Do you have a cite for that? It surprises me, since a bunch of local comics always turn out to see him perform every Sunday at “The Comedy and Magic Club” in Hermosa Beach. I have a friend that lives there who is trying to get into that business, and he says Leno is always very gracious with advice and whatnot after his performances.
I would imagine that The Tonight Show doesn’t have standup comedians on b/c that’s not really all that popular right now. It’s not like his rival shows are hosting standups all the time - probabaly not Leno’s decision to make.
(I have no dog in this fight really, I’ve just heard good things about the way he treats new comedians from my friend)…
I’d like the oppurtunity to share my recent eye opening.
Morning News TV SUCKS, I mean, it’s 1/4 news and 3/4 cooking and fashion and Hollywood fandom.
I know this is old news, but it’s new news for me. I’m a manly man. So manly that I’ve taken a few months off work to stay home with my 1 year old son, and for the first time in 15 years, I’m watching the morning network (so-called) news. MY GOD it’s enough to make you wanna lactate. (no, I’m not misogynistic, I’m sarcastic).
This is just my little rant about the poor quality of the offerings of the big 3 US networks. And no, I don’t have cable, rather have the net.
One of my friends that goes to Clemson with me was on whatever morning show that she’s on and was interviewed by her. He said she was the biggest bitch.
I also read this. It was a “fun news” type of squib on Compuserve, I believe. So I can confirm that the report exists if not the accuracy of it.
Leno does have a reputation in the business for being helpful. The problem is that stand-up comedy is at the low point of one of its periodic cycles. When someone new comes along and gets red-hot you’ll see more comics dragged in his/her wake.
I saw the Leno show. It was a stunt so I expected little. I thought Couric took it over the top, but I would have been surprised if anything else took place.
I have always preferred Leno over Letterman. Leno never fails to make me laugh, while Letterman just annoys me. I can’t explain it, but I am unable to watch his show for more than five minutes without getting incredibly pissed off.
My family is taking a vacation to LA for a few days this summer, so hopefully we’ll be able to see the Tonight Show live!
Did anyone catch Katie’s cleavage? Why don’t we go there? On second thought, I’ll go there and the rest of you just talk about the Leno’s interview with Powell, mmmkay?
See, I’m just the opposite. Leno annoys the hell out of me. His voice, mannerisms, lame jokes, ad libs that fall flat, and especially when he tries to do fake accents–oh man, he is so terrible.
For the past few years I haven’t been able to watch Leno, Letterman, Conan etc. I used to find Leno irritating and Conan hilarious.
Now what I do, without being able to watch the shows, is check the highlights of the monologues daily:
It makes Leno more bearable - one of the things that most used to bother me about him was how he would laugh at his own jokes! It also made Katie’s monologue seem pretty interesting.
When it comes to looks–and lets not deny that Ktie plays up hers at every opportunity–Couric has not one good facial feature. Her hair is just weird. Her eyes are tiny, weak, and almost Doonesburyesque. Her mouth reminds me of a hooked bass.
Worse is the fact the she has a long-standing reputation for being an off-camera bitch (and not merely assertive), yet she hams up this shtick about being so loveable and perky and “jeepers, folks, I’ve never been to the big city before!” I think she is among the phoniest people on television, yet she has the audacity to call herself a “serious journalist.”
How can a “getting up there in age” woman make such a big deal about her (flappy) boobs, (middle-aged) legs and designer dress, yet two seconds later blab on and on about how serious of a journalist she is? Where’s the reality check, here?
I thought Katie’s impersonation of Paula was pretty funny.
And now I know why Robbie Williams hasn’t really caught on over here one this side of the Atlantic. The guy looks kind of like Johnny Knoxville, he’s skinny, and he’s only an okay singer.
Well, from what I’ve read, Couric’s ratings were about double what Leno usually gets.
I’ve never liked her, not even a little, but I recognize her drawing power. As a local commentator put it, “for 40 year old women, Katie Couric is the Beatles.” She annoys the heck out of me, but she’s worth every penny she gets paid.
I used to love Leno’s stand up. He used to fly all over the country doing shows. I think he had one other writer and himself.
Now he is in way over his head. The jokes are not that funny, the bits they do are, in my opinion, embarrassing. They started this trying to do Letterman/Steve Allen off the wall humor (to improve ratings) and they cannot pull it off.
Johnny Carson and David Letterman can interview and exchange witty banter with guests. Leno fakes his way through it with such lines as “really?” responding to something funny from a guest as he mugs for the camera.
Katie Couric is brilliant at belittling someone and acting as if she is joking. She can say one thing but it is completely clear what she really means. I saw her humiliate some poor guy outside in the crowd with his wife on their 20th anniversary.
The guy comes with his wife and they have a picture of their wedding day 20 years earlier. Little Katie acknowledges them and as she is walking away she says “I like you better without the beard” (but really says in Katie talk, “that beard looked fucking stupid. I can’t believe you ever had that on your face”) and then stops. sHE Just stops and says nothing more while staring at him with a little grin on her face. The poor guy is standing there with a frozen smile trying to be a ggod sport until his nice wife says something to save him.
Let me add that this, um, “serious journalist” has really demeaned women in journalism generally. All this malarky about her “sexy” legs and hair and great figure. Now, any (younger) woman hoping to make it on the a.m. circuit has to do the Katie shtick. I think what bothers me is the hypocrisy of it all. Let’s just recognize that she’s an a.m. chatterbox with so-so legs and not get into all the postering and posing.
Well, look who she replaced. That hard hitting Jane Pauley. Another idiot. I once wrote a letter to her after I witnessed her with that big stupid smile on her face after they had promoted an upcoming show about a child killer.
Cut back to Jane with a big "I have no idea what is going on, I am paid millions, I’m a mom, and I’m married to Gary Trudeau and I couldn’t care less about kids being murdered even though I’m an anchor here on Dateline and I just read what they write for me) Pauley. (whew!)
I doubt if she even saw the letter telling her to quit smiling so much after I am informed about children being murdered and the killer to soon be released from prison.
