Jay Leno thinks that the television actors at the end of the evening have become too politicized – and that they risk losing half of the public by “cozant on one side or the other”.
“For me, I like to think that people come to a comedy show to move away from things, you know, the pressures of life, anything,” said Leno in a recent interview with David Trulio, president and chief executive officer of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. “Now you have to settle for half the public because you have to give your opinion.”
Leno did not name names. But the current list of end -of -evening hosts – Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Seth Meyers and more – regularly made fun of President Trump and the Maga movement. To be correct, they also have a opportunistic manner democrats.
Leno’s impression is that late evening television is nowadays to specific political views. “I love political humor, don’t get me wrong,” the late evening veteran told Trulio. “But that’s just what’s going on when people finish too much on one side or the other.” Leno asked Rhetorically: “Why shoot for only half an audience all the time?” You know, why not try to put yourself in the whole. I mean, I like to put people overall. ”
Lenio’s interview with Trio, formerly editor -in -chief of Fox News Digital and responsible for strategy and editorial operations, was carried out before the announcement of CBS on July 17 that it canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”. CBS said it was “a financial decision.
The axis of Colbert’s program seemed to many criticisms like another concession to Trump, after the parent company of CBS, Paramount Global, agreed to pay $ 16 million to the president to settle what the legal experts said they were a trial without merit going after “60 minutes”. After Trump said, “I love the fact that Colbert was dismissed,” Colbert told “kissing you”. On Friday, David Letterman, former animator of “Late Show”, criticized the cancellation of Colbert’s program as an “pure cowardice” act and suggested that Skydance Media (whose pamper of paramount should close next month after the FCC approved the agreement) wanted to Colbert mentioned the problems with the Trump administration.
The legend on the Youtube interview clip of the Reagan Foundation with Leno, which was published on July 22, says: “Television at the end of the evening was about laughter – not conferences. @Jayleno tells us why he never shared his political opinions on this evening show, and why he thinks that today’s hosts lose half of America by doing the SO. ” The first part of Trulio’s interview with Leno was published on July 9 on YouTube. Part 2, in which Leno “shares his reflections on Reagan’s comic brilliance”, was downloaded on July 15.
Leno welcomed “The Tonight Show” on NBC from 1992 to 2009; Conan O’Brien briefly took the reins of the show before NBC brought Leno from 2010 to 2014. Leno was the first Talk-show animator at the end of the evening to carry out an interview with an exercise president, President Barack Obama appearing in the program in March 2009.
After Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, Leno declared in an appearance on “The View” that he was “not a fan” of Trump but that “the right thing about this election is, it was right, it was honest ….
In the interview with Leno, Trulio alluded to a study of the comedian’s “Tonight Show” jokes, which, according to Trulio, had “roughly also balanced between the Republicans and targeting the Democrats”. According to an analysis of George Mason University published in 2009, on “The Tonight Show” from 1992 to 2008, Leno told 4,468 jokes on Bill Clinton, almost 50% more than George W. Bush (2,999 jokes). The following in the 10 most frequent targets of Leno’s jokes were Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, OJ Simpson, Dick Cheney, Michael Jackson, Monica Lewinsky, Bob Dole and John McCain.
Asked by Trulio what was his strategy towards political humor, Leno replied: “It was funny for me when I had letters of hatred [that said]”You and your republican friends” and “Well, Mr. Leno, I hope you and your Democrats friends are happy” – on the same joke. And I’m going: ‘Well, that’s good. This is how you get an entire audience. “”
Leno has already shared his conviction that the end of the evening hosts who came after him are too unilateral. In 2019, he declared on “The View” that he “still liked humiliating and degrading both sides.”
See also: Jay Leno says that Jimmy Kimmel “ Humiliated Me ” during the 2010 interview ‘Tonight Show’ ‘and “I Let it occur. I have not changed it. It was my mistake.
