James Douglas Muir “Jay” Leno (b.1950) is an American comedian and talk show host.
Born in New Rochelle, New York, and raised in Massachusetts, Leno worked various jobs, including as an auto mechanic, while building his career as a well-traveled stand-up comedian. In 1974, he relocated to California and made a guest appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show in 1977. He took over the show when host Johnny Carson retired in 1992. By 1996, Leno was repeatedly winning in the viewership ratings, and he was widely regarded as the king of the late-night talk by 2000.
Leno hosted The Tonight Show until 2014, except for a disruption in 2009 and 2010 when he moved to prime time with his new The Jay Leno Show.
In 2009, Conan O’Brien took over as host of The Tonight Show. However, when both The Jay Leno Show and The Tonight Show faltered in viewership ratings, NBC forced Conan out and restored The Tonight Show with Leno as the host. NBC and Leno received much criticism from media commentators and fans of O’Brien—this confrontation is considered one of the most poorly managed breakups in media history.
The Tonight Show returned to the top spot in the late-night programming contest until Leno finally retired, and Jimmy Fallon took over as the host of the show.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Jay Leno
If you think of life as like a big pie, you can try to hold the whole pie and kill yourself trying to keep it, or you can slice it up and give some to the people around you, and you still have plenty left for yourself.
—Jay Leno
A survey says that American workers work the first three hours every day just to pay their taxes. So that’s why we can’t get anything done in the morning: We’re government workers.
—Jay Leno
Topics: Government
The crime problem in New York is getting really serious. The other day the Statue of Liberty had both hands up.
—Jay Leno
Topics: Cities
If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.
—Jay Leno
Topics: Elections
Researchers at Harvard say that taking a power nap for an hour in the afternoon can totally refresh you. They say that by the time you wake up you’ll feel so good, you’ll be able to start looking for a new job.
—Jay Leno
I went into a McDonald’s yesterday and said, ‘I’d like some fries.’ The girl at the counter said, ‘Would you like some fries with that?’
—Jay Leno
Topics: Habit
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