Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Person Of The Week: Jay Leno
We may not be completely rid of him, but after Friday we can at least enjoy a summer devoid of Jay Leno and his decidely un-funny brand of comedy. For years I've been baffled that Leno consistently beats Letterman in the ratings. Apparently there are just more people who like their late night comedy free of... well, comedy. It's telling that the only funny segment of his show is 'Headlines' (which he and his 'comedy' team don't actually write. ) The humor is simply in the headlines themselves. My favorite part of his show (when I have sporadically watched when Letterman is in reruns) has been when they are headed to commercial break. The audience is applauding and the guest is looking away from Jay (most likely just to avoid continuing to look at a host that can't even fein any sort of authentic interest in what they have just told him. Instead he's been busy trying to think of some seemingly hilarious quip to throw in) and he reaches over and places his hand on their shoulder, as if to have something to tell them, and when they look over he just beams a dorky smile and nods his head. He had nothing to say, he just wanted it to seem like they are friends. It's priceless. It's not enough to make me remotely care that he'll be back in the fall. But after 17 comedy-free years of the Tonight Show, perhaps Johnny doesn't have to roll over in his grave anymore.
