Jay Leno farewell show (Friday night)

[Smokey]

As you all know, Friday night is last show for Jay Leno as the host of Tonight Show. Not a big fan of Leno, but watch his opening monologue every night and must say it is pretty hilarious. It was funniest 10 minutes on TV every night. For that, he will be missed.

[thekid]

Call me a cynic but I am not getting too teary eyed about Leno's "farewell". NBC is dying in the ratings and they are just moving 2 of their better known shows/personalities up an hour to draw more viewers. I am sure you will be able to get Leno's stand-up in some form in his new show. I have nothing against him and gave up watching him years ago in favor of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. I do remember the pre-"Tonight Show" Leno comedy was a lot more cutting edge than what has evolved into over the years since.

[3-LockBox]

Maybe Jay should go back to that Cheers bar to do his farewell show

I do remember the pre-"Tonight Show" Leno comedy was a lot more cutting edge than what has evolved into over the years since.

I have to agree here. I remember he was a semi-regular on the old Late Night w/ David Letterman, and he was a lot edgier in those segments.

[Worf101]

The best thing I can say about Leno is that he appears to be a genuinely "nice guy" something quite rare in the entertainment biz. He did a hard thing in following Johnny, but he didn't have the power Johnny had. Besides Johnny Carson only Oprah has the ability to make someone a "star" with just a wink or a nod. Not even "American Kareoke" has that power.

If you made it on Johnny you were golden. I think Conan's twice as funny. But we'll see.

Da Worfster

[Glen B]

He did a hard thing in following Johnny, but he didn't have the power Johnny had. Besides Johnny Carson only Oprah has the ability to make someone a "star" with just a wink or a nod. Not even "American Karaoke" has that power. If you made it on Johnny you were golden.

Apples and oranges IMHO. A lot of the acts that appeared on Carson were relative unknowns hoping their appearance would lead to fame and fortune. In contrast, most of the acts that appeared on Leno were already well established. My CD rack is filled with countless albums of acts I first saw on Leno.

[Woochifer]

The best thing I can say about Leno is that he appears to be a genuinely "nice guy" something quite rare in the entertainment biz. He did a hard thing in following Johnny, but he didn't have the power Johnny had. Besides Johnny Carson only Oprah has the ability to make someone a "star" with just a wink or a nod. Not even "American Kareoke" has that power.

If you made it on Johnny you were golden. I think Conan's twice as funny. But we'll see.

Da Worfster

People I know who live and work around Burbank bump into Leno all the time, and everything I hear is that he's a very down-to-earth and generous guy. Drops by the Bob's Big Boy down the street from NBC all the time, especially when on rally nights when people bring their vintage cars (Leno's a well known classic car collector).

Leno's definitely not the kingmaker that Carson was. It's a pretty staggering lineup of comic talent that came up through the Tonight Show. One thing I've heard about why it worked so well for Carson was that he had enough power that he didn't have to be afraid of getting upstaged by a young comedian, so he could nurture them along and build an audience for the ones he liked.

Leno never had that luxury, as evident by his getting pressured out the door by the NBC brass. His landing the 10pm prime time slot seems more like a cost cutting measure than anything (i.e., it's cheaper to produce a talk show than develop scripted programming).

I can't believe that Leno's up to 17 years on his Tonight Show tenure! It seems like he's only recently settled into his hosting gig.

[nightflier]

I think Conan's twice as funny. But we'll see.
Da Worfster

I don't know if Conan will be able to pull in the same kind of numbers. His humor is very different and certainly less political (probably not as popular with the older crowd). My guess is that he'll do OK at first, mostly because people will be curious, but then the newness will wear off and Conan's antics will be lost on the Leno base.

Anyhow, just my thoughts.

[3-LockBox]

Carson was one of a kind. He was a star maker because he was totally unaffected by the whole star business. Carson was so secure in himself. He didn't care if his monologue bombed - some of his funniest moments were when he was bombing. He's still the only guy ever secure enough to allow guest hosts, something even Letterman never had the balls to do. And Carson never fauned over guests the way Leno or even Letterman has the tendaency to do.

I think O'Brien will change to fit the mold. Leno did it. Letterman did it when he moved to CBS. But I don't know how O'Brien will do as a kissass. Leno's talent waned on the guest driven Tonight Show. Letterman's too.

Think of how edgy Letterman was when he first got his own show, not Late Night, but that daytime show called The David Letterman Show - the guy was so flippant (my mother thought he was an ass) but I loved Letterman. I saw his Showtime specials (David Letterman: Looking For Fun) which were where he honed his man-on-the-street ambush interviews. Late Night was never about the guests, neither was Carson's Tonight Show. But Dave has mellowed so much since those early days, cutting major slack to guests he'd made fun of in the past.

I'm interested in seeing how the new Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon will do - I'm betting it tanks. I could not stand that guy on SNL. He intentionally broke character in nearly every skit he was ever in, as if it were funny to do so, thus throwing everyone else off(though, to be honest, he was usually only guilty of screwing up an already ponderous scetch). I never got the guy. He is a poorman's Adam Sandler, and I can barely tolerate Sandler.

[Smokey]

Thanks everybody. So many different opinions and takes on late TV shows.

