{"id":41479,"date":"2025-07-28T01:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/41479\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T01:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T01:41:13","slug":"i-dont-think-anybody-wants-to-hear-a-lecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/41479\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Think Anybody Wants to Hear a Lecture\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was only a matter of time until Jay Leno had something to say \u2014\u00a0although, whether he said anything actually in response to the dust up at \u201cThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert\u201d<\/a> is a little less clear. In an interview posted last week by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation<\/a>, taped two weeks ago, Leno took the current slate of late night hosts to task.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got hate letters [when hosting \u2018The Tonight Show\u2019] saying, \u2018You and your Republican friends,\u2019 and another saying, \u2018I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy\u2019 \u2014 over the same joke,\u201d Leno related (via THR<\/a>). \u201cThat\u2019s how you get a whole audience. Now you have to be content with half the audience, because you have to give your opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Leno continued to explain how, in his day, friends didn\u2019t talk about their political positions \u2014\u00a0even those in the comedic realm. \u201cRodney Dangerfield and I were friends. I knew Rodney 40 years and I have no idea if he was a Democrat or Republican. We never discussed politics, we just discussed jokes. I like to think that people come to a comedy show to get away from the pressures of life. I love political humor \u2014 don\u2019t get me wrong. But people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

No matter when it was filmed, the timing of its release would seem deliberate, considering that Stephen Colbert\u2019s series has been the subject of \u201cwas it cancelled because of its politics?\u201d rumors since the news broke on July 17<\/a> \u2014\u00a0especially considering the timing of the CBS\/Paramount-Skydance<\/a> merger approval by the Trump Administration\u2019s Justice Department. If Leno still stands by this opinion two weeks later, it would put him on a lonely late night island. Virtually every other figure in the mainstream \u2014 from Jimmy Fallon to Jimmy Kimmel to Jon Stewart to previous \u201cLate Show\u201d host David Letterman \u2014 have expressed support<\/a> for Colbert and lambasted the series\u2019 parent company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was money\u2026 it was pure cowardice,\u201d Letterman<\/a> said on his YouTube<\/a> channel July 25. \u201cWhat the fuck is Skydance, honest to Christ? Is it a discount airline? Is that what it is? I think one day, if not today, the people at CBS, who have manipulated and handled this are going to be embarrassed because this is this is gutless. I only wish this could happen to me\u2026 Fighting with network television management was number one in the playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Leno maintains a diverting approach \u2014\u00a0even in these unusual Trumpian times \u2014 from the style adopted by Colbert. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody wants to hear a lecture \u2026 Why shoot for just half an audience? Why not try to get the whole? I like to bring people into the big picture. I don\u2019t understand why you would alienate one particular group \u2014 or just don\u2019t do it at all. I\u2019m not saying you have to throw your support [on one side]. But just do what\u2019s funny,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Last year on \u201cThe Talk,\u201d Leno said something similar, but seemed to indicate that his style didn\u2019t work in the present era. \u201cNow you kind of have to take a side,\u201d he said (via THR<\/a>). \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit different, but the nice thing about this election is, it was fair. I was not a fan [of Trump], but that\u2019s OK. It\u2019s the president of the United States. Let\u2019s all get together, thank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sign up for Indiewire’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was only a matter of time until Jay Leno had something to say \u2014\u00a0although, whether he said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,17974,33394,33393,33392,10674,92],"class_list":["post-41479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-jay-leno","tag-republican-friends","tag-rodney-dangerfield","tag-ronald-reagan-presidential-foundation","tag-stephen-colbert","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}