Tonight Show legend Jay Leno is weighing in on the current crop of late night talk show hosts, whom he believes are alienating viewers by sharing overtly political opinions.
Leno said on Sunday, July 27, that he tried to keep his jokes politically neutral during his tenure on The Tonight Show, which he hosted from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014.
“It was fun to me when I got hate letters: ‘You and your Republican friends’ [or] ‘Well, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy’ … over the same joke,” he said in an interview with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute.
The comedian continued, “I go, ‘Well, that’s good.’ That’s how you get a whole audience. Now you have to be content with half the audience because you have to give your opinion.”
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Leno, 75, went on to say, “I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture.”
“I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but what happens is people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other,” he explained.
Leno said talk show hosts that skew too much one way or the other politically can alienate viewers.
“Why shoot for half an audience? Why not try to get the whole? I like to bring people into the big picture. I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group,” he said. “Or just don’t do it at all. I’m not saying you have to throw your support or whatever, but just do what’s funny.”
Leno’s comments come after CBS shockingly canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on July 17. Although the network said the move was “purely a financial decision,” some critics, including Stephen Colbert himself, have questioned whether it was politically motivated, citing the show’s strong ratings and Colbert’s frequent criticism of President Donald Trump on the show. (Just days before the show was canceled, Colbert criticized Paramount settled a defamation settling brought by Trump for $16 million.)
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Last week, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission approved an $8 billion merger between CBS parent company Paramount and Skydance Media.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote via X on July 18, “CBS’s billionaire owners pay Trump $16 million to settle a bogus lawsuit while trying to sell the network to Skydance. Stephen Colbert, an extraordinary talent and the most popular late night host, slams the deal. Days later, he’s fired. Do I think this is a coincidence? NO.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren also questioned via X whether the cancellation was a “political favor in exchange for approval of Paramount’s megamerger with Skydance.”
CBS said in a July 17 statement that the cancellation is unrelated “in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
