By Andrew Sanford | News | January 27, 2025 |
I often wonder if I would like Jay Leno more had he not selfishly screwed over one of my favorite comedians/hosts/people of all time. Maybe! I’m not a car person, so that aspect is out. While I wear jeans, I’m not obsessed with denim. You won’t see me sporting a Canadian Tuxedo anytime soon (mainly because I don’t think I could pull it off literally and figuratively). Also, it must be said, that I like funny comedians, so that’s another strike against the big-chinned wonder.
Leno is indelibly linked to Conan O’Brien. The host helped force Conan out of his gig on the Tonight Show because he didn’t like his slot and didn’t want to retire (even though he had contractually committed to moving the f*** on). Meanwhile, Conan has been thriving, retiring from his late-night show, and hosting a successful podcast. Now, he’ll host the Oscars, and Leno had to give his two cents.
Leno was asked by the New York Post about Conan’s new gig and had some nice things to say. “I think he’ll be great,” he explained “He’s a very funny guy. He’s very creative. I’ll watch, sure. He’ll do good.” Leno has never been openly s***ty toward Conan. He was famously taken to task by David Letterman for saying he didn’t want people to “blame Conan.” So, him being “nice” isn’t new. Neither is taking someone else’s moment and making it about himself.
“I did get asked twice,” Leno continued. “And I sat down with my staff and said, ‘What do we do? We have to do a show the day before the Oscars. We have to do a show the day after the Oscars. Do we save our best jokes for our show? Or do we give all of our best jokes to the Oscar show?’” Ah, there it is. You see, the attention-hungry Leno was much too busy with his show to host. We can forget that Jimmy Kimmel has managed to do that (successfully) several times. It’s fine as long as Leno doesn’t use his own excuse to explain why Conan will be okay. Oh, wait, I’m seeing that’s exactly what he did.
“And we realized that when you see somebody on TV every night, it’s not special to see them hosting the Oscars,” Leno noted. “That’s my feeling. You’re on TV too much. I think Conan will be good because he’s not on every night like he used to be … I think he’ll do fine.” There it is! Conan can only do this because he isn’t as busy as ole Jay was back in the day. Those Monica Lewinsky “jokes” weren’t going to write themselves! Do you know how many rehearsals the English Patient Dancers would have required?!
It was pointed out to me recently that Leno was feeding frontline workers who are battling the LA wildfires. There is a good person in there. He just can’t talk about Conan without putting his whole (I assume denim) foot into his mouth. But, as long as people keep asking him about O’Brien, he will happily oblige.