Jay Leno misses the days when late-night comedians weren’t obsessed with “one-sided” politics that alienated millions of viewers.
The iconic comedian sat down with the co-hosts of NBC’s “Today” this week when he was asked if he misses his hosting gig on “The Tonight Show.”
His answer was simple: “No.”
“No, it’s different,” he told co-host Al Roker Tuesday morning. “I don’t miss it. You know, everything now is, if people don’t like your politics they — everyone has to know your politics.”
Mr. Leno said he took it as a good sign that he received hate mail from across the political spectrum, the media watchdog NewsBusters reported.
“I went, well, that’s fabulous,’ he said. “That’s exactly what I want. … But when people see you as one-sided, it just makes it tough. … I’d just like to see a bit of civility come back to it, you know?”
The comedian said that during his time he followed the late Johnny Carson’s model, which translated into “Clinton was horny and Bush was dumb”-type material.
“It was just a little easier,” he said. “The theory when we did the show was you just watch the news, we’ll make fun of the news, and get your mind off the news. Well, now people just want to be on the news all the time. You just have one subject that’s the same topic every night, which makes it — makes it very hard.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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