{"id":42821,"date":"2025-07-28T14:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/42821\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T14:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:39:09","slug":"jay-leno-takes-aim-at-political-late-night-tv-hosts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/42821\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay Leno Takes Aim at Political Late-Night TV Hosts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJay Leno<\/a>, who previously helmed The Tonight Show<\/a>, criticized late-night hosts whose political jokes only appeal to \u201chalf their audience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a recent interview<\/a> with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, Leno said it\u2019s important to use humor that gets the \u201cwhole audience.\u201d He added that hosts risk losing viewers if they are seen \u201ccozying up to one side or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo me, I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from things, you know, the pressures of life, whatever it might be,\u201d Leno said. \u201cNow you have to be content with half the audience because you have to give your opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLeno recalled his friendship with Rodney Dangerfield as an example of not letting politics get in the way. \u201cI knew Rodney 40 years and I have no idea if he was a Democrat or Republican,\u201d Leno noted. \u201cWe never discussed politics, we just discussed jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe former host concluded by saying, \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody wants to hear a lecture.\u201d He added. \u201cI love political humor, don\u2019t get me wrong. But it\u2019s just what happens when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other. Why shoot for just half an audience all the time? You know, why not try to get the whole. I mean, 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<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tLeno hosted The Tonight Show on NBC from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014. Jimmy Fallon took over as host in 2014. Leno\u2019s interview was taped several weeks ago, but the comments come after the surprise cancellation<\/a> of The Late Show<\/a> With Stephen Colbert<\/a>. Its network, CBS, cited financial reasons, but it is presumed that the move was political. Colbert\u2019s fellow late-night hosts, including Jon Stewart<\/a>, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and Jimmy Kimmel, have all voiced their support for him.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid Letterman, who hosted The Late Show from its inception in August 1993, called the cancellation<\/a> \u201cgutless.\u201d \u201cThis is pure cowardice,\u201d Letterman told former\u00a0Late Show\u00a0producers Barbara Gaines and co-host Mary Barclay in the video. \u201cYou\u2019re telling me\u00a060 Minutes, the pinnacle of journalistic excellence and integrity for decades \u2026 they decided, \u2018Aw, we\u2019re sorry, let us give you $20 million.\u2019 I believe this is in the wake of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jay Leno, who previously helmed The Tonight Show, criticized late-night hosts whose political jokes only appeal to \u201chalf…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[12,88,17974,9609,11448,10674,16522,24533],"class_list":{"0":"post-42821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jay-leno","11":"tag-jon-stewart","12":"tag-late-night-tv","13":"tag-stephen-colbert","14":"tag-the-late-show","15":"tag-the-tonight-show"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42821","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=42821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}