Jay Leno Vents About Flying on The Airlines, on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson - 08/07/1987 Part 01 - • Jay Leno Talks About S... #johnnycarson #jayleno #thetonightshow
Jay leno was on fire that night. Carson really liked him. He appreciated his talent, and the fact that the was very clean, which is somewhat rare in the late 80's, as things were getting edgier. Leno has that old time attitude of the greats, which is why he lasted so long.
According to Jimmie Walker, Johnny didn't care for Leno but then, that's only his side of the story. Supposedly, he didn't want him to be the host of the Tonight Show. He had pretty much groomed Joan Rivers to be that person and she bolted to another network.
I was a security guard at Stapleton Airport In Denver CO when I met Jay Leno. He was very pleasant and very funny. We talked for about a good twenty minutes before he had to go walk to another concourse to catch a flight to LAX. He still had dark hair and wasnt famous yet. He was going to LAX to do his first show for Carson as a substitute talk show host.
@@ms90sbabyy - Carson's former lawyer Henry Bushkin stated in his book, "Carson was by instinct and upbringing definitely Republican, but of an Eisenhower sort that we don't see much of anymore." I guess I could add, the Democratic Party of today has no resemblance whatsoever to the Democratic Party of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Johnny was so good, so professional. He had a marvellous wit and quick mind. Best of all he really enjoyed his guests , laughed so deeply and genuinely and made sure that he helped bring the best out of his guests. He helped them shine. Hard to measure up to a man with his talents and longevity. RIP Johnny.
Jay Leno grew up in Andover, Mass, I grew up in the next town over. As a teenager he worked at The local McDonalds in his neighborhood, whenever I go thru that one I always think of Jay working there. We miss you out this way Jay.
@@worldtraveler930 Not for me, though. They won’t see me succumbing to their crap. Not going to happen. I may be the only one out of 7,000,000,000+ people who fight them, but I will most certainly fight them.
Of course, it goes without saying that the incomparable Johnny Carson was king, but I'd forgotten just how funny Jay Leno was back then. Especially now, in these dark times, I miss the old days.
@@moa3810 try Kathleen Madigan. I am 73 and my granddaughter is 30 and we Both laugh our Butte off each time we see her. We can quote her word for word, good times.
Jay Leno was absolutely the natural choice to follow Carson as host of the Tonight Show. Easy-going, accessible, funny, and puts the other guy at ease to let him shine.
I almost forgot how funny Jay was back in the day. There was some true gold in that interchange. And Johnny, what can you say, he was the high water mark. No one comes close.
Johnny was just a little bit before my time but I find myself watching quite a bit of him on RU-vid and enjoying it far more than anything current late night has to offer.
This is the Jay I wish would have been the host. He was so comfortable and witty but he didn’t have the pressure of hosting. He changed a lot when he became host. But, today’s show had given me a new respect for Jay because he was 1000 times better than what we have today
Jay had to play the middle of the audience to draw the ratings. He couldn't be too edgy. He had to remain palatable to the generations that watched Carson.
I've never seen Johnny laugh so hard. Jay Leno, back in the day, was one of the funniest comedians in the business. He was the only comedian who could make my father do a belly laugh.
Jay's wit was lightning fast, it seems. Nowadays, he still performs regularly, but I did not see his recent bits, so I do not know how sharp he is today.
Before he landed the Tonight Show I saw Jay's standup act at a Daytona Beach Holiday Inn during Bike Week. Absolutely gut busting funny, there was no doubt he was headed for bigger things.
And if you got a nod from Johnny after your stand up routine, that meant you were good & could come sit down for an interview. Food for thought: Talking about plane crashes, “they” say when it’s your time to go, it’s your time. But what if you’re on a plane when it’s the pilot’s time to go..... badda bing! LOL
When you have the host, one of the funniest men who have ever lived perhaps even the funniest,bent over with laughter, you know that he has found his worthy successor and heir.
Johnny Carson will always be the undisputed King of late-night television. Jay Leno was the right choice to come after Carson, as the ratings reflected that during his tenure.
When late night and comedians were funny! I miss those times and Johnny Carson. Today, it's about politics with venom. No humor. Just anger and people are supposed to laugh. The good old days of entertainment mixed with fun, laughter and class are long gone😢
That’s because some current pols open themselves to ridicule by their statements and behavior. Had they existed in the time of Carson he would have hammered them.
