Thank You For the Memories, Jay
Last February I wrote a blog entry saluting Conan O’Brien as he made his last Late Night apperance. Well, his vacation is about to end as Jay Leno delivered his last Tonight Show last night on NBC, a show O’Brien is set to inherit. Jay hosted it for 17 years. The first time I watched his show in Sweden was in 1997 on a cable channel not available to most Swedes; most of them saw David Letterman first and like him better. I’m perfectly aware of the fact that most critics seem to generally prefer Letterman over Leno, but the latter has been more popular with the audience over the years. He has a folksy touch that goes down better with people who live outside of the major cities, and I’ve always had a soft spot for him. My primary favorite however is Conan O’Brien and I’m very happy to see him replace Leno. The clip above shows him as one of Jay’s last guests on the show; it will indeed be fascinating to see what both of them make of their new shows in the future.
Young Jay This clip is from NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman that followed Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Taped in 1986, it shows one of Jay Leno’s early appearances and you kind of understand why impersonators tend to do his voice high-pitched; it’s gotten lower over the years.
Tonight Show spoof