Essential Jay Leno Facts For Every Fan
Of all the job descriptions one can hold in the world of entertainment, "late-night talk show host" may be the one that requires the most specific skill set. One must be (excuse us while we check our list): Funny, insightful, knowledgeable, able to switch conversational gears on the fly effortlessly, and above all, extremely comfortable hamming it up and cracking wise nightly for an audience of millions. There are few who seem born for the job — but among those few, Jay Leno, comedian and former host of the legendary "Tonight Show," may be the one most likely to have come from the womb making humorous observations and asking the doctor about his previous delivery.
Leno and his famous chin (its prominence is actually an inherited genetic condition, according to Chicago Jewish News) have been gracing the small screen in some form or another since the mid-'70s, and the length of his tenure on "The Tonight Show" is second only to Johnny Carson, who held down the post for all of 30 years, per Britannica. Even if you're not a night owl, you know his face, his chin, and his wry delivery — but here are a few essential facts you may not know about Jay Leno, one of the greatest to ever man the late-night airwaves.
Jay Leno was faced with low expectations early in life
As a youngster, Jay Leno didn't exactly seem primed for success. According to Biography, as a student, he seemed much more interested in joking around with and playing pranks on his classmates than studying (go figure), and his academic interest only seemed to wane further as he got older. By the time he was in high school, his guidance counselor was all but recommending that he drop out; per The New York Times, said counselor once deadpanned to Leno's mother that "education isn't for everyone."
To add insult to injury, Leno's older brother Stephen severely outperformed him academically, graduating from Yale and becoming an attorney. Leno, meanwhile, went to lowly Emerson College, eventually receiving a bachelor's degree in speech therapy. While he was pursuing this, though, he paid his dues in local comedy clubs — with enough success that after graduation he moved to Los Angeles. There, he warmed up crowds for musical acts like Johnny Mathis and Tom Jones, and landed a gig writing for television on the sitcom "Good Times" — where he shared the writers' room with another future late-night legend, David Letterman. With his foot in the door, Jay Leno proceeded to take advantage of every opportunity that came his way, even if most of said opportunities were less than earth-shaking.
Leno didn't seem destined for fame even after breaking into showbiz
During the mid- to late '70s, Jay Leno began to pop up as a player on some of the era's popular sitcoms, making his on-screen debut in "Good Times" before guesting on such series as "One Day at a Time," "Alice," and "Laverne and Shirley" (per IMDb). While these appearances didn't exactly set the world on fire, Leno was continuing to hone his standup act, and his genial persona and talent for succinct observational humor was a hit with comedy club audiences. Per Biography, he was soon booking upward of 300 shows per year.
In 1977 came an opportunity which was a sign of things to come: Leno performed his standup act on "The Tonight Show" for the very first time, an appearance which would lead to many more throughout the late '70s and early '80s. As the Me Decade wore on and his star began to rise steadily, Leno's appearances became more frequent; he even appeared on future rival David Letterman's show a time or two, and it finally seemed like his career trajectory was starting to strongly resemble a vertical line.
A high-profile assignment made his career path clear
While Johnny Carson was undoubtedly a workhorse, he couldn't hold down the "Tonight Show" desk every single night, and during his three-decade tenure, a plethora of guest hosts filled in when he was on vacation or otherwise absent. Show business luminaries such as Frank Sinatra, Rich Little, and Steve Martin are among those to serve in this capacity (per Groovy History), but a handful of Carson's guest hosts put a distinctive enough spin on their appearances that they were invited back regularly, often dozens of times.
Among the most popular of these were former Rat Pack member Joey Bishop, comedian Joan Rivers, and Jay Leno — who sat in for Carson a whopping 300 times. In 1987, when Carson decided to dial back his duties a bit, he selected Leno and Garry Shandling to serve as "permanent" guest hosts (via Rome News-Tribune), with Leno sitting in one night per week. While this certainly got Leno's face in front of late-night audiences on a far more regular basis, it was by no means a shoo-in that he would take over the show permanently upon Carson's retirement — mostly due to the fact that a younger, hipper, arguably more popular candidate was waiting in the wings.
The Tonight Show controversy, part one
According to Biography, David Letterman had also gotten a leg up in entertainment through regular appearances on "The Tonight Show," and had regularly filled in for Johnny Carson as far back as 1978. After a brief, unsuccessful stint running a morning talk show on NBC, Carson (whose contract gave him control over the time slot immediately following "The Tonight Show") hand-picked Letterman to host the show that would become "Late Night with David Letterman," which hit the airwaves in 1982 (per The New York Times).
