Jay Leno on Getting Fired for being Number 1

A can’t miss conversation with the great Jay Leno, where Bill Maher and Jay share hilarious stories like Jay’s true feelings about his beef with Jimmy Kimmel, the time Jay took toilet paper as payment for a stand-up gig, why Jay hid in the closet and eavesdropped on NBC execs during the Tonight Show drama, what NBC told Jay when they fired him, what made the blind guy who climbed Mount Everest furious, and Jay’s dinner with Gorbachev.

All Social here

[MrRedpaul]

Loving Leno and Conan is like loving your divorced parents.

[ExtremeBeatlesArchive]

JAY: "I remember one time when I was on stage..." BILL: (Immediately interrupts).

[Jon-wjxt]

"At some point I shouldn't have to know Jay Z's music" LMAOO!! He's already stuck in 2004. Tremendous <3

[orbitsun]

If Bill could have quit being Howard Stern for a moment or two we might have actually heard Leno's answers to his questions. I hate when interviewers won't stfu and let the guest talk.

[cf]

Conan O'Brien — "I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it too."

[daful]

So much can be learned from Jay on how he conducted business. He played the long game instead of trying to enrich himself as soon as possible and in the end, he won. I admire this man so much.

[amitnagpal]

The story at the end was genius. He undercut everybody and got the biggest pay package later.

Essentially how tech startups work now.

[LaurenMiddleton]

I met Jay Leno in Rhode Island back in 2017 and he's honestly the nicest guy I've ever met. He was with his wife leaving a restaurant.

[Lee-xnby]

"Just don't be creepy when you talk to them." 😂😂😂

[clonusmaximus]

I've always been pro-Jay Leno. Dude is great

[adammckenzie]

Because he didn’t have a manager and agent, he saved around 20-25% of his total income!!
So that helps u negotiate cheaper than others,
cause u already saving 25%,

That’s why he just took the offers, instead of playing hardball with them
& protesting asking for more etc !!!
Makes him look reasonable and easy to work with !!
It Builds good relationships,
but little do they know he’s saving massive money not having his reps !!

No manager or agent also means no sneaky cagey snake, slithering around trying to con u and get more of ya money, or stealing from u,
or just being a negative person in ya life!!

Most of those guys are absolute snakes!!!
Preying on people who trust them!!!

[bradsmith]

You’ll never see Jay sitting there getting stoned.

[beJT]

I love how Leno calls out Bill Mahr for being Bill Mahr @ 2:00

[HendayAllStar]

I wish Bill wouldn’t interrupt his guests all the time

[thelastgizzard]

Bill acts like a 14 year old smoking and drinking for the first time.

[GGoAwayy]

My issue with Leno is that I never enjoyed him, or his TV show... and I wanted him gone and replaced with someone I did enjoy, namely Conan, and then Leno just wouldn't go away. And Conan was never given a chance to grow into his new time slot. Whatever Maher thinks of Leno, it'll never change that his brand of humor is way too bland and watered down for my taste, and I honestly just wanted him replaced by someone better.

[GrnXnham]

I miss Jay Leno. He was the last of the "fair" late night talk show hosts. Instead of spending the entire show ripping on Republicans, he actually tried to be fair and would make jokes about both sides. AND it was all in fun. He did it so that everyone could laugh at themselves. You could tell there wasn't the hate behind it that you see with all of the leftist late night TV hosts today.

[brandonwhite]

Jay was simple the best and his record at being number 1 is proof it's sad he was under appreciate from the media and others

[andrewokamoto]

Jay Leno always talks about being number one, yet NBC still fired him. The reason was because he got old and irrelevant. Leno stopped caring about guests and couldn't relate to the next generation. He basically became a corporate fuddy duddy. NBC wanted new, young blood to take the Tonight Show into the future. Unfortunately, they got Fallon.

[slh]

Ilove how Joan Rivers is just left out of the conversation every time. She killed it every time she was on