Was in grad school, NYC when these great Jay appearances took place. Was loading trucks at UPS, 42nd and 9th Avenue - in order to pay for school. Couldn't see the show in person.
Leno basically stole the show from Letterman here. He just kept the jokes rolling while Letterman didn’t seem to have any answer but just try to rein Leno in with questions about his roadshow schedule.
@@kindface That would’ve been a mess. His job is to ask good questions, and make the guest talk and entertain. It is an easy job with Jay Leno, but I’m happy he didn’t try to out-joke him.
This is great... _thank you._ Forty years ago, I recorded this very spot from off my 13" b&w Magnavox TV, onto my cassette player, using only its external mic. For whatever reason, it was one of the recordings I would listen to every night, after that, to help me fall asleep -- for a couple of years. I knew every word, pause, laugh, etc. then, and -- listening back, just now -- still knew every inch of this interview. It's not like it came back to me... it is just so etched into my brain, it feels like it's always been right here. I *did* just re-discover why I've been saying, "Well, that's a bit unorthodox, but..." all these decades, for a quick laugh. Hadn't consciously realized (for a while) I had stolen it from Leno. (4:18)
Watching this on the day Letterman announced his retirement. Amazing how little Letterman has changed. (And Leno, for that matter). You could close your eyes and it could be 30 years later.
yeah, like the future we live in now.... where every host got TDS and turned their shows into a political dumps. any sane person would take David and Jay over the turds like kimmel, corden, colbert... puke!
I don't get how there is so much hate for Jay. He's really funny and a great guy, he was always a friend to other comedians and he loved doing the Tonight Show.
The reason people hate him is cause he fucked over Conan. But people take it a little too far and completely denounce everything he's ever done. I mean I love the Conan Show but I still watch Jay Leno's garage and I don't lie about not finding this bit pretty funny.
Wrong. NBC fucked Conan...Leno helped(like he did w/ Letterman). Conan signed a 5 year extension for Late Night & NBC promised he'd be the next Tonight Show host. In 2004, NBC gave Leno 5 more years before the Conan switch. It was Leno's turn to hand the baton, but he wouldn't let go. Leno knew Conan couldn't just go back to his old show, they already gave it to Fallon. The petty shit Leno did polarized the audiences of Late Night/Tonight Show, making them choose sides-which obviously hurt ratings. If some advertisers "threaten" to pull out, you don't cancel the show, you FIND NEW ADVERTISERS! They never gave Tonight Show w/ Conan the chance to find its audience.
He kicked Johnny Carson out, kicked Dave out (who wanted to take Carson’s place, who carson wanted to take his place) and then kicked conan around. The dude backstabbed his way to the top
Mark Hamill on Jay Leno: " You remember Leno on Dave’s original show? That guy would absolutely kill. Nobody could touch him. He was the funniest, most biting and sarcastic person. “What’s my beef, Dave?” and he’d pull out a TV Guide and just read descriptions. He was much more edgy than he had to be to appeal to middle America." Hamill was so obsessed with Letterman that he'd record and catalog the episodes. He actually had to quit watching talk shows because it was such an obsession.
Dallas Van Winkle What an interesting comment, thanks so much for this: where does that quote actually come from, like, what source? And I agree that Leno is hilarious here but he sacrificed, and this is only my opinion, his edge and biting humor for blandness and mainstream appeal. Sad really. Thanks again!
This was good comedy back in the day, people were laughing... he did his job. He wasn't writing jokes for people 30 years in the future, he was writing them for the audience that was present.
Yeah but see what’s happening here? He may have written for a different demographic And but they were great jokes were hilarious 10:21 and commentary jokesenough to stand the test of time how many other comedians can actually say thattrutthfully??
if you knew anything about their relationship, you'd know that until jay took over the tonight show, him and david were actually good friends, that's why jay was a regular on late night.
