I’ve heard that statement many times as apology for what most would agree is a determinedly unfunny, unsophisticated Leno-as-host persona.
E.g.:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/01/15/why-some-comics-arent-laughing-at-jay-leno-essay/
I always say – show me the YouTube clip! And they never can.
Anyone want to rise to the challenge?
No clip, but I used to look forward to when he was on Letterman. This was like 20 years, so maybe my tastes have changed, but I thought he was very funny.
I don’t recall ever seeing him do a stand-up show, but I found his delivery in the Tonight Show monologues to be wearisome. In particular, he’d repeat/emphasize/explain the punchlines to the point of deflating them. If he was good in earlier years, I’d have to think he didn’t do that then.
No clip, but I saw him in person around 1991 and he was very good. He made up stuff on the fly based on info he got from the audience. I saw him in a 2500 seat theater, not a comedy club.
I saw him do a standup show at UCSD back in probably 1986. Yeah, he was very funny. I don’t know about best in a generation, but definitely funny. I also still remember some of his “What’s my beef” segments from Letterman. I doubt he would have been a contender to take over The Tonight Show if it hadn’t been for his frequent appearances on Late Night.
He is not controversial. he is not a dirty comic. He is reasonably funny. That is what mainstream TV wants. Carlin was much funnier, much dirtier and more provocative. That would DQ him being the Tonight Show host. Lots of much better comedians could not get that gig.
I see Leno as a businessman. He tailored his style to the audience that he was asked to entertain. His ratings bear out that he did it well. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been edgy when he wanted to. Put him in a small, adult club, and I’ll bet he’d beat the pants off any of the other contenders.
He still does stand up in LA and sometimes in Las Vegas so if you live in 1 of those places you can see him in person.
Jay’s story about his parents getting a VCR used to kill me.
His Dad would unplug it in the middle of the night to save electricty(the flashing 12:00 used half the electricity!).
The “what’s my beef” segments were about as edgy and sharp as I ever saw him get, and he was laugh out loud hilarious in some of those. When he later toned everything down not so much.
Just a guess, but I think the reason there’s little to no YouTube is that some of his material was a lot more blue than TV allowed, and he didn’t want his rougher Las Vegas routines being in front of people watching him at 11:30. He pretty much stuck to large Las Vegas venues for his standup that were not all that open to movie or TV camera filming, vs comedy clubs with struggling comedians looking for exposure. Plus his Vegas shows were pretty expensive. IIIRC in the late 80’s -early 90’s a single ticket to his Las Vegas standup show was often well over $100.
He’s pretty funny in this clip. Not his best perhaps, but pretty good.
One of his guest host appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is on my top ten list of the funniest things I have ever seen. He was invited to guest host because he was so funny in his appearances on Carson. And Carson’s heirs are pretty rigid about keeping that stuff off of YouTube. Combine that with NBC’s activity in that area and the pickings are very slim.
The guest was Joan Embry of the San Diego Zoo, and she handed him this huge toad, placing it so it was sitting on it’s ass in the palm of his hand. He started riffing on it brilliantly - a couple of bits I remember were a bit from Fiddler on the Roof “A son!” and using it as a ventriloquist’s dummy “Say hello to the people Jimmy!” *
Jay, like any professional comedian doing a show every night, is burning through material at a tremendous rate. He keeps the really funny stuff for his stage show where he can use it again and again.
Well, it’s no Jay Walking…
Jay Leno has always been precisely as funny as milk smells when it’s been stored at room temperature for a little too long.
You know that they have rehearsals before the show, so he may have come up with his “riffs” earlier.
I used to think he was pretty good. Then came The Tonight Show and he changed, from idiotically not saying a word about Johnny on his first night to trying to be “off the wall” when his ratings sucked, to his horrible interviewing style.
But… this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqjb_AjbK7U is pretty funny, especially Letterman’s reactions. And Jay’s pink coat with the rolled up sleeves is very cool.
And part 2 is funny as hell. Of course, Letterman helps a lot.
Kimba!
This is exactly the deal. He used to be pretty good, as a comedian. Very, very good, and I was glad when he was named as Carson’s successor, but, when I finally got to watch it, I realized how sad it was. But, I don’t blame Jay, I blame the producers. The production values went downhill almost immediately. The whole of the set seemed more poorly lighted, the back and forth between him and the musical front man (Doc Severinson’s ‘replacement’) was zip. This guy just mumbled something and shook his head. Other crap. Worse writers. I think that Letterman was the hottest around then, and they had all jumped ship from Carson’s show by that time, leaving Jay with what was left. (Just a guess on that last part, but it would serve.) I stopped watching it well before his first month on the job was up.
Of course, he’s better than Conan. But, don’t get me started on that. To the main, again: Yes, Leno used to be great, as a standup.
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From 92 to 95 the Tonight show band leader was Branford Marsalis. Since then it’s been Kevin Eubanks.
The fact that Branford Marsalis has no sense of humor might have been a strategic miscalculation.
Prior to about two weeks ago, no one ever claimed he wasn’t funny. His Doritos commercials still kind of crack me up: “You know when your parents punish you, they send you to your room, with a computer and a VCR? Hey, if they really wanted to punish you, they’d send you to their room. There’s nothing going on in there!” "Munch all you want. We’ll make more!’
And I say this as a card-carrying member of Team Coco.