Jay Leno: Biography

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Jay Leno.Image via Wikimedia Commons

Who Is Jay Leno?

James Douglas Muir Leno ( LEN-oh; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, Leno was chosen in 1992 to replace Johnny Carson as the host of NBC's The Tonight Show; Leno hosted The Tonight Show until September 2009 when Conan O'Brien took over as host and Leno started a primetime talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET, also on NBC. O'Brien turned down NBC's offer to have Leno host a half hour monologue show before The Tonight Show to boost ratings amid reported viewership diminishing, which sparked the 2010 Tonight Show conflict that resulted in Leno's returning to hosting the show on March 1, 2010. He hosted his last episode of his second tenure on February 6, 2014. That year, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. From 2014 to 2022, he hosted Jay Leno's Garage, and from 2021 to 2023, hosted the revival of You Bet Your Life.

Leno writes a regular column in Popular Mechanics showcasing his car collection and giving automotive advice. He also writes occasional "Motormouth" articles for The Sunday Times.

Early life

Leno was born April 28, 1950, in New Rochelle, New York. His homemaker mother, Catherine (née Muir; 1911–1993), was born in Greenock, Scotland, and came to the United States at age 11. His father, Angelo (1910–1994), was an insurance salesman born in New York to immigrants from Flumeri, Campania, Italy. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated from Andover High School. He obtained a bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Emerson College in Boston, where he started a comedy club in 1973. His older brother, Patrick (May 12, 1940 – October 6, 2002), was a Vietnam War veteran who became an attorney.

Early career

Leno made his first appearance on The Tonight Show on March 2, 1977, performing a comedy routine. During the 1970s, he had minor roles in several television series and films, first in the 1976 episode "J.J. in Trouble" of Good Times, and the same year in the pilot of Holmes & Yo-Yo. After an uncredited appearance in the 1977 film Fun with Dick and Jane, he played more prominent roles in 1978 in American Hot Wax and Silver Bears. His other appearances from that period include guest spots on the television shows One Day at a Time, Alice and Laverne & Shirley. He had minor roles in the films Americathon (1979), and Polyester (1981). His only starring film role was the 1989 direct-to-video Collision Course, with Pat Morita. He also appeared numerous times on Late Night with David Letterman.

Early Life: Where Is Jay Leno From?

He also appeared on three weeks of the short-lived NBC game show Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983 and 1984.

Starting in 1986, Leno was a regular substitute host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. In 1992, he replaced Carson as host amid controversy with David Letterman, who had been hosting Late Night with David Letterman since 1982 (which aired after The Tonight Show), and whom many—including Carson himself—expected to be Carson's successor. The story of this turbulent transition became the basis of a book and a movie. Leno continued to perform as a stand-up comedian throughout his Tonight Show tenure. In 1988, he received a contract extension with NBC itself. The July 1995 episode of The Tonight Show which featured an interview with Hugh Grant (who had been arrested for receiving oral sex in a public place from a prostitute) saw Leno rate higher than Letterman for the first time.

In 2004, Leno signed a contract extension with NBC to retain him as host of The Tonight Show until 2009. Later in 2004, Conan O'Brien signed a contract with NBC to become the show's host in 2009, replacing Leno at that time.

During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Leno was accused of violating WGA guidelines by writing his own monologue for The Tonight Show. NBC and Leno claimed there were private meetings with the WGA where a secret agreement was reached allowing this; the WGA denied such meetings. Leno answered questions in front of the Writers Guild of America, West trial committee in February 2009 and June 2009, and when the WGAW published its list of strikebreakers on August 11, 2009, Leno was not on it.

On April 23, 2009, Leno checked himself in to a hospital with an undisclosed illness. He was released the following day and returned to work on Monday, April 27. The two subsequently canceled Tonight Show episodes for April 23 and 24 were his first in 17 years as host. The illness was not initially disclosed, but Leno later told People magazine that it was for exhaustion.

Michael Jackson trial

Jay Leno's Career and Major Works

During the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson over allegations of child molestation, Leno was one of a few celebrities who appeared as defense witnesses. In his testimony regarding a phone conversation with the accuser, Leno testified that he was not asked for any money and there did not appear to be any coaching — but the calls seemed unusual and scripted.

As a result, Leno was initially not allowed to tell jokes about Jackson or the case, which had been a fixture of The Tonight Show's opening monologue in particular. But he and his show's writers used a legal loophole by having Leno briefly step aside while stand-in comedians took the stage and told jokes about the trial. These stand-ins included Roseanne Barr, Drew Carey, Brad Garrett, and Dennis Miller. The gag order was challenged, and the court ruled that Leno could continue telling jokes about the trial as long as he did not discuss his testimony. Leno celebrated by devoting an entire monologue to Michael Jackson jokes.

Succession by Conan O'Brien; The Jay Leno Show

Because Leno's show continued to lead all late-night programming in the Nielsen ratings, the pending expiration of his contract led to speculation about whether he would become a late-night host for another network when his commitment to NBC expired. He left The Tonight Show on Friday, May 29, 2009, and Conan O'Brien took over on June 1, 2009.

On December 8, 2008, it was reported that Leno would remain on NBC and move to a new hour-long show at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (9 p.m. Central Time) five nights a week. It would follow a similar format to The Tonight Show, be recorded in the same studio, and retain many of Leno's most popular segments, while O'Brien continued to host The Tonight Show.

