by Debbie Gilbert
Jay Leno isn't really into vacations.
On
July 3rd, when most of us will be gearing up to watch fireworks or head
on out to the beach, Leno will be performing his comedy act at the Sheraton
Casino in Tunica. For him, it's the norm -- holiday or no holiday.
"Three out of four weekends, I'm on the road someplace," Leno says. "I also do standup one night a week in L.A."
The obvious question is, Why? As host of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which for the past two years has been television's top-rated late-night talk show, he needs neither the money nor the exposure. Monday through Friday, most weeks of the year, he arrives at the NBC Studio at 8:30 a.m. and often doesn't finish up until midnight. After the show is taped (at 5 p.m., Los Angeles time), he begins working with the writers to plan the next evening's broadcast. Even during the Olympics, when The Tonight Show went on hiatus, Leno refused to take time off, performing a six-minute monologue during NBC's sports coverage each night.
So why does he feel compelled to spend his weekends jetting around the country?
"It just sort of keeps your head in the right place," says Leno. "When you have something else to do [besides a TV show], it gives you perspective. You get a handle on what real people really like, and it gives you a sensibility about the country."
To illustrate the point, Leno relates a conversation he had with a well-known movie star (whom he declines to name). The actor was considering buying a car and asked Leno for advice, knowing that the comedian's hobby is collecting classic cars. "I was thinking about getting a Ferrari," said the actor, "but everybody has one."
"I said, `Excuse me? Everybody has a Ferrari? Maybe in Beverly Hills they do,'" Leno recalls. The movie star's skewed sense of reality demonstrated to him how insular Hollywood can be. "I thought, Will I grow out of touch if I stay here? There's something about this business that gives people big egos, and that's why you have to go out on the road."
Those familiar with Leno's TV monologues, which are based almost entirely on current events and political humor, will find his standup act a change of pace. "My standup is not too topical," he explains. "A lot of it concerns everyday life and growing up. When you go into a club, you can tell a five-minute story about your childhood, instead of a collection of one-liners. Good comedy comes out of the things that happen to you."
Leno, 47, still remembers the decade he spent as a struggling comedian, playing in fly-by-night clubs (including several in Memphis) where only a handful of people turned out to see him and he sometimes didn't get paid. The lean times help him appreciate what he has today.
"It's still extremely exciting and fun for me that people come to the show," Leno says. "The places are usually sold out, people are happy to see you, you're treated very well. Not bad for a couple hours' work."
In addition to touring as an individual, Leno occasionally takes the entire Tonight Show on the road, broadcasting all week from cities such as New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas.
Would he consider bringing the show to Memphis -- say, for the 20th anniversary of Elvis' death in August?
"Well," he demurs, "when you go on the road, you have to get really big-name guests -- bigger than usual. The trouble is getting the stars to go where you are, if you're away from a major entertainment center. It might be hard to get them to come to Memphis."
Besides, Leno adds, he wouldn't want to be construed as ridiculing Elvis fans. "I don't like to make fun of people," he says. "This is not a bully pulpit. I like it when the audience is in on the joke. If people want to embarrass themselves, that's okay."
Leno generally adheres to the principle that if you can't say something good about a person, don't say anything at all. He has a reputation for being one of the nicest people in show biz, and it appears to be true. (He actually uses the word "nice" a lot.) And this nice-guy persona may be one of the reasons Leno's been able to trounce the former king of late night, self-absorbed whiner David Letterman, in the all-important ratings.
Another reason: marketing savvy. Just like Bill Clinton on the campaign trail, Leno has succeeded by pinpointing what the audience wants and giving it to them. "It almost sounds like a joke, but we get the ratings minute-by-minute, so we can see exactly what worked and what didn't," he says. "Animals always do well, as do children [as guests]. Country-western [music] does very well, but when we tried rap it didn't work out, and neither did heavy metal. No extremes at either end, because we've got to appeal to a wide audience. We come on after the news, when people are relaxing, and we like to keep it low-tech -- not an MTV sort of thing.
"These [late-night] shows are more than just talk shows -- they're variety shows," he continues. "And it isn't radio -- you can't just have talking heads. You've got to have something happening."
Leno does give himself a portion of the credit for the show's success. "There are only about two dozen guests that really matter, ratings-wise," he says. "But if you like the host, you'll tune in consistently, and ratings stay steady."
Since Leno took over The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson in May 1992, he has experimented with the format, expanding the opening comedy package to more than 20 minutes. That includes the monologue plus skits and pre-taped video segments, such as the man-on-the-street "Pop Quiz" in which passersby are often unable to answer basic questions like, "How many states are there in the United States of America?" (Leno confirms that these test-takers are not coached; their appalling ignorance is genuine.)
Because the show is taped early in the evening, there's time to redo lines if events warrant it (for example, if a plane crash suddenly renders an airline joke in bad taste). The show's writing staff is constantly dealing with a paradox of comedy: Is it possible to be truly funny without offending anyone?
Leno's natural tendency is to shy away from controversy. He acknowledges that he's been criticized for keeping silent about troubles in his own career, such as the tyrannical behavior of his former manager and the departure of former Tonight Show bandleader Branford Marsalis. "But I don't think people want to hear about my problems," he says. "That's not what the show is about."
So it came as a shock when Leno did share something deeply personal with his audience. Within the last couple of years, the deaths of his mother and father came in quick succession, and on both occasions he chose to reminisce, affectionately and movingly, about what fine people they had been. For a media figure, it was an extraordinarily honest gesture.
"I felt I had to talk about it," Leno explains, "because some of the viewers might have heard the news already, and if they tuned in to the show and saw me telling jokes as if nothing had happened, it wouldn't seem right. Also, I talked about my parents because you don't hear enough about good parents on TV -- only dysfunctional ones like the people on Jenny Jones."
Although Leno's spilling his guts on camera wasn't a calculated move to win the hearts of America, it did have the effect of making him seem more like family. Viewers welcome Leno into their homes not because they expect hilarity or shock comedy, but because he's dependable, familiar, and -- let's face it -- nice.
Mock him if you wish, but it's Jay Leno who's laughing
all the way to the bank.
Jay Leno
Sheraton Casino in Tunica
7:30 & 9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 3
$20, $50, $100
Ticketmaster, 525-1515