Your recollection of the past is through rose colored glasses. Minus the couple hours of late shows there was nothing to watch but informercials. Now there’s entire networks of nothing but stand up comedy, movies, old shows, new shows, etc. through all hours of the day and night as well as Netflix and all the other streaming sites.
I saw Jay at clubs several times before he made it big....some of his funniest stuff was ad-libbing with the audience! He has the quickest wit I've ever seen and it was HILLARIOUS!....He's the King!
Back in the day when I enjoyed watching late-night. Then I'd switch to CBS to watch reruns of Columbo, McMillian and Wife, Quincy, Trapper John MD or McCloud
Jay Leno Was the Best person to take over from Johnny. For a younger Comedian, he was the Last of the Old Timers as far as Style. Surly Better than Anything going today!
My brother and his girlfriend went to see Leno when he was touring and landed safely in Vancouver. They were just blown away by the show, including a bit where he'd grab a copy of the latest TV Guide and just pick apart all the shows and made-for-TV movies off the cuff based on the descriptions!
Dave Letterman was way funnier than Leno. Also, Johnny wanted Letterman to take the Tonight Show after he retired. Warren Littlefield loaded the dice for Leno because Littlefield wanted to own the show and not Letterman (which he was already doing with his current show) as part of taking over. Littlefield screwed up because Leno's agent hard balled to get ownership. This was about the only time Jay Leno was funny.
Johnny Carson was a fantastic show host! It’s amazing that more than 3 decades later, we can watch old shows and it’s still enjoyable and funny!!! 👏👏👏👏👏👍🙌🌞 RIP Johnny Carson 💟
I sure miss these two. They made it worth while to stay up for late night tv and made ya laugh. No one is funny anymore and thinks crude language will make us laugh. Wrong! These guys had some class and respect for each other and their craft. Fun to see this. Thank you!
And so Did Johnnys Close Friend Legendary Insult Comedian Don Rickles who is No longer With us He Cracked johnny Up to a Point where He Was in Fits of Laughter And so did other people aswell like Milton Berle and Bob Hope And some of the greats of that Era Yeah Jay could definitely make Johnny laugh but so could David Letterman And Many others
Back in the late sixties I was in the Navy and flew home quite a bit. From DFW to Shreveport I'd he t stuck on TTA (TRANS-TEXAS-AIRWAYS) I swear one time they landed in Lonview, TX just to unload an upright vacuum cleaner. No kidding.
I remember that airline. We moved to the Rio Grande Valley in late '67, and that airline flew into Harlingen, TX. It had a bad reputation, and my dad used to call it Tinker-Toys Airways. :D
Dude..... that is comedy gold. If Leno would have said; one Airline I flew had to stop in Waco, to unload a vacuum cleaner and a box of clackers. It might have killed Johnny. LMAO
Johnny Carson was as always, brilliant in every aspect!! What a magnificent participating Prese ter with his comedic experience! Jay Leno is a great Guest for him!! Wish I knew about all these great guys were around then when Comedy and GOOD LATE NIGHT SHOWS and Other Shows WITHOUT POLITICS were around!!! He must be SO MISSED!! Imiss him and did not have the privilege of watching him live!! R.I.P dear Johnny, a very good philanthropist!!!
Legend Johnny ... sorely missed And whoda thought Leno would become a show host & sit on a Johnny's thrown ...but I think Johnny would be pleased ... RIP
Most people forget how really funny Jay’s stand up was. He was a great joke and story teller and was far more entertaining than Letterman ever was. Letterman prided himself on two things, interviews, where he played the sarcastic foil and prodding his guests to provide most of the entertaining. Leno also dominated the ratings when he guest hosted for Johnny. Again, people forget both Leno and Letterman were guest hosts and Leno crushed Letterman in the ratings. Leno kept the tonight show atop of the ratings for over 25 years...
I liked Letterman in the late night time slot. The top ten list,stupid human tricks etc. The guests seemed secondary on Late night Letterman though . The Carson show guests were #1 and other things like Carson as that magician were secondary .I liked Letterman on CBS ,but I think Leno was the best host to take over for Carson.
Believe me...I first saw Jay on a comedy cruise on Boston harbor years ago before he became famous and he was raunchy! But still very funny. He had wonderful comedic timing even back then. One of the best evenings of my life !!!
