Jay Leno!
|
|
Jay Leno Early years
Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York to a Scottish mother who came to the United States as a teenager and an Italian-American father. Jay Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and received Jay Leno's Bachelor's degree in Speech therapy from Emerson College in 1973.Jay Leno Stand up
Leno started Jay Leno's career performing in nightclubs, bars, and any place that would give Jay Leno even five minutes of stage time, including Dairy Queen. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jay Leno performed at the restaurant in the Orson Welles Cinema complex. Jay Leno quickly became known for Jay Leno's work ethic and nice demeanor both on- and offstage, as well as for Jay Leno's striking appearance, in particular Jay Leno's large chin and Jay Leno's sarcastic personality. Though Jay Leno had made the occasional foray onto television in the form of guest appearances on The Tonight Show, then hosted by Johnny Carson, stardom eluded Jay Leno and Jay Leno continued to work wherever Jay Leno was allowed. It has been reported that Leno would sometimes work as many as eight or nine clubs in one evening. During the late 1970s Jay Leno was frequently featured as the opening act at John Denver concerts.For a few years in the 1970's, both Jay and Jay Leno's later rival David Letterman wrote for standup comic Jimmie "J.J" Walker, who was starring in the sitcom "Good Times."
Leno began making more frequent appearances on television when many of Jay Leno's friends and contemporaries became more influential on late night programs. Leno made a record number of appearances on Late Night with David Letterman. Jay Leno's popularity was noted by NBC executives, who decided to make Leno the permanent guest and then the host for The Tonight Show after Johnny Carson left that position.
Even after serving as host of The Tonight Show for 14 years, Leno still performs stand-up on a regular basis; Jay Leno often performs weekend shows in Las Vegas after wrapping up show production for the week. In addition, as a regular tune-up for The Tonight Show, Jay Leno performs frequently on weekends at the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California.
On an episode of Inside the Actor's Studio Leno stated that Jay Leno has never touched a cent of Jay Leno's Tonight Show earnings, stating that Jay Leno still lives off the earnings of Jay Leno's stand-up performances. When asked by James Lipton why Jay Leno does this Jay Leno stated that "My original profession was and still is a comedian, not a personality".
Jay Leno Host of The Tonight Show
When Carson retired in 1992 Jay Leno became the new permanent host of The Tonight Show after a long period of debate and negotiations with Leno and David Letterman (who had been considered by many to be Carson's heir apparent). Letterman signed a deal with CBS, sparking an ongoing late-night rivalry between the two talk-show hosts. Although Letterman's Late Show led in the ratings at the start, The Tonight Show took over the lead in 1995 and has, on the whole, had higher ratings ever since.Although known mainly for Jay Leno's wit Jay Leno was also known for Jay Leno's flamboyant behavior with guests. Jay Leno has also shown Jay Leno's sensitive side on air. When The Tonight Show came back after the September 11 attacks, Jay Leno nixed Jay Leno's usual monologue to talk about what had happened. Jay Leno also spoke about the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. In addition, following the skating controversy surrounding the ice skating pairs event at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Leno invited the Canadian pairs teams onto Jay Leno's show the following day and waved a Canadian flag and played "O Canada" for them. And when Johnny Carson died in January 2005, Jay Leno did one night of the The Tonight Show as a tribute to Jay Leno's predecessor.
Jay Leno guest hosts The Today Show with Matt LauerIn 1998, Jay Leno and Jay Leno's show partner Kevin Eubanks were invited to a wrestling show called WCW Road Wild 1998, from Sturgis, South Dakota, in which Leno teamed with Diamond Dallas Page to wrestle against Hulk Hogan and WCW President Eric Bischoff, following a prelude in which the wrestling stars had appeared on The Tonight Show. The match ended with Page and Leno's victory when Eubanks sneaked a fast Diamond Cutter on Bischoff.
In 2002, Leno had a group of professionals build Jay Leno a robot called "Chin Killa" for Battlebots. Although the officials from the show let Jay Leno's robot fight in fun matches, they wouldn't allow it to fight in tournaments because it was built by professionals.
On May 12, 2003, Jay Leno and former Today Show host Katie Couric switched places, meaning Leno co-hosted the Today Show with Matt Lauer.
On The Tonight Show's 50-year anniversary episode (September 27, 2004), Jay Leno announced that Jay Leno would retire as host in 2009, when Jay Leno's current contract expires, as part of an arrangement that allowed NBC to have Late Night host Conan O'Brien replace him.
