LENO'S FUNNY, FAMILIAR STANDUP ACT DOESN'T FAIL:thumbsup:
Lets cut to the chase. Jay Leno, who appeared last Saturday nigh at The Show at Agua Caliente Resort and Casino, did not talk about Conan O'Brien, or his abortive 10 p.m. show on NBC. Or his embattled return to "The Tonight Show", or O'Brien's ancsesion to basic cable. He did, however, address such topics as Bill Clinton, George W.Bush, crooked attorneys, condoms, the Playboy channel, and why dogs are better than cats. So, for the full house at the show, Leno provided a crisp, albeit familiar, 90 minutes of well, Leno. Amid all the media hubbub over NBC's bungling attempt to reinvent a cheaper version of primetime, Leno was cast as a megalomaniac, who snatched argubly TV's most plum gig from poor 7-month short timer O'Brien. Yes, it's been a most turbulent year since Leno first opened The Show a year ago. As accusations flew, what got obscured was an inarguable fact--at approximately 11:35 p.m. each night America LOVES som Leno. At The Show, Leno re-established his warm, fuzzy cred. He isn't edgy and inventive like 'Brien. He isn't unpredictable and acerbic like Letterman. he isn't testosterone-steeped like Jimmy Kimmel. Leno is safer, solid and reliable. so an extended version of his "Tonight Show", monologue with a healthy doses of "my wacky family" humor from his old stand up act tossed in, was exactly what the Agua Caliente crowd was looking for. Leno didn't disappoint. His first gig was vintage Jay: "Good evening BP stockholders" He followed that by expressing his shock at seeing "endless news footage of oil-covered birds-until he realized it wasn't the Guilf oil spill coverage, but a KFC commercial":lol:
While Leno touched on recent headlines, much of his topical material trekked back to comic pay dirt from years hence-Bill Clinton's wandering eye, George W. Bush's intellect, even Bjork's ill-fated swan gown. The crowd didn't seem to mind that Jay was tilling familiar fields. He broke them up over and over again. NO mater whose troops you back in the after-your-local-news wars, one has to admit-Jay's still charming, comfy and couldn't offend anyone even on his crankiest day. More satisfying than his evening news barbs were Jay's pokes at his relatives, his pets and his own mortality. These jokes reminded us how he got the best job on TV in the first place. He's an affable guy and America, when programming it's long-running traditions, oft prefers affable. The most rewarding gag of the evening was Leno coming to terms with his 6 decades on the planet-half of that telecast nightly Peacock network. He recalled how, half a life ago, he was injured in a much publicized motorcycle accident. Three days later, he was back on the air. Now, he bemoaned, he cannot turn his head and yawn at the same time without pulling a muscle, all of him turning 60. That's about the age of the "elderly relatives' he often makes fun of in his act. He hinted, turrning into his own jokes. It's not the material that's going to kick start contemporary comedy. But it's funny, familiar stuff that clicks millions of remotes over to the rekindled "Tonight" each and every night. And it's the stuff that filled Jay's show on Saturday~
TOM BRAY..PRESS ENTERPRISE!
once. I don't care if Jay has 20 million fans or 2 million, I think he's hysterical and have for all the time he's been on. To each ones own on what people find funny and what they don't. Conan will never last 20 years, like Jay has, and that's just a fact:thumbsup:And Conan was the big sissy/baby and threw a tantrum. Jay just went along with the plan that NBC offered, showing extreme maturity~And quoting Oprah doesn't score points with me..