Both swear a fair amount in their club routines. They both just write a lot - Seinfeld writes every day I think - so they've accumulated enough killer shots that they are to be able to work entirely clean for TV.
Two consummate professionals at work here. Johnny teeing up the bits for Leno to run with and both making it appear as if they’re just having a conversation. Absolutely seamless pitching to the hitter. You don’t find this on late night television any more. If you listen closely during the intro of The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon you can hear Johnny Carson rolling over in his grave. Beer pong anyone?
Fallon is a tool box , absolute horror show. I want to set my calendar to re-watch all the JC episodes by date for the next 10 years. Jay Leno was a great act too!
I wouldn't know, I haven't watched him, I kid you people not, I have not watched one single episode of any of the talk shows nowadays, not one, not one single time, not even out of curiosity, late night is dead to me.
Not just him, but boring political Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, etc. But it's true that the audience changed as well. This was the 80s, now they have politically correct liberals looking at them who get offended by everything because it makes them feel socially responsible.
Jerry Seinfeld was on the Howard Stern Show and they were talking about comedians. Stern mentioned Leno as one of the best, Seinfeld corrected him, "THE best".
I have been watching these clips with Jay Leno on the Tonight show. I had completely forgotten how funny he was. And it is just as fun to watch Johnny laugh.
Johnny gone , Jay Leno fired ...RIP Tonight Show ..you are missed .. ...sad that their is no more late night talk shows ..just these poor imitations rule now ...Thank goodness for RU-vid ..
@@briananthony4044 They did not renew Jay's contract because they wanted the present idiot to take over the Tonight show .. even though Jay had the highest ratings .. Jay is missed
@@FreedomFighter-cr5xg Seeing Jay, with his now love of denim, wearing a expensive tailored suit, is a bit of a shock. But he made enough to be able to expand his second love, which must keep him very busy, his collection of cars and bikes. He must have been paid a helluva lot towards the end, no wonder they found a cheaper replacement.
If you ever wondered why Johnny Carson wanted Jay Leno to succeed him this episode explains it. He made Johnny genuinely laugh and Carson obviously likes him. It was the right choice. Kinda of a rags to riches for Leno. Sleeping in his car on the road, etc. of course Leno would have made it. He had amazing talent.
@rowdyyates8626 Note that at the end (04:52) Carson says, "A lot of good stuff there." He really appreciated guests who were prepared AND could banter with him. You're absolutely correct that this is a good example. Seinfeld has often said that Jay was the hardest working comedian he ever met. NBC knew how difficult it would be to follow Carson and how demanding the job was so Jay's work ethic was likely a significant factor in his favor. IMO, they made an excellent decision.
When Johnny laughed back in his chair as if it was going to fall back on the floor like that you were exceptionally funny. Only 5 other guests I can recall made him laugh like that : His idol Jack Benny, Don Rickles, Rodney Dangerfield, Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams. I wonder if that might have been the reason Jay Leno was the only right guy to take over the Tonight Show after Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen retired from the show.
Louis Anderson's line "sorry I'm sweating, but if I didn't I'd explode" had Johnny laughing loud enough to be heard. George Gobel also when he said "Did you ever get the feeling the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?" There were not many that got that kind of response from Johnny, but like many have observed here, Mr. Carson was the consummate professional who enhanced people's performances and stayed out of the way. Wonderful times.
This was when the Tonight Show Cared More to make Us laugh at the end of our already Stressful day, than they were to Crank up our Blood Press right before we went to bed with the damn Politics.. as IS Today! Damn do I miss Johnny! And the Comedians with Absolutely No P. C. !!!
Boy you said it.Since Johnny left,I watched Jay for awhile,couldn't stomach 30 seconds of Letterman,but left late night talk shows pretty much for good
@@musoangelo - Your reply sounds like "sanity" to you? It was an insult, a death threat and bad grammar. Everything you leftist morons represent all rolled into one forgettable blurb.
@@56squadron Just suggesting what your chosen one instructed to do. Yeah and don't get sanctimonious with me. Your dear leader, fu*king moron trump says worse on a daily basis. You're trump turds sh1t on people all the time, try calling them out on their sh1t.
@Bill of Rights I'm of the belief that you're an idiot for believing in any political party. That being said, you're delusional. That idiot lost the popular vote.... And in the midterms, the republicans lost 6 state governorships, while taking none from the democrats. And the republicans lost several congressional seats as well. And his handling of covid-19 is costing him people in states he just barely won. The problem with losing the popular vote, but winning the electoral college is losing just a few voters swings a lot of electoral college votes.
