Leno doesn't want step aside for Conan in 2009

[Double Down]

Jay is privately grumbling that he'd like to stick around.

Perhaps he's been revitalized by O.J. getting in trouble and a Clinton eyeing the Whitehouse again.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-leno15oct15,1,3929945,full.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true

"It's 1992 all over again," said Warren Littlefield, a TV producer who was NBC's entertainment president during the Leno-Letterman battle. "They are right back in the same situation, despite the fact that they wanted to avoid that. History may be repeating itself for NBC."


Go away, you unfunny tool.

 

[OnTheRiver]

I still laugh so hard that I cry when I hear the old CD with Bill Hicks' impersonations of Jay Leno.

Something about Leno realizing what a shill he was, and blowing his brains out in his office. The brain matter, of course, formed a peacock on the wall — "A company man to the end," Hicks said.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Johnny Carson's rotting corpse could do a better monologue than Jay Leno...

 

[Claws for Concern]

Leno should switch to 12:30 slot so he can put people to sleep after Conan winds the crowd up at 11:30!

 

[Eagles1 in London]

1992 all over again? Please..late night talk shows and the matter of who hosts them are nowhere near as relevant or important to the public as it was in 1992....

 

[Webster]

The crime with Jay Leno is not that he's unfunny. It's that he's very funny and sharp, but has dumbed down his act because he thinks that is what he needed to get his job.

 

[wickedwritah]

The crime with Jay Leno is not that he's unfunny. It's that he's very funny and sharp, but has dumbed down his act because he thinks that is what he needed to get his job.

In many ways, his real act would fly better at 12:30.

 

[Sly]

The crime with Jay Leno is not that he's unfunny. It's that he's very funny and sharp, but has dumbed down his act because he thinks that is what he needed to get his job.

Well put. The reason I don't like Leno's show is that all of his interviews seemed scripted to the exact words. Conan's interviews may follow a certain path, but there's always a chance he and the guest could go careening off into a direction you never expected. That chance doesn't exist with play-it-safe Jay.

 

[Claws for Concern]

Pimpbot needs to slap him silly!

 

[Chi City 81]

Pimpbot needs to slap him silly!

Or perhaps the Coked-out Werewolf can hook Jay up.

 

[DanOregon]

I agree with the Leno used to be funny line of thinking. As soon as he took over full-time his jokes became woefully predictable and hackneyed. They should just tell Jay that he can stay in Burbank for as long as he wants and NBC will never force him out of there. (they're moving the show to Universal Studios).
But I do wonder how Conan will translate to 11:30 p.m. Letterman became more corporate and less edgy in that spot and I don't see NBC allowing ratings to slide if he turns off Middle America...oh wait this NBC and Jeff Zucker is still in charge. Of course they will.

 

[Dan Rydell]

Leno was a great stand-up comedian back in the day, but he turned into Captain Kangaroo when he got The Tonight Show. Letterman has had some great moments, and he's a funny guy, but he can't compare to Johnny Carson.

There is one guy who reminds me a lot of Carson, who was as big an influence on my life as anyone outside my family.

And that guy is Jon Stewart. You can see a lot of Carson in Stewart, almost everywhere you look. He makes me laugh the way Carson made me laugh.

 

[Pilot]

Tonight was a solid Conan, for anyone that saw it.

A fire alarm or something went off during the show -- no skit -- and Conan was awesome. He dropped an f-bomb, showed the audience all the stuff behind his desk (showing that he has a phone meant just to appease him as it doesn't connect to anything) and sit for extended periods of silence as everyone listened to the announcements coming over the building's PA.

Good stuff.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Leno is completely lame, but he does great business for NBC. He gets ratings, so he makes them money. He doesn't want to take vacations. He doesn't fight with them about show content. He's not hounding them for prime time specials. He's not holding them up for more money. He'll come in at 4 a.m. to do a live satellite hookup with the Pottstown affiliate's morning show.

And surely the NBC people have to know that Conan's act isn't going to play at 11:30.

 

[Mira]

I've never been able to embrace Leno. I think he stinks.

Conan and Letterman are both fabulous. They're so talented and their writing is spot-on. When a comedian can make me laugh until I cry, that's a good thing.

 

[BNWriter]

Have you noticed though that Letterman is doing a couple of Carson-originated bits -- "Fun Facts" and "Stump The Band"??

As for who is funnier between the two -- It's Leno. As for his not wanting to leave, I thought the whole point to his leaving in '09 was so he could persue his stand-up career again and have a bit of a life after the Tonight Show.

I almost buy that O.J. and a possible second Clinton WH are giving him second thoughts.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

On no level is Leno's Tonight Show funnier than Letterman...

I actually think Kimmell's monologue is better than both of them...

I do agree that Conan's act might not work as well at 11:30.

Bottomline is, whoever is hosting the Tonight Show is at a huge advantage, because there are plenty of blue hairs who watch for no reason other than that's what they've been doing for the last 30-40 years...

This is my late night priority list...

1. The Daily Show - I watch every night...
2. The Colbert Report - I watch every night...
3. Jimmy Kimmell - I watch once or twice a week...
4. David Letterman - Once a week, maybe more depending on who his guests are...
5. Conan O'Brien - I like his show, but for whatever reason, only watch occasionally...
6. Craig Ferguson - I think he sucks. I loved Kilborn.
7. Leno - I'll watch if he has an amazing guest, but it always surprises me how often I can watch the show without so much as smirking. It makes SNL seem like a laughfest...

 

[jgmacg]

Jay Leno is the luckiest headline-the-Thursday-night-opening-of-your-state-fair-grandstand comic in America.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It's amazing how many comics just hate Leno... I don't think it's necessarily a jealousy thing because they all seem to love Kimmell, Conan, Stewart and especially Letterman...

 

[jgmacg]

Letterman is Carson's linear heir. Same genius for the medium. Same instinct for the material. Same comic generosity in making his guests look better than they are. Same impacted personality.

Letterman's the Truth. Leno's the middle act at the Chuckle Hut.