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Leno a stand-up guy after ‘Tonight’

Comedian: Fallon closer to Carson than anyone else

The Columbian
Published: March 15, 2015, 12:00am

Throughout his 22 years as host of “The Tonight Show,” Jay Leno never stopped doing stand-up comedy. After filming during the week, he would moonlight, doing gigs on the weekend. Now that he’s no longer sitting behind the desk, Leno, 64, can focus on his comedy career.

Newsday spoke with him about replacing Johnny Carson, his thoughts on Jimmy Fallon and the art of the monologue.

What do you make of all the shifting in the late-night landscape?

There’s really not that much change. It’s all white guys being replaced with other white guys. Nobody is doing anything decidedly different except Jimmy Fallon.

What’s your impression of the new “Tonight Show”?

I think Jimmy is terrific. He brings a whole different sensibility to it. He’s closer to what Johnny Carson was like than anybody else. He can be silly, and he has a lot of different talents. In this era of viral videos, Jimmy works, and he’s kept the show number one, which is the goal.

Did it take time to adjust after leaving the show?

No, I finished the show and went on to my gigs in Florida. The big difference is that you don’t have to write 14 minutes of jokes every single day. I always learned from Johnny to do a monologue. The shows that do not succeed are the ones where the host comes out and says, “Hey! How are you doing tonight? Are you in a good mood? Give me some music!” Ellen DeGeneres is hugely successful because she’s a comedian. If you watch “Ellen,” even if there’s nobody on that you like, you know she will have something funny to say.

Did you feel a lot of pressure following Johnny Carson?

Oh, yeah! You get beat up every day, but that’s OK. I was on the show a year and a half and someone sent me a magazine article from 1969, when Johnny had been hosting for seven years. The article said, “When is Jack Paar coming back? We are so sick of Johnny’s foolish antics … .” That’s nothing against Johnny, but you realize that everybody wants something else, and things always look better with time.

You had offers to go to other networks. Why did you stay at NBC?

All my people were tied up for 18 months past my contract. I couldn’t bring anybody with me. Plus, NBC said they wanted me to stay. They said they’d continue to pay my staff for two years if I agreed to stay on. I didn’t really think the 10 p.m. show (“The Jay Leno Show,” September 2009-February 2010) would work, but I took a chance. NBC is my home for better or for worse. It’s been good and bad to me. But it’s been better than it’s been bad.


What’s the secret to balancing it all?

The real trick is to make show-business money and lead a normal life, then you’ll be really happy.

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