is on his Show pretty often being the Gearhead that he is.
Jay is a Democrat no doubt, just a Sane one
His Wife is a Liberal SJW, but she doesn’t broadcast it.
The only thing I remember her being involved in was helping Afghan Women, although she never mentioned the cause of their problems, which of course is Islam.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.