When Carson announced his retirement, Letterman openly coveted the gig — and, as reported by the New York Post, "Tonight Show" producer Peter Lassally would state after the fact, that Carson favored Letterman for the job. But NBC chose to go with Jay Leno, touching off a bitter dispute between Letterman and the network that would see ol' Dave departing for the greener pastures of CBS, and a time slot directly opposite "The Tonight Show," by early 1993 (via the Los Angeles Times). As reported by People, the entire fiasco was a shock to the fans, most of whom simply expected that Letterman would take over from Carson — and nearly two decades later, the whole ordeal would repeat itself in even more dramatic fashion.
Leno was a witness for the defense in a celebrity trial
In 2005, superstar Michael Jackson was on trial in California for alleged child molestation at his Neverland Ranch, a trial which would eventually see him acquitted of all charges. According to CourtTV, much of Jackson's defense hinged on the behavior of the accuser's mother. It seems she had a habit of befriending celebrities and always seemed to be in need of money, and it turned out that Jackson and his attorneys were not the only ones making these claims.
Along with Macaulay Culkin, George Lopez, and others, Jay Leno was one of a number of celebrities to take the stand in Jackson's defense, having had interactions with the accuser and his family years earlier. His testimony didn't provide much information (although he did spend plenty of his time on the stand slaying the jurors with silly jokes), but his participation in the trial resulted in a temporary gag order preventing him from mentioning Jackson or the trial on "The Tonight Show." Since such jokes had been his bread and butter for the trial's duration, Leno exploited a loophole in the gag order and employed ringers, bringing on comedians who were notably not named Jay Leno to roast Jackson for him (per CNN).
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
The Jay Leno Show was a failed experiment
In 2004, Jay Leno hit an unusual fork in his career. Conan O'Brien, who had taken over "Late Night" from David Letterman in 1993 and had spent the last decade endearing himself to night-owl viewers, was awarded a contract by NBC stipulating that he would take over "The Tonight Show"... in 2009. Speaking with TV Guide in 2014, Leno remarked on the oddity of the situation, saying, "I came into work one day, and, 'All right, in five years you're fired.' Who gets told they're going to be fired in five years? It's hilarious" (via Daily Register).
Due to his rock-solid ratings, though, NBC was determined to keep Leno in the fold. So, they handed him his own show — "The Jay Leno Show," taped on the same set as "The Tonight Show" but airing in prime time, at 10 p.m. (via The New York Times). Funnily enough, audiences used to seeing hard-boiled cops and romantically challenged doctors during this time slot were confused by the switch, and NBC pulled the plug on the experiment after only five months, per Entertainment Weekly. The network's plan to smooth the situation over only made things worse — it led, in fact, to perhaps the biggest controversy in the history of late-night television.
The Tonight Show controversy, part two
Once it became clear that Jay Leno's show was not doing well in a time slot it had no business occupying, NBC first tried to remedy the problem by proposing to Conan O'Brien that "The Tonight Show" be pushed back from 11:35 to 12:05 — which would have meant displacing the most storied late-night talk show of all time from the time slot it had held down, well, forever. O'Brien balked, explaining to CNN that "'The Tonight Show' at 12:05 simply isn't 'The Tonight Show.'" Leno, apparently, agreed — even poking fun at his bosses for their indecision on "The Jay Leno Show." ("CBS is now developing a new sitcom about the troubles here at NBC," he cracked. "It's called 'Two Men and a Half-Assed Network.'")
In the end, though, NBC did the only thing they felt they could: Buy out O'Brien's contract for tens of millions of dollars (via The Wall Street Journal), allowing him to jump ship to CBS and handing "The Tonight Show" back to Leno. The monthslong debacle confused viewers, rightly made NBC out to look out-of-touch and interested only in the bottom line, and threatened to seriously damage the "Tonight Show" brand; as reported by Variety in 2010, the show lost an average of a million viewers nightly after the dust had settled.
Jay Leno hosted the Tonight Show for over two decades
In 2014, Jay Leno finally relinquished the "Tonight Show" desk for good, handing the show off to Jimmy Fallon, who had taken over "Late Night" after Conan O'Brien's departure in 2009. As noted by The New York Times in a piece on his departure, Leno had never been known for creating particularly daring television, or breaking much new ground — but what he did do was to keep "The Tonight Show" at the top of the ratings heap for his entire tenure, which had been his goal.
On his final show, Leno welcomed Billy Crystal, who had been his very first guest as host of "The Tonight Show" in 1992, as well as Fallon (via Time). He received accolades and send-offs from a slew of celebrities, including such legends as Oprah Winfrey, Carol Burnett, and Garth Brooks, and as he prepared to sign off for the final time, he let his ordinarily emotion-free facade crack just a bit. "This has been the greatest 22 years of my life," he said, his voice breaking. "I've gotten to meet presidents, astronauts, movie stars — it's just been incredible ... and in closing, I want to quote Johnny Carson, who was the greatest guy to ever do this job ... 'I bid you all a heartfelt good night.'"