I think a lot of people forget that Dave had been on a decade with his own show and if NBC had given him the Tonight Show, Dave would have wanted a lot more money. Jay on the other hand was at the time THE permanent guest host for when Carson was on vacation, a "job" that ended when Carson was gone. Jay was very familar with Carson's audience and they with Jay and he knew how to keep the status quo going. Either way it was a damned if you do, damned if you don't decision. Plus though today you hear about how Jay has no manager, at the time he had Helen Kushnick who single-handly was ruthless in getting not only Jay the job (probably cheaper for NBC than Dave would have been), but also was so ruthless strong-arming agents to not let guests come on TTS with Jay if they went on any other show first. This pissed off so many people that she lost her job with NBC after a few months and Jay had to fire her because NBC would have fired Jay if he didn't. It was very, very ugly. Me I was always in the Dave camp, but it probably couldn't have worked out better for all involved.
Most comedians were/are goofy looking. Are there any who aren't funny looking? Not any good ones i can think of. That's why they became funny. To combat getting picked on for their looks. Have them laugh with you not at you.
Its crazy that leno and letterman were the best of friends going back to being up and comers at the comedy store who knew that two best friends would become in a bitter fued over the tonight show less than 10 yrs from this appearance
I wished I grew up in the 80's. Not that I found either of these guys funny here, but there seemed to be a sort of "magic" that the world has lost since sometime in the 90's. I can't really describe it, unfortunately.
Joseph F I grew up in the 80s and 90s. This was before viral videos, before social media, before the internet even existed. So tuning in to David Letterman at night was special. The age of the geek is impressive to be sure, but having limitless information at your fingertips has made life rather boring.
Indeed hard to describe. Television was just better. You don't have LA law anymore. You don't have different strokes which I consider to be in the 5 best sitcoms ever. Dallas. You will never have something like Dallas today. It's before "reality" shows. Nothing realistic there. Before cables. You had 3 major networks. If something's good then everyone will get to see it or hear about it. A different era. The best decade for television. Television will never be the same. It's something completely different today
old comment, but you're absolutely right, was born in 1975 and feel like it was the optimal time to catch all the magic of the 80's and 90's, the magic did continue in the 90's although in a different edgier form (btw still coming through today in modern comic book movies which were based on 90's source material) which manifested in stuff like Nirvana, etc... the internet is great, but it's like instant ubiquitous knowledge removed the critical 'unknown/uncertainty' ingredient in the magician's trick and also homogenized artists too much.
He mentioned Joker’s club in Oklahoma City. When I lived there in the late 70’s my goofy buddies and I would would be on the front row egging him on every time he was in town. Years later when he was hosting the Tonight Show, he said that Joker’s was his favorite comedy club back in the day.
Leno was so quick witted in his day. No Robin Williams, but still. I remember hearing him on NPR doing National Press Club luncheon in '91. Afterwards they aired the Q&A from the press. He'd take a question and run with it. Off the cuff hilarious. Sharp as a tack.
I don't know how many people saw the Larry Sanders Show, which was a "mockumentary" of a late night host. One of the story arcs they did was of a comedian (David Spade) appearing on Larry's show, and the producers loving him so much that he ultimately was set to replace Larry without Larry's knowledge. I can't help but think that this MUST have been making a jab at Leno appearing on Letterman and ultimately "replacing him" as the choice for the Tonight Show host. On the Larry Sanders Show, the character is very excited and not concerned at all on camera, but furious about the situation behind the scenes. At the end of the day, it would be so interesting to see the truth and hear the actual opinions of those involved, regardless of public opinion. What Letterman truly upset like some news outlets reported at the time? Was there anything underhanded about what went on?
I wish I could have gone to New York before they made it family friendly. I wish I could have seen the Time Square that rivaled biblical dens of sin. Now it's just Disneyland with more ads and less rides.
Hellz bellz, yeah! I'm not all that old, but NYC was slowly being cleaned up when I was able to go into the city on my own. I do remember the dirtier, sinful NYC. But, yes yes yes, I would love to have seen that NY.
