Jay Leno Calls Out Late-Night TV for Alienating ‘Half the Audience’ Over Politics
Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno recently called out late-night TV for alienating “half the audience” with partisan politics.
During an interview with David Trulio, president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, Leno, 75, opened up about making sure his jokes were politically balanced. Leno hosted The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014.
“There was an analysis done of your work on The Tonight Show for the 22 years and that your jokes were roughly equally balanced between going after Republicans and taking aim at Democrats,” Trulio pointed out. “Did you have a strategy?”
To that, Leno admitted, “It was fun to me when I got hate letters — ‘Dear Mr. Leno, you and your Republican friends’ and ‘Well, Mr. Leno, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy’ — over the same joke.”
“And I go, ‘Well, that’s good,'” he said. “That’s how you get a whole audience.”
Today, however, Leno acknowledged that the late-night TV landscape has changed.
“Now you have to be content with half the audience because you have to give your opinion,” he shared.
Additionally, Leno brought up his longtime friend, comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who died in 2004 and guest co-hosted The Tonight Show multiple times.
“I knew Rodney 40 years. I have no idea if he was Democrat or Republican,” he said. “We never discussed, we just discussed jokes.”
Leno continued, “And to me, I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, you know, the pressures of life, whatever it might be. And I love political humor, don’t get me wrong. But it’s just what happens when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.”
During his chat with Trulio, Leno shared advice on how comedy can unite people.
“Funny is funny,” Leno said. “It’s funny when … you make fun of their side and they laugh at it. I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture.”
He concluded, “I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group … just do what’s funny.”
Although Leno didn’t touch upon Stephen Colbert’s Late Show cancellation, the interview came on the heels of the shocking July 17 announcement.
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We are in a different world now, one where the President is doing his level best to become a dictator. It calls for a different kind of comedy. I have seen all the late night hosts go after Democrats - it is just easier to point out the absurdity of the Republicans.
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Yeah, well, when one party is out here kidnapping immigrants and putting them in camps, stripping women and minorities of basic civil and human rights, their leader is bribing and threatening media corporations and universities to bend to his will and once pulled an attempted violent coup to overturn the results of a democratic election because he couldn't handle the fact he lost AND has 34 felony convictions against him, to name but just a few of his/the GOP's more notable actions...
...yeah, I'm pretty well okay with alienating any audience who supports and is fine with all of the above. EVERYONE ,regardless of political affiliation, should be against what Trump and the GOP are doing to this country, and the fact that so many on the right aren't says far more about them than it does the left. Trump and his party are the ones alienating people in this country, not those calling them out. This is not something we can "both sides" away. To say nothing of how those late night hosts HAVE also made fun of Democrats plenty of times, and the GOP have full control of the government, so of course they're going to get the main focus.
As for the "escape from the news" aspect, I can sympathize with that on a general level - but it's kind of hard to do that when people like Trump feel the need to insert themselves into the TV world like they do. You elect a reality TV guy as president, you don't get to complain about politics and entertainment mixing afterward.
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The problem is these days You are not allowed to have an opinion that goes against our current president. If you do, you pay the price. In Leno's days everybody understood that you may not agree with someone but you still could work together without overreach and bias from our government unfortunately those days are gone.
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TDS is so strong in this country that everyone has to walk on eggshells lest they offend "somebody" for "something"
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I never watched Leno, but had the impression he was pretty bland. Was he a good interviewer? Did he ever ask tough questions, or just softballs? The answer to that may put his current opinion is a different light. (In other words, he could be one of those "go along to get along" people.)
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I've watched Leno plenty of times and initially I thought he was one of the funniest people around which was why I enjoyed him when he guest-hosted Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show". But after he took over, his monologue got too repetitious (especially after the OJ brouhaha) and many of the non-monologue sketches were increasingly lame. And, yeah, he is one of those "go along to get along" people as I saw when after Linda Ronstadt complained about Robin Quivers presence in front of her, Jay says he agrees with both of them before going to commercial..(I do give him some bravery points after asking Hugh Grant "What the Hell were you thinking?" after he was caught with a prostitute...)
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My take is this ; Leno is and was a bit of a snake , that’s how he got the Tonight Show in the first place,by kissing ass , and he’s still doing it. He has no back bone, no integrity, no balls ..
He’s a wuss!
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Jay makes some excellent points. Political humor -- actually not humor but childish attacks by the hosts -- is killing late night TV talk shows. I haven't watched in years and I know I am not alone in that belief.
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Says the man whose idea of humor is "The Dancing Itos"
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If this opinion is correct then why is Colbert the number 1 in late night? Fallon should be if you use that filter
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I think the late shows have lost half their audience because the country is so divided and the late shows have decided they're all Democrats. I never hear them make fun of the Democrats, only the Republicans. They actually spew hate at anyone who leans right, they call them homophobes, racists and more. Its so wrong because they don't even know the people, so it's no wonder they all are getting canceled. As soon as entertainers learn they are only here to entertain, the better off we'll all be and more secure their jobs will be. It's so wrong to group individuals into these hate groups, either side, without actually knowing them. I think people just want to hate, they don't want to get along. It's a sad state of the country. I miss the days when we could all disagree, vote differently and still be friends, go to dinner and socialize. Ok I'm done.
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