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How Leno Won. Again.
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An esteemed Latenight-ologist on why NBC always knifes its beloved talk show hosts—and a never-before-seen note Leno once sent to Johnny Carson about it.
How a man says goodbye is arguably just as important as the first impression he makes. And then there are those indefatigable men who cannot bear to leave whichever premises they shine best, unless perhaps jaws-of-life are implemented. Which brings us, as long as we’re invoking jaws, to recent noisy stirrings in the fitful saga of Jay Leno. I have known Leno for more than twenty five years, ever since his juggernaut jaw first began its unfathomable conquest of American Comedy. And, per ticking countdown on his current employment situation as host of the venerable Tonight Show, I do believe he wished at very least (with no small intrinsic agony) to make an exit less tumultuous than the entrance he made on the job sixteen springtimes ago, which bore marked resemblance to a backstage military coup.
“I’ve always been the underdog,” he has long averred. (This makes the winning forever sweeter, he will tell you, privately, maybe.)
That Johnny Carson clearly would have bequeathed his desk to David Letterman has never been lost on Leno—indeed, I am fairly sure it haunts him still, if just a little. When it was announced that he would peacefully abdicate his own version of The Tonight Show for a nightly prime time series beginning next fall, it called to mind a sweet placating letter he once shared with me, written to the then recently retired Carson during the thick of aftermath squabbling over whether NBC would unseat him in favor of keeping Letterman from bolting to another network. Sent after he had bumped into the great departed King at an awards ceremony, it dripped with self-flagellating chagrin and stands as a lost but essential peek into Leno conscientiousness:
“Dear Johnny: Just a little note to wish you good luck on your trip to Africa. I’m sure whatever dangerous situations or wild beasts you encounter couldn’t possibly be any stranger than what is going on at NBC. Have you heard the latest idea? Simulcast live: Dave on one side of the screen, me on the other. If there is one bright spot in all of this, it was being able to talk and have a few laughs with you at the American Teacher Awards. Seeing you smile at me when I walked into that green room, it meant more to me than anything that has happened before or since. I was extremely touched by your graciousness, considering how poorly everything at my end was handled. I was stupid and naïve and will never again allow anyone to handle my affairs for me. If you remember the story I told you backstage, I would like to quote Arnold Schwarzenegger’s words to me, ‘LENO, YOU ASSSSSSSSSHOLE.’ Yours truly, Jay Leno.”
Somehow I sense he vowed to never again lay himself open to such scorching consternation—whether from future action-hero governors or from professional brethren—even if it means removing himself from his beloved late night war games and entering an altogether new arena wherein he cannot possibly prevail every night of the week.
“I’ve always been the underdog,” he has long averred. (This makes the winning forever sweeter, he will tell you, privately, maybe.) “I’m a very great believer in low self-esteem,” he said just Tuesday morning during the NBC media conference wherein his newest job assignment was made official. And, of course, this move doesn’t exactly surprise those of us who vaguely understand the Leno psyche—certainly no more than would have a huffy defection to an opposing broadcast entity so as to wreak glib revenge on the network whose name he once suggested stood for Never Believe Your Contract. (When he all but came to inspect the plumbing at ABC a few weeks ago, by way of jovial guest-shot on the excellent Jimmy Kimmel Live program, Kimmel gave this sly semi-wishful-if-impossible introduction: “For nearly 17 years, he’s hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Soon, he will leave that job and retire quietly, never to be heard from again . . .”)
“I’d love to know how Jay made that decision,” says late-night eminence Peter Lassally, producer to a pantheon (Carson, Letterman, Tom Snyder, and today’s cheeky Craig Ferguson). “I don’t believe he did it to play good company man, because I’m sure he felt the network knifed him.”
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It"s a good thing for Leno that he is not going up against South Park.
Congratulations to Jay Leno, who seems like a pretty good guy. Also, congrats to Dave, also a good guy, who should get some great ratings.Conan, go get drunk.
Leno's manager could have asked for 50 million per year and NBC would have given it to him to keep him from going anywhere else..
I do know how Jay feels about George W and I would say genuine dislike so here's a real reason to celebrate a new Prez! Sincere fun will return - yahoo!
The time move is great only improvement would be hosting from NYC.
whew, next time, somebody edit this guy. Good story, but he's too in love with his own verbiage.
NBC execs are hedging their bets by giving Leno the 10pm time slot. The NBC affilates must be licking their chops getting a Leno lead-in to their 11pm news.
I predict that Conan's tenure on the Tonight Show will be short-lived...unless the NBC suits will allow Conan to hemmorage advertising dollars rather than admit that he was a terrible choice for the fabled Tonight Show. His juvenile comedy appeals to a very narrow teenaged demographic. I don't know of any adults who laugh at Conan O'Brian's antics.
I don't know many 40somethings who still laugh at Jay or Dave.
Leno will likely recoup the advertising dollars lost by Conan. NBC execs seem to be nothing but clueless and out of touch, left behind in a generation gap.The execs who know their audience are at Comedy Central.
Jay will do well at 10pm....unless and until ABC schedules the New Dancing with the Stars-Topless 'n Thongs, across from him.
Whatever else Bill Zahme is, he is perhaps the worst writer I have read in a long, long, time. You don't have to say everything you think, Bill. Just tell the frickin' story.
I'll ditto that sentiment. Reading Mr. Zahme's tortured prose is like watching somebody strangle a bunny rabbit. The squeeling is awfully uncomfortable.