I agree that Leno shows are pretty sterilize politically and controversially. I remember he had Bill Mahr as guest right after 9/11, and bill wanted to talk about political of day, but Leno kept changing the conversation. Plus his interviewing style is kind of dry and don’t seem to have improved over the years.

IMO Letterman is much better in interviewing guests than Leno, and Conan fall somewhere in between the two. Let see how he fit into his new time slot.

[RGA]

Personally I like Craig Ferguson far better than Leno, Letterman or Conan. Leno is mainstream, Letterman isn't funny, has never been funny, is a terrible interviewer who is consistently unprepared (which is a reason why so many of his guests never return and think he's a jerk) and Conan is ok but wears thin fast.

Ferguson had a show where he had no guests (right after Letterman paid his staff despite the walkout/strike) but Letterman (Ferguson's boss) was unable to get guests on short notice for Craig. So Craig is out there with no guests for an hour - and you know they were not missed. He has an uncanny fast wit and carry an hour completely on his own.

Granted there is a lot of British humour which Americans perhaps don't get - though that's not fair to say either I suppose since he's got a decent audience now. To me he's by far the best of these late night guys.

[bobsticks]

I have nothing against him and gave up watching him years ago in favor of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. I do remember the pre-"Tonight Show" ...

Yes...it's true, oh yes it's true...

[ForeverAutumn]

Personally I like Craig Ferguson far better than Leno, Letterman or Conan.

I don't watch a lot of late night TV. I used to love Letterman on NBC, but his show became a washed out version when he moved to CBS. The early years of his show were hilarious though. My brother and I used to tape it and then edit the tape down to just the funny parts (like the velco suit ). We had hours and hours of our own 'best of Letterman' tapes. I should see if he still has them. They'd be fun to watch now.

I've never liked Leno or Conan. Conan can be funny but he's very hit and miss for me. And Leno has never appealed to me. But the odd time that I've caught Craig Ferguson's show it's been very funny. He was the best part of The Drew Carey show IMO and I even loved his movie The Big Tease.

[RGA]

Interestingly I think Craig Ferguson should take over the earlier slots. He has some sexual humour and his humour implying that he's gay may offend the older Christian viewers of Leno but might go over better with the Letterman crowd - Obviously Letterman likes him since he's the boss. Plus he doesn't need a lame sidekick to laugh at his jokes.

Craig makes fun of himself and guests like him a whole lot. He's not political whcih gives him a bit of an in with guests on both sides of the fence and really with Bill Maher, John Stewart and Stephen Colbert it's fine for Ferguson to let those guys do their thing. Besides without Bush and Dick and with a guy who speaks intelligently because umm he's intelligent - the material is lacking.

Conan makes very little sense replacing Leno - his entire act needs to change and then whatever people like in him will be gone. You need humour that appeals to a borad base - Mainstream which is why Leno worked. Ferguson has that and a "wink wink nudge nudge" of Monty Python humour and self depricating material. Of course this is highly subjective personal taste - I've never seen Letterman the least bit funny - EVER - although I have only seen him on the current network so maybe others are right thay he was good before but something is lost. Still I even drank a lot thinking that perhaps he's funny because people are loaded in the evenings but he comes across as a smarmy New Yorker - so does Maher but Maher is quicker smarter and prepared.

Apparently the rumor is that Ferguson is going to take over for Letterman at some point.

[Feanor]

As you all know, Friday night is last show for Jay Leno as the host of Tonight Show. Not a big fan of Leno, but watch his opening monologue every night and must say it is pretty hilarious. It was funniest 10 minutes on TV every night. For that, he will be missed.

I won't miss Leno, but then I'm catching ZZZs by the time he comes on. O'Brien I like at least as well but I don't know that he'll have the same general appeal.

Yes, I like Jon Stewart better whom I catch next day at 6:00 PM, but again he is mainly political and left-leaning which a lot of people couldn't handle. I've never catch Crain Ferguson.

Frankly, of the interview hosts, the best was Jack Paar, the origninal Tonight Show host, but who among the living remembers him??

[topspeed]

I completely whiffed on tivo'ing the last show, which is a shame. Not because I watched Leno all the time (I'm asleep by then), but because it a passing of a era and worthy of respect, whether you like him or not. I remember watching the final Carson show with Johnny sitting center stage on a stool, tears in his eyes while being serenaded by Bette Midler. Now, Carson was and always will be the very best late night host, so I wasn't expecting the same from Leno. Still, I would have liked to have seen it.

I caught Leno's standup a few years ago in San Diego let me assure you, his stage act is far funnier and edgier than anything he can do on network television. It's not Eddie Murphy Raw of course, but it was very, very funny.

In the gearhead fraternity, Leno is a god. Not because of his exquisite collection of cars and bikes (which is one of the finest in the world), but because his depth of knowledge is unfathomable. This guy has forgotten more about cars and bikes than you or I will ever know. He wrenches every vehicle himself and drives/rides every single one of them, many times to the Burbank lot. He doesn't collect them as trailer queens, he buys them to enjoy them, which is the way it should be.

It will be interesting to see how Conan fits into the time slot. His humor is hit and miss with me. When he's on, he's hilarious. Other times, I look around and wonder if I'm supposed to be laughing. We'll see.