Leno, the man who hosted “The Tonight Show” for decades, took over for Jimmy Fallon after the oft-injured host pretended to be hurt during the show’s opening monologue.
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Jimmy Fallon had a pinch hitter on his monologue last night: Jay Leno. “It is so bad in Seattle, I saw a guy panhandling just to pay for his Starbucks”. It was actually the highlight of his primetime endeavor, but not enough to save the show.
The reason went back to the time when Leno was preparing for his final episode of “The Tonight Show”.
The scene could have come straight out of a taped segment from Jay Leno’s version of “The Tonight Show”: The host, disguised as a bald Uber driver sporting hipster whiskers, whisks around the unsuspecting passenger. “It’s all white guys”, Leno said. “I think he’s the most like (Johnny) Carson was, the kind of host who is always putting the joke first”. But he’s critical of what he considers a “mean streak” in Jimmy Kimmel’s comedy, including videos of kids reacting tearfully to the parental theft of Halloween candy.
“I don’t think I can continue”, Fallon said, “but of course, here at The Tonight Show, the monologue has to go on, so I think I’m gonna have to sub out”. “Well, why am I going to run all the way to New York?” No sooner does he start to exit than Jay Leno pops up onstage, to the surprise (and hopefully delight) of the crowd.
That genuine enthusiasm is at the root of this new series, less a calculated means to get back on TV than a way for a bona fide auto geek to spread the gospel of his automotive love.
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“When you have to look an audience in the eye, you’re not quite as fearless as when you’re just talking into a microphone”, Leno added. You’re 65 years old, man. Act like a grownup.