Jay Leno will hopefully find his guts and forget the demeaning walk through the audiences to shake hands, which even
that is more like a "touich" to anounce his presence. We understand. he is doing what he is told to do by the producers, but you can be sure Johnny Carson would never have acquiesed to that sordid "dance" and with the contract
he will acquire, he should have some say in acheiving a degree of independence in starting the show, and maintaining his dignity.
Martin Silver.
Speaking of Conan O'Brien, I saw his photo in the news recently. Now I know what happens to cupie dolls when they grow up.
I don't know a single person who watches Leno. This is dumb.
I don't know if I will enjoy not watching Jay Leno at 10:00pm as much as I enjoyed not watching him at 11:30pm.
Okay, I thought I was just an idiot. Yes, I agree, this guy is a horrible writer that bore the heck out of me.
Leno is the patron saint of mouth breathers. Why can't he go away?
Whoa-seems to be more than one frustrated writer here who lost an assignment to Zehme. Or, more likely, just one, with multiple screen names.
You can like his swaggering writing style, or not (remember, he cut his teeth at Esquire). You can have the adult patience to finish this article, perfectly reasonable in length, or not. What you can't do is find a writer anywhere who knows more about latenight television, who loves it more, or who has access to more of the legends that made/make it happen. This is the man who convinced Carson to talk *years* after his long, self-imposed, absolute media boycott, very shortly before the great man died.
I, for one, am a friend who was surprised and delighted to see his byline here on the Beast, and look forward to buying the book. BZ, if you read this, my love to Lucy and the condo that Jay built. ;)
Gee, I donno, I think the move to 10 PM is a great idea. Jay should get a larger audience in that time slot and actually increase share over time simply because he is such a great comic. From the looks of things on the street, fewer people are out at night, so obviously they're at home doing something. Maybe Jay can capitalize on the new 'stay at home' trend that seems to be sweeping the nation. Gas prices are falling through the floor simply because people are staying at home. They're also mad as hell that prices went to $4 a gallon, so a little revenge against the oil companies should be expected here for quite a long time. Of course it won't hurt the war effort any to cut the price Iran gets on it's oil in half ... or more.
While Jay seems like a nice guy, I've been eagerly awaiting Conan to take the reins. He is more personable and is an accomplished writer for shows like SNL and The Simpsons. He's not geared for the over 50 crowd, but how many of them are still up at 11:30. I've been a Conan fan and can't wait for someone with true wit to try and take off where J. Carson left off. Leno's interviews are almost as bad as his stand-up was. You don't just become funny with a room of writers. You have it or you don't.
leno: 1
audience: 0
comedy: -1
(or as jay would say, "comedy... comedy negative... comedy negative one... negative one... negative one for comedy... comedy gets a minus one folks... negative... no score for comedy... comedy doesn't get as many points as leno or audience... comedy gets the lowest score... it gets a negative... a negative one... now here's joke our writers heard on letterman last week...)
Regarding the overblown prose: I agree. And the writer would do well to use a dictionary. Generally one does not vanquish one's own throne, but reluctantly one might relinquish it.
Real America loves Jay Leno. Wait and see -- the show will be a bit hit.
To reply to the poster who wrote: "I don't know of any adults who laugh at Conan O'Brian's antics" ... well, I do ... and I'm 48 years old.
I'll grow up one day, I guess.
Leno has won? Maybe an obscene amount of money, but not respect.
I don't know anyone who likes Leno. He is like NCIS and the many shows that I'm always shocked are still on and wonder who is watching... they get great numbers, but I really have never heard anyone bring up something hilarious from Leno the night before.
I think Late Night has lost a lot of what the war was about - exclusivity in the late night franchise. They are not able to funnel everyone watching tv at 11:30 to watch them... people are watching cable, they are watching Stewart and Colbert, the demographics are harder to capture, and there are more than 'leno/letterman' old choices - Kimmel was a welcome change to late night. Also, I have always loved Conan, and tivo him since I don't stay up that late. Between my tivo and the movies available on HBO and Netflix play instantly, I never have to watch bad tv to kill time, I just watch what I want when I want.
This article and the entire media fixation on Leno really seem to forget this is a different world of television than it was when the late night fights went down, and now viewers can watch almost anything we want almost any time. It is SO much less relevant... move on.
Why won't he just go away?
I've never quite grasped all the enmity for Jay Leno--for years, he was the funniest guest on Letterman--save the late Andy Kaufman, Bill Murray and Pee-wee Herman. Letterman has continued in his urban crank mode for the last decade and a half while Jay has taken the Tonight Show on a consistent, if somewhat, pedestrian comedic ride that has garnered the greater ratings numbers even as NBC's primetime schedule grew Nielsen challenged. His external skits--Jaywalking, Ross the Intern, et al. work for an audience that's mostly winding down its battery and wants a ''32 flat screen Ambien. Letterman despite now having the better primetime lead-ins has not caught or surpassed Leno except when McCain or some extraordinary guest makes an appearance. It's clear America has spoken. Now, my personal taste runs to Letterman's loony absurdities, but those who keep telling us that they don't know anybody who watches Leno or he's not funny are just ridiculous. Leno's forgotten more about comedy than most of the idiots claiming he's some third-rate mediocrity. And frankly, Conan's still working on delivering monologues. Although, it's tough to beat a masturbating bear and a filthy-mouthed canine puppet.
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