Leno's new show, The Jay Leno Show, debuted on September 14, 2009. It was announced at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that it would feature one or two celebrities, occasional musical guests, and keep the popular "Headlines" segments, which would be near the end of the show. First guests included Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey (via satellite), and a short sit-down with Kanye West discussing his controversy at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, which had occurred the night before.

Jay Leno's Personal Life and Relationships

Timeslot conflict and return to The Tonight Show

In their new roles, neither O'Brien nor Leno succeeded in delivering the viewing audiences the network anticipated. On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that beginning March 1, 2010, Leno would move from his 10 p.m. weeknight time slot to 11:35 p.m., due to a combination of pressure from local affiliates, whose newscasts were suffering, and both Leno's and O'Brien's poor ratings. Leno's show would be shortened from an hour to 30 minutes. All NBC late night programming would also be preempted by the 2010 Winter Olympics between February 15 and 26, moving The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m., the first post-midnight timeslot in its history. O'Brien's contract stipulated that NBC could move the show ahead to 12:05 a.m. without penalty (a clause included primarily to accommodate sports preemptions).

On January 10, NBC confirmed that it would move Leno out of primetime as of February 12 and move him to late-night as soon as possible. TMZ reported that O'Brien was given no advance notice of this change, and that NBC offered him two choices: an hour-long 12:05 a.m. time slot, or the option to leave the network. On January 12, O'Brien issued a press release that he would not continue with Tonight if it moved to a 12:05 a.m. time slot, saying, "I believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't The Tonight Show."

On January 21, it was announced that NBC had struck a deal with O'Brien: He would leave The Tonight Show, receive a $33-million payout, and his staff of almost 200 would receive $12 million in the departure. His final episode aired on Friday, January 22, 2010. Leno returned as host of The Tonight Show following the 2010 Winter Olympics on March 1, 2010.

On July 1, 2010, Variety reported that total viewership for Leno's Tonight Show had dropped from 5 million to 4 million for the second quarter of 2010, compared to the same period in 2009. Although it represented the show's lowest second-quarter ratings since 1992, Tonight was still the most-watched late-night program, ahead of ABC's Nightline (3.7 million) and Late Show with David Letterman (3.3 million).

Announcement of successor

Where Is Jay Leno Now? Recent Years

On April 3, 2013, NBC announced that Leno would leave The Tonight Show in spring 2014, with Jimmy Fallon as his designated successor.

Leno's final show as the host of The Tonight Show was on February 6, 2014, with guests Billy Crystal (who was the first guest on the first version of Leno's show), musical guest Garth Brooks, and surprise guests Jack Black, Kim Kardashian, Jim Parsons, Sheryl Crow, Chris Paul, Carol Burnett and Oprah Winfrey.

Leno has maintained an active schedule as a touring stand-up comedian, doing an average of 200 live performances a year in venues across the United States and Canada and at charity events and USO tours. He has also appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers, and was a guest on the finale of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He appeared in a cameo role drilling and tormenting James Corden in a facetious boot camp for talk-show hosts on the premiere of The Late Late Show with James Corden. He declined an invitation to appear on Late Show with David Letterman despite speculation he would appear on the show's finale in 2015, although he had appeared with Letterman along with Winfrey in a Late Show commercial airing during Super Bowl XLIV in 2010.

Leno hosted a one-hour Jay Leno's Garage special on CNBC in 2014, and the show returned as a primetime series on the cable channel from 2015 until 2022. The series was canceled in January 2023 after seven seasons due to a decision by the channel to re-emphasize business-oriented programming.

Leno also had a recurring role in the Tim Allen comedy series Last Man Standing since season 5, playing a mechanic, Joe Leonard, in a store operated by Allen's character, Mike Baxter.

Leno hosted the third revival of the game show You Bet Your Life for two seasons, from 2021 until 2023. The show was renewed for a third season but was cancelled in August 2023 after Leno refused to cross the picket line during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, after Fox First Run offered stations two other syndicated game shows to fill You Bet Your Life's timeslot during the strike, instead of reruns.

Jay Leno's Legacy and Impact

Leno also does voice acting, such as The Crimson Chin on The Fairly OddParents from 2001 to 2016 and Billy Beagle of Mickey and the Roadster Racers.

In 2019, Leno was a guest judge on season 14 of America's Got Talent where he pressed the Golden Buzzer for opera singer Emanne Beasha.

In 2023, Leno returned to NBC to appear as a celebrity guest judge on the two-episode season finale of Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge.

Public image

Leno has faced criticism for his perceived role in the 2010 Tonight Show conflict. Critics have cited a 2004 Tonight Show clip where Leno said he would allow O'Brien to take over without incident. At the time, Leno said he did not want O'Brien to leave for a competing network, adding, "I'll be 59 when [the switch occurs]. That's five years from now. There's really only one person who could have done this into his 60s, and that was Johnny Carson; I think it's fair to say I'm no Johnny Carson." Leno also described The Tonight Show as a dynasty, saying, "You hold it and hand it off to the next person. And I don't want to see all the fighting." At the end of the segment, he said, "Conan, it's yours! See you in five years, buddy!"

Jimmy Kimmel discussed his appearance on Leno's show during an interview with Marc Maron for the latter's podcast in 2012. Kimmel stated that he felt O'Brien was not given a proper chance, but that he was also motivated by his own history with Leno. According to Kimmel, Leno had...

Jay Leno's career continues to be documented by reputable media; the facts above are drawn from Wikipedia's biography and public records.

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