American talk show host, comedian and commercial pitchman. In May 1992, Leno replaced Johnny Carson as host of NBC’s coveted late-night spot, “The Tonight Show” following in the footsteps of Jack Paar, Steve Allen, and Carson. For his apprenticeship in the’80s, Leno had traveled all around the country performing his stand-up comedy in nightclubs large and small. By the time Carson was ready to retire, Leno and his manager, Helen Kushnick, orchestrated the comedian into the heir apparent position by squeezing out rival NBC talk show host, David Letterman. Television critics rebuked NBC executives for choosing the square-jawed, likable Leno over cagey trickster Letterman. The bitter rivalry between the two talk show hosts intensified in the mid-’90s. By 1998, Leno had dug out his niche with his own loyal “Tonight Show” fans with high TV ratings for his time slot.
Leno’s parents were in their 40’s by the time Jay was born. He had an older brother Patrick and the two were raised in a traditional middle-class home in the suburbs of Boston. His father, an insurance salesman and his mother, a homemaker, encouraged their sons at school. Jay envied his brother’s natural over-achievements in school. His brother was patient and quiet where Jay was impulsive and could not stop talking to anyone who would listen. He enjoyed watching Alan King, Robert Klein and Rodney Dangerfield TV comedy spots in the ’60s. Jay found himself bored at school, pulling in less than satisfactory grades, mildly dyslexic, and limited in sports. However, he found humor to be his salvation. His first joke occurred in his fourth grade class, a joke so funny that he heard his teacher repeating it to others. His ability to make jokes and give others a laugh felt like power to the young boy.
After high school, Jay entered Emerson College in Boston and majored in speech. He earned his living by performing his comedy act at night clubs. Upon graduation, he left Boston and moved to Los Angeles to make it big in Hollywood. Leno struggled in Hollywood and watched as his contemporaries such as Lettermen, Steve Martin, and Robin Williams moved on in their comedic careers. He appeared in a couple of films, “Fun With Dick and Jane,” 1977, “American Hot Wax,” 1978 and “Americathon” in 1979.
In 1977, he finally achieved his break on the comedy circuit. Actor and comedian Harvey Korman caught his act at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Korman talked to his friend Johnny Carson about the funny square-jawed comedian and urged the talk show host to have him perform on television. Carson saw his act but told Leno he did not have enough material to capture his audience’s attention. Steve Martin began to pester Carson and finally, as he had first featured so many countless other stars, Carson introduced Leno to millions of TV viewers.
Leno worked hundreds of dates a year in the ’80s honing his craft and meeting ordinary people who enjoyed his clean sense of humor. He watched in disgust as others on the circuit use hate-filled and vulgar jokes about blacks, gays, women and various groups to spew prejudice, hiding behind a pretense of “only being an act.” He used his image to pitch Doritos snacks for television commercials. On 5/25/1992, Leno took over the reins of the show that helped to make him a successful comedian for an estimated $3 million a year.
Leno met his wife Mavis at the Los Angeles Comedy Store in 1976 by an introduction from a mutual friend. Mavis wrote scripts for situation comedies in LA. The couple had an instant chemistry with Mavis calling him the absolutely most gorgeous man she had ever met. They married in 1980 and made a decision together not to have children. In their Beverly Hills home, which Leno bought with cash, his wife displays her antique collection and her full library of Victorian novels. Victoria Nicholson, Jay’s mother-in-law, lives next door to the Leno’s. While his wife loves to travel abroad in Europe, Leno prefers to stay home and tool with his fleet of over 12 classic automobiles and 24 vintage motorcycles. If he did not make it as a comedian, Leno believes he would have become a mechanic. When a visitor came to the house to interview Leno, he found the TV star with wrench in hand trying to fix the dryer. Leno does not allow his TV exposure to go to his head insisting on carrying his own bags while playing comedy shows around the country.
On 10/22/1998, the Leno’s made headline news by donating $ 100,000 to the plight of persecution of Afghanistan women by the Taliban fundamentalist Islamic sect. Mavis Leno chairs the Feminist Majority Foundation’s campaign to draw media attention to the abuse of women in Afghanistan.
The late night TV-show host joins the growing list of celebrities who are authors of children’s books. Leno’s first is called,”If Roast Beef Could Fly,” and it was released the week of March 21, 2004.
In early December 2008 he and the network agreed that he would leave “The Tonight Show” and move to 10 PM, considered prime time. Conan O’Brien was named his successor on The Tonight Show and began hosting it in ealry June 2009. The new prime-time Leno show premiered in September 2009. Despite early high ratings, Leno continued to lose viewers. NBC decided to pull the plug on the show a few months later. In January 2010, Leno and the network entered negotiations that would allow him to move back to the 11:30 PM time slot, displacing Conan O’Brien and “The Tonight Show.” O’Brien made his displeasure known and walked away with a fat settlement. Leno resumed his hosting job on “The Tonight Show” on March 1, 2010.
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