Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno commented on the state of late-night comedy last month in light of CBS firing Stephen Colbert, and said the audience isn’t looking for a political speech — they simply want to be entertained.
Leno, who succeeded the king of late-night, Johnny Carson, sat down for an interview with David Trulio — president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
They discussed Leno’s approach to his comedy and how much the industry has changed since he departed.
“I read that there was an analysis done of your work on ‘The Tonight Show’ for the 22 years, and that your jokes were roughly equally balanced between going after Republicans and taking aim at Democrats. Did you have a strategy?” Trulio asked.
“It was fun to me when I got hate letters [like] ‘Dear Mr. Leno, you and your Republican friends’ and ‘Well, Mr. Leno, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy’ — over the same joke,” Leno recalled.
“And I go, ’Well, that’s good,’” he added. “That’s how you get a whole audience.”
Leno explained that today’s media landscape demands that hosts give their opinion. They are then forced to “be content with half the audience,” because they “alienate” the rest.
Trulio also asked if Leno had any advice for today’s comedians, and he referenced the legendary Rodney Dangerfield.
Do you watch any of the mainstream late-night shows?
“I knew Rodney 40 years,” he recalled. “I have no idea if he was Democrat or Republican. We never discussed it. We just discussed jokes.
“And to me, I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, you know, the pressures of life, whatever it might be,” Leno continued. “And I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just what happens when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.”
When it comes down to it, “funny is funny,” he explained. “It’s funny when someone who’s not — when you make fun of their side and they laugh at it, that’s kind of what I do. I just find — I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture.”
“Just do what’s funny,” Leno concluded.
This was sound advice that Colbert ignored. Leno was echoing Carson, who shared the same philosophy. It was an approach that made him the most revered comedy host of all time.
“I think one of the dangers if you are a comedian, which basically I am, is that if you start to take yourself too seriously and start to comment on social issues, your sense of humor suffers somewhere,” Carson said during a 1984 interview with Barbara Walters.
“Some critics have said that our show doesn’t have great sociological value, it’s not controversial, it’s not deep,” he added. “But The Tonight Show basically is designed to amuse people. To make them laugh.”
After Colbert’s firing, many liberals tried to claim it was for political reasons, or was a result of the host poking fun at Paramount for settling a lawsuit with President Donald Trump for $16 million over a deceptively edited interview with Kamala Harris.
But in the end, the show was bleeding money, and Colbert just wasn’t funny anymore. He politically preached every episode, was pompous, got scared whenever he was challenged, and focused too much on the president.
Colbert had it made. He was given David Letterman’s massive hit show to take into the future. He was surrounded by success stories like Craig Ferguson, Conan O’Brien, Leno, and several others he could’ve emulated.
Instead, he chose to be far-left and made a fool of himself.
Hopefully, future comedians take notes and learn that it isn’t their job to act like politicians. Just make us laugh, and we’ll love you forever.
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