According to the Forbes 100, Leno earned $32 million in 2005, which is surprisingly less than Jay Leno's rival David Letterman who tops Leno by $8 million, with a $40 million paycheck in '05. Letterman apparently owns the rights to Jay Leno's program, as opposed to Leno inheriting the long running Tonight Show. In October 2006, rumors started to circulate that ABC is considering courting Jay Leno for a possible jump to that network once Leno's current contract expires with NBC in 2009. In a related note, Jay is said to be upset with NBC for making Jay Leno retire as the host of The Tonight Show.
Jay Leno Acting, cameos and voice acting
Jay Leno as "Fast Tony" in Ice Age 2Leno is not widely known as an actor (legendarily, in auditioning for a role on Mork & Mindy which would go to Jay Thomas, Jay Leno was told that Jay Leno had a face that would scare children), but Jay Leno had a number of small roles early in Jay Leno's career in mostly unsuccessful movies; an exception was a bit part in the more popular film, American Hot Wax.His most prominent role was in the 1989 film Collision Course, a comedy about a mismatched crime fighting pair, in which Jay Leno played a detective opposite Pat Morita. When Steve Martin appeared on Leno's The Tonight Show in December 2005, a clip from the movie appeared during Martin's game of "Name That Clip" (Leno was supposed to differentiate clips from Martin's two new movies Shopgirl and Cheaper by the Dozen 2, with Martin taking twenty dollars from Leno if Jay Leno got one wrong.) The last clip played was from Collision Course, which Leno immediately said was "a horrible movie." Martin said Leno was right, but Jay Leno would still lose twenty dollars for making it.
Leno also appeared in an episode of the television series Good Times, in which Jay Leno's character promotes getting tested for venereal diseases. Jay Leno's acting debut actually found himself as one of the "pool guys" in the original 1977 version of Fun with Dick and Jane.
Since becoming the host of the Tonight Show, Leno has made a number of cameo appearances, usually appearing as a talk show host or making fun of Jay Leno's famous chin. In 1994 Jay Leno played "Bedrock's Most Wanted Host," along with Cynthia Clemons, in the live-action comedy film The Flintstones. Also in 1994, Jay Leno played himself in Major League II which starred Charlie Sheen. In 1998, Jay Leno made a voice cameo as himself on an episode of The Simpsons entitled The Last Temptation of Krust. Jay Leno also made appearances on the sitcoms The Nanny, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Titus. Making fun of Jay Leno's own facial features, it is true that Jay Leno plays the "Crimson Chin" on The Fairly Odd Parents. In 2005, Jay Leno lent Jay Leno's voice to a talking fire hydrant in the computer animated movie, Robots. Jay Leno also made a cameo appearance for Fox NFL Sunday in a ficticious interview with prognasticator Frank Caliendo's impression of Terry Bradshaw. In 2006, Jay Leno provided the voice of an armadillo named "Fast Tony" in Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, and in the Pixar/Disney film Cars Jay Leno voiced "Jay Limo". Jay Leno made a cameo appearance in an episode of TV sitcom Just Shoot Me, in a fictitious interview with David Spade's character, Dennis Finch. Jay Leno made at least one appearance on NBC's The West Wing playing himself at a California fundraiser for the president, Jed Bartlet. Jay Leno has also appeared on Home Improvement as a mechanic in a wealthy car collector's garage (in reality Jay Leno's own collection).
He also appeared as himself, doing Tonight Show monologues regarding the main characters in the films Mr. 3000, Contact, First Daughter, Dave, In & Out, and The Birdcage. In the movie Space Cowboys, Jay Leno hosted a fictional Tonight Show segment featuring the four astronaut protagonists (played by Clint Eastwood, James Garner, Tommy Lee Jones, and Donald Sutherland) just before their space mission. Later, in a case of life imitating art, the four actors appeared together on The Tonight Show to promote their film.
Jay Leno Michael Jackson trial
In the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson over allegations of child abuse, Leno appeared as a defense witness (many celebrity defense witnesses had been expected, but Leno was one of the few who actually testified). As a witness in the case, Leno was initially not allowed to continue telling jokes about Jackson or the case, which had been a fixture of the show's opening monologue in particular; however, Jay Leno and Jay Leno's show's writers exploited a legal loophole by having Leno briefly step aside while stand-in comedians took the stage and told jokes regarding the trial. Stand-ins included Roseanne Barr, Drew Carey, Brad Garrett, and Dennis Miller, among others.After NBC challenged the gag order, the judge permitted Leno to make jokes, as long as they were not related to Jay Leno's testimony. After the gag order was lifted, the next show featured a monologue entirely of Michael Jackson jokes.
In Jay Leno's testimony, the defense expected Jay Leno to say Jay Leno called police to say the accuser was coached by Jay Leno's mother to ask for money. Instead, Leno testified Jay Leno never called the police, no money was asked for, and there was no coaching but that the calls seemed unusual and scripted.
