The Last Tonight Show

One thing I didn’t realize was that there are rats with huge jutting chins.

I was never allowed to stay up past 11 till the last year of high school (domineering parents) but I understand your sadness. I feel that way every time I see a Simpsons past 1998. A shadow of its once great self.

Zombies!

It’s amazing to me to see how many digs the other late night hosts (Kimmel and Ferguson especially) are making against Leno. It’s not just comments about the situation as a whole or against NBC; it’s straight up hatred for Jay Leno. And it’s kinda fabulous to watch.

@ManchuCandidate: Not so much sadness, but trying to find the historical perspective — folks who don’t even watch these shows are interested, and I think it’s because of the Tonight Show’s place in American pop culture.

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: You’d think Leno was Gallagher, the hate he’s getting from other comics. But then, Gallagher’s funnier.

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: Leno has fucked over Letterman, he fucked over Carson, now he has fucked over Conan. He’s just a fucking shit.

@Prommie: I’m not sure Leno fucked over Letterman — the switch was NBC’s call, based (if I recall) on Leno’s Q score, a “likeability” measure used by Hollywood. And financially, NBC made the right call, although it wasn’t evident at first — the “Dancing Itos” during the OJ trial was when Leno started getting traction.

Leno didn’t fuck over Carson, either — although he did fuck over Carson’s staff. Personnel change was inevitable during regime change, but it could have been handled a lot more elegantly. I think that’s why Carson was really pissed at Leno, not just Carson’s preference for Letterman.

More generally, Leno’s manager-turned-exec producer earned no friends in the industry when she played hardball with guests: You appeared on Leno’s show first, or you didn’t appear on it at all. They got rid of her once his position was secure.

And, in fairness, Leno should be held harmless for NBC’s contract with Conan five or six years ago — the one that guaranteed Conan the Tonight Show in 2009. The game was to keep Conan from going elsewhere at the time, which was also the reasoning behind puttng Leno at 10 p.m. (Besides saving all that production money on scripted shows.)

There’s certainly no love for Leno, because he’s a fucking lazy comic. But this isn’t all his fault.

@nojo: . . . the “Dancing Itos” during the OJ trial was when Leno started getting traction.

I prefer to blame Hugh Grant.

@Prommie: Another comparison of sorts, not necessarily showing why Leno isn’t beloved by his peers, but why Letterman gets more respect…

As we learned in later years, Conan was on very short-term contracts in the early days — NBC had no confidence in him whatsoever. It wasn’t until Letterman appeared on his show a year or two in — in effect, “blessing” it — that Conan’s audience began to build.

The point of Letterman’s gesture was that Conan’s Late Night wasn’t a carbon copy of Dave’s, recycling old setups and such. (Since NBC owned Letterman’s material, Conan could have run Top Ten lists and recast Larry “Bud” Melman.) Conan was re-inventing the show from scratch, and Dave respected the effort. (Note how Jon Stewart slowly remodeled Kilborn’s Daily Show over time.)

There may well be similar stories about Leno, but I’m not aware of them.

(Did I mention I’m a late-night geek? We’re still only scratching the surface…)

@nojo: Well, to me, the purple curtain alone was enough reason to hate Leno.

I think he is hated because he is a weasel, for years he let that psychopath manager bully and fuck with people and would pretend ignorance, he steals bits, he steals jokes, he is always the passive aggressive, “what, what, what’d I do,” and he is just weaselly in his weaselly weaselling.

And dumb, too.

Houndini. Good God, Houndini, the man should have been fired the instant that fucking houndini skit aired.

Meanwhile, in news that is now profoundly trivial, rumors afoot that Leno may walk.

And, of course, rumors denied.