Jay Leno had some…not great words about politics and late-night humor.

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The former Tonight Show host recently chatted with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute. The interviewer alluded to a 2014 George Mason University study, which he claimed showed that Jay was “roughly equally balanced between going after Republicans and taking aim at Democrats” (we’ll get to why that’s not exactly right later).

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Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute

“It was funny to me when I got hate letters,” Jay replied. “That’s how you get a whole audience.”

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“Now, you have to be content with half the audience because you have to give your opinion,” he continued. “I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, the pressures of life, wherever it might be. And I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but what happens (is) people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.”

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Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute

“Funny is funny. 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,” the 75-year-old continued. “Why shoot for just half an audience all the time? Why not try to get the whole? I like to bring people into the big picture. I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group.”

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The thing is, the original study doesn’t quite show Jay as being quite partisan. In fact, it shows Jay’s top target as being Bill Clinton, with 4,607 jokes. George W. Bush is behind him with 3,239, around 30% less. Out of the top five political figures Jay took aim at between 1992–2014, four of them were Democrats.

Tweet from Tony Posnanski stating Jay Leno mentioned Bill Clinton 4,607 times and ending with "So fuck off."

Number seven on that list is Monica Lewinsky, who had 454 jokes told about her. Some subsequently responded by pointing out how, proportionally, Monica was a huge target for Jay.

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Tweet by Knowing Better likens Monica Lewinsky jokes by Jay Leno to the perception of South Park's politics, noting it's political only when disagreed withComment saying, "It is disgusting how Monica was treated back then," with engagement icons beneath

Monica herself even responded by reposting something telling:

Tweet by Brandon Farmahini mentions Monica Lewinsky and a remark about Jay Leno's disinterest in politician jokes, ending with a sarcastic emoji

In response to a now-deleted X post on the topic, she further wrote, “leno made many, many cruel jokes about me (so much so that i was in the top 10 list of his targets… from all the years he was on the air)…”

Monica Lewinsky tweets about being frequently targeted by Jay Leno's jokes during his time on air Monica Lewinsky / Via x.com

See folks, it’s fine to alienate half your audience — as long as they’re women!