I haven't heard Dennis Miller do anything new for quite a while. His wit reminds me of great political comedians like Bob Hope and Will Rodgers. Maybe Dennis retired.
Ah, the real good O'l days, there will never be another Carson, his charisma, immense wit and stage presence were incomparable, he also had the most sincere contagious laughter.
I remember seeing him in the PSA terminal at SFO. I was working for the airline and had just come up the jetway from the ramp to have a smoke. He was sitting all by himself in the dark in the corner by the jetway door. I quietly said hello Mr Leno. He just nodded. And yes I left him alone. Had to be this time or maybe 1986. I worked there from 82 to 87 and saw a lot of celebrities.
As far as I’m concerned, that Johnny Carson was the king of late night talk shows and he was the master of it! There never will be a another Johnny Carson again “ EVER “
Fantastic humour. Practically every delivery is very funny. Leno sounds like he is doing a monolog. The humour comes so fast you are still laughing from the previous story. I miss Leno.
Leno has taken a lot of heat, some of it deserved, but I remember him as a really nice guy. My friends and I saw him on Letterman once in the early '80s. After the show, we were wandering outside and saw Jay across the street. The three of us, college-age kids with natty clothes and long hair, shouted to Jay, and he immediately crossed the street with his hand extended to say hello. What a gesture. I saw him perform a couple of years later in a Long Island comedy club and he killed. I don't recall the jokes, but I remember him closing with about 10 minutes of rapid-fire stuff that completely crushed it. Something about a petting zoo. Good times.
NONE of it was deserved. He did nothing but be loyal to his employer. It was CONAN who stabbed Leno in the back. In 2004. He went to NBC...while Leno was still CRUSHING Letterman in the ratings and making the network millions and said "Promise me the Tonight Show or I'm leaving to ABC." So without talking to Leno, they agreed and THEN went to Leno and said "We know you are still #1, and that you don't want to leave, but this next 5 year contract you are signing is going to be your last." Leno agreed solely because he had no choice. then, as 2009 came along and Leno was still crushing Letterman in the ratings, NBC realized they made a huge mistake and scrambled to keep Leno with the ill fated prime time show. And then, partly due to them forcing Conan to move to California which was a HORRIBLE idea that Conan never recovered from even on TBS, his show flopped. Most of his early joes were "Look how out of place I am in California." And what made people like him at 12:30 was taken away from him, like the Masturbating Bear, or Preparation H Raymond. They were allowed to use them only very sparingly. But there is no denying that the show flopped and The Tonight show went from dominating the ratings to second place by Week 2 and was falling dangerously close to 3rd place. And worse, it was losing money. As was Leno's prime time show. The decision to cancel Conan did not come from Leno. He didn't have that power even if he wanted it. As shown by how NBC went behind his back AGAIN just a few years later after he had regained the #1 spot and showed no signs of slowing down, but still pushed him out for Jimmy Fallon. As for originally taking over for Carson...it was not his decision that NBC didn't feel Letterman's humor worked at 11:30. But they KNEW that Tonight Show audiences loved Leno because whenever he would guest host, his ratings were much better than Johnny's. This made it a no-brainer for NBC. (People give Helen Kushnick way too much "credit" for this as if she really had any power with the network.) And the ratings for 90-95% of their time head to head showed that NBC made the right call. Letterman tried to blame it on the NBC prime time dominance giving a better lead in. But then in the mid to late '00s, CBS became the dominant prime time ratings winner and NBC was in the tank. And yet Leno STILL dominated. The one that has the most to be mad about IS Leno. He had his show taken away behind his back THREE TIMES. First when they promised it to Letterman, but Letterman rejected it and went to CBS instead, then in 2004 (2009) when they promised it to Conan and pushed him out 5 years later. And then another 5 years later when they pushed him out for Fallon. All while he did everything NBC asked of him and delivered them tens of millions of dollars a year.
@@manofiske3318 Everybody says she was the reason why it happened. Have you not read, nor seen The Late Shift? But thanks for being a good typo police, officer. The world is more safer knowing you are on patrol.
My fave. Monday night. Never missed it and actually had one to appear that I'd sent in. I mailed almost once a month weird things in the paper. I screamed when Jay read the one I sent in. It was fried laundry detergent. Proud moment.
