There is no way that I watched Jay Leno's goodbye to "The Tonight Show," because I didn't watch his hello to it and then I skipped out on the next 17 years, so why start now at the end? Fortunately, Gabe Delahaye did the duties! "Leno's mark on entertainment is a grease-strained slide. Huge damp fingers gripping tightly at something that's inevitably being taken away from him. I've heard so many times that Jay Leno used to be one of the funniest and hardest working stand up comedians in the business that I feel like using Snopes to see if that's even true. Based on what? I've never seen the slightest hint of this being true, so maybe everyone can stop saying it now."
Monday, June 1, 2009
12
I saw him about 20 years ago at Zanies in Chicago and he was very funny. I don't remember much about his material, some stuff about motorcycles and McDonalds, but his delivery and timing were very good.
Actually, it's true he was once funny. He used to do stand-up every Sunday night at a comedy club on a suburban beach in south LA County, prepping jokes for the next week's "Tonight Show." And it was ribald and hilarious and not even remotely what you'd see on the show. Also, he always drove his antique cars around on Saturdays on Mulholland Drive and would always pull over and sign autographs if you asked, which was great if you had tourists with you desperate for a star sighting. He's a nice guy, but probably pretty dull, but that's better than most celebrities of his ilk.
I watched his last show, it sucked.
I erred in DVRing the final show. The highlight reels from 17 years were wacky answers from street interviews??? No Ed Ames Tomahawking, no monkeys pooping on Jay, no hilarious off-script sketch meltdowns, no Burt Reynolds rubbing whipped cream on his pants, no banter gone wild. The show was irrelevant from inception but you’d think there would be a few memorable moments. Apparently not.
I'm not defending douchey Leno here, but if you want to point a finger as to who has undermined Conan here, it's Jeff Zucker. Unable to consider a competing network grabbing Leno for any purpose, Zucker threw a kitchen sink's worth of show proposals at him. Leno took the one that made the most sense to him. Zucker undermined his new Tonight Show host, and the entire network, in the process.
On the bright side, we are now one step closer to web video being more relevant than broadcast TV.
But Zucker would never have been put in the position of having to throw show proposals at Leno if Leno had done the right thing and actually retired to spend more time with his cars.
Leno's biggest sin was being the Anti-Johnny Carson. Sure, Carson could be safe and mainstream, but never banal.
Sorry but the US sense of humor needs Leno. It needs Two and a Half Men and Friends and Raymond and King of Queens and the Wayans brothers. Where I am they don't even show Seinfeld reruns once a day (let alone 30 times like everywhere else) because that isn't the preferred sense of humor. Many want their humor like they want their food, bland, predictable, and coma-inducing.
Are you saying the flyovers need their jokes goyishe?
maybe. what does "gouishe" mean?
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Humor/humor.html
are they trying to say that Jay is a greaseball or what?