Spent a half-hour bonding with Jay Leno in Boston this morning. We’re now thisclose.
Jay Leno
Leno is promoting his new 10pm show on NBC, which premieres September 14th. He’s taping promos and interviews with some of the 11pm news anchor teams his show will lead in to.
Keisha Grant and I “had” him from 10-10:30, followed by the 11pm anchors from Providence, Boston, and Portland.
Leno has a reputation as an incredibly nice guy and a notorious workaholic. Both descriptions seem quite accurate. I cannot imagine the energy it must take for Leno to “turn it on” for station after station. But he does, with seemingly little effort.
As they were setting up for our interview, we kibbitzed a bit. He’s from Andover, MA, and when I told him I was a Framingham boy, he said, “Framingham? Chateau de Ville.” I suspect he knows America’s cities and towns for the clubs he’s played more than any other landmark.
After the sessions with the New England stations, he was headed to his alma mater, Emerson College, for a little show-and-tell. And on Wednesday? Atlanta and Chicago.
It ain’t easy being a star.
what a treat. one of those moments where journalism – in any medium – tends to feel like it was a great choice.
leno comes across as a salt-of-the-Earth kind of guy and it feels like it’s real rather than a carefully managed public persona.
Doug, the nicest part was that there were no flacks hanging over the interviews, trying to dictate the course of the conversation. Refreshing for a show biz interview.
As much as I really like Conan, who is extremely well educated and intelligent, his new “Tonight Show” misses the mark. I miss Jay at 11:35. I really “get” what Jay is all about.
Conan is definitely pitching to the 18-34 male demographic. It seems the ratings for Conan are slipping quite a bit as well. I must say, and I do not like to be negative, I do not care for Andy Richter. I still cannot believe they brought him back after he left “in the year 2000” and experienced several high profile show failures. They have made him more than just an announcer. That part with the wax Tom Cruise and “The Fonz” seems really dumb to me. The “Twitter Tracker” is beyond annoying as well. However, I will still watch.
It will be difficult, in my opinion, for Jay to bring in a show with high ratings at 10 pm. Viewing habits are difficult to change (mine in particular) I think that if things do not pan out, Jay will be back at 11:35 and Conan at 12:35. I think Jimmy Fallon is very bright, articulate and a great interviewer. His show is also geared to a younger crowd. Of course that is to be expected at that hour (I can only watch him on Friday nights as I must get up at 6 am M-F!).
I am so glad you and Keisha had the opportunity to meet and interview Jay. I am really looking forward to seeing it. 🙂
Best Regards and Thank You.
Kathryn, it will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.
I work at Emerson and saw his show. He did almost an hour when he was originally scheduled to do a half-hour.
Thanks Rhea. The guy is amazing.
I miss Jay on the 11:35 pm slot too, but am going to look forward to seeing him prime time come next month. The headlines are the greatest!
Surely this wasn’t the first time you’ve had words with the man, was it?
Yes it was Dan. And we were thinking of you.