# Joe Queenan: Leno=Hitler
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-queenan-leno-hitler/526579
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 26, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-queenan-leno-hitler/526579 "2010-01-26T22:32:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-queenan-leno-hitler/526579/21 "2010-01-27T16:42:57Z")
> [@Carmady](#):
>
> No, I’m pretty sure a lot of people knew it was a bad idea. Leno and Conan both probably knew it was a bad idea and that the situation was untenable. It is just that both of them had reasons they couldn’t say so. Conan because he had no choice, and Leno because he didn’t really want to leave.
I think there were a lot of talk that it was a bad idea, but nobody really knew for sure. How could they? There was Leno fans, and there were Conan fans. 10pm watchers and 11:30 watchers. To imagine that all of Leno’s fans would move to 10pm and the regular 10pm watchers would disappear, along with Conan fans moving to 11:30 and all of the old 11:30 fans disappearing is a bit of a stretch. This truly was the worst case scenario and I am not surprised that network executives didn’t plan for this contingency.
> [@Carmady](#):
>
> NBC acted almost like the Tonight Show was being moved to 10pm. I definitely saw way more promos for Leno than Conan. And Leno was on the Tonight Show long enough that to many people, they watched “Leno” at night, not “the Tonight Show.” With Leno still there, just a bit earlier, it isn’t surprising that Conan would have trouble getting Leno’s old viewers.
Definitely. Leno got way more press and publicity than Conan. That was a big mistake, almost like setting Conan up to fail. I want to say that it’s because Jay was doing a “new” show and Conan was simply hosting an existing show but it’s hard to justify what NBC did.
> [@Carmady](#):
>
> Leno did exactly what he claimed he wouldn’t do in the video. I can cut him some slack, because he couldn’t have said anything else at the time. But he did do exactly what he said he wouldn’t.
I guess we have to agree to disagree then. His history of being a good guy resonates more with me than one or two instances.
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> In fact, he says the exact opposite: “I’m not quittin’ show business.”
>
> He says _there’s all talk about Conan O’Brien: will he go to ABC, will he go to one of these other networks? And, and they came to me and they said “we don’t want to lose Conan O’Brien”. And I said “oh. Okay, what does that mean?” And they said, “Well, um, we think Conan would be a good replacement” … the hottest late-night guy out there._ And then, as he shifts tone and talks about how Conan will get the Tonight Show in five years, he adds that _“I’m proud to say this show has been number one, we will keep it number one. And then in ‘09, I’ll say … I’m not quittin’ show business.”_
You really have to watch the clip to get what he was saying. He was saying sarcastically, of someone who would stay too long, that this guy wouldn’t want to quit show business. Jay said that he wasn’t going to do that, and like I said, I think 5 years later NBC made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Would it have been better for Conan if Jay quit entirely? Probably. But I don’t begrudge Jay for accepting a show since I believe NBC offered it to him without his input.
If I find out at any point that Jay actually angled for a show so he could stay, I will completely change my mind and label him the bad guy, which he would be. But I’m just not seeing it
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-queenan-leno-hitler/526579/22 "2010-01-27T17:02:12Z")
And you know who else took over the _Tonight Show_ in controversial circumstances?
HITLER!
No, wait, sorry, I meant Johnny Carson.
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### Author:  [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-queenan-leno-hitler/526579/23 "2010-01-27T23:38:54Z")
Listen to Howard Stern’s examination to Rosie O’Donnell 's beef with Jay Leno.
Part 1 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ2fZH2XqNw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ2fZH2XqNw)
Part 2 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJVH6SzYRlk&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJVH6SzYRlk&feature=related)
or TVgawker’s take on the Late Night Wars, which includes Rosie/Stern’s talk about Leno.
[http://tv.gawker.com/5456733/the-late-night-wars-a-video-chronology-1984+2010](http://tv.gawker.com/5456733/the-late-night-wars-a-video-chronology-1984+2010)
Then see why Leno’s good guy image is just that, an image not fact.
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