Jay Leno has an insane collection of cars and motorcycles
If Jay Leno had never ascended to the top of the late-night heap and stayed there for two-plus decades, he would almost certainly be known as one of the most rabid motor vehicle enthusiasts the world has ever seen. Since 2015, he has hosted the web series "Jay Leno's Garage" (via IMDb), which may not sound too terribly exciting — that is, until you get a look at said garage. In reality, it's not so much a garage as it is a titanic showroom for a ridiculous collection of over 180 cars and over 160 motorcycles, according to Jerry Services Inc.
As reported by U.S. News & World Report, a goodly number of these vehicles aren't particularly exotic, or even notable — Leno's collection includes a 1996 Mazda Miata, a 2011 Chevy Volt, and a 2000 Ford F-150. Alongside these prizes, though, also sits more than a few incredibly pricey, rare cars: a 1963 Chrysler Turbine (only 50 ever made), a 2014 McLaren P1 "Hypercar," and a 1934 Duesenberg Coupe valued at around $20 million, per HotCars. Of course, maintaining such a fleet of vehicles requires a lot of help, but Leno loves to get under the hood and get his hands dirty himself — a hobby which led to a pretty serious scare in 2022.
His 2022 garage accident was seriously scary
In November of that year, it was reported by People that Jay Leno had suffered an undisclosed "serious medical emergency," which was concerning given his public battle with high cholesterol. But it soon became clear that this was no health scare when TMZ disclosed that Leno had received burns to his hands and face in a gasoline fire while working on one of his beloved vintage cars — a situation which had the potential to be dire.
Fortunately, the burns were confined to Leno's skin and did no damage to his eyes, ears, or other such sensitive areas. Leno was taken to Grossman Burn Center, north of Los Angeles, and immediately issued a statement saying that he expected to be back on his feet in a couple of weeks, and as of this writing, his treatment appears to be going nicely.
Said treatment involved high-pressure oxygen treatments, the use of a "biological skin substitute" over the affected areas, and surgery to clear out damaged tissue, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Leno himself was said to be in high spirits as usual, joking around and handing out cookies to the facility's young patients, which sounds exactly right. As per Yahoo, Leno spent 10 days in the burn unit an is expected to make a full recovery.
Leno has had a respectable acting career
Like we mentioned, Jay Leno broke into showbiz by way of writing and acting for television, and even before breaking into late night, he had amassed a pretty respectable resume as an actor. In addition to his aforementioned sitcom credits, Leno appeared in such features as the 1977 Michael Caine-starring drama "Silver Bears," the 1978 Alan Freed biopic "American Hot Wax," and he also notably landed a co-lead role in the 1989 action-comedy "Collision Course" opposite the legendary Pat Morita of "The Karate Kid" fame (via IMDb).
In addition, he's carved himself out a side career as a voice actor, lending his distinctive vocal chops to Pixar's "Cars," the classic animated series "Fairly OddParents," Disney's "Mickey Mouse: Mixed Up Adventures," and of course, guest appearances on "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons." Recently, he's appeared in several episodes of the Tim Allen sitcom "Last Man Standing," and he'll soon be taking on his dream role — portraying talk show legend Ed Sullivan in the upcoming "Midas Man," a biopic focused on the life of Beatles manager Brian Epstein.
Jay Leno has a complicated legacy
Anybody who has successfully held down such a high-profile post as host of "The Tonight Show" and managed to rule the late-night ratings for over 20 years must be considered an icon, but Jay Leno's legacy is one that defies easy description. He's always been eager to please, quick with a quip, and otherwise eminently qualified to sit behind the "Tonight Show" desk — but the means by which he acquired (and reacquired) that post, and the way in which his comic edge softened once he left the comedy clubs behind, has left him with his fair share of detractors.
It's telling that after Leno left "The Tonight Show" for good in 2014, there were approximately a million or so think pieces published which attempted to dissect and clarify this legacy. As pointed out by The Hollywood Reporter that year, Jay Leno's ambition in seeking, securing, and holding on to his "Tonight Show" post could be seen as nothing short of ruthless; similarly, Consequence examined the way in which Leno appeared content to tone down his once-revered style of humor for the sake of an older, sleepier national audience.
One thing is clear, however: Jay Leno has undeniably made a giant, chin-shaped mark on the world of entertainment. Speaking to the "Today" show in a joint interview with Leno in 2014, Jimmy Fallon knew he had some big shoes to fill. "Dear Jay," Fallon told Leno, "I hope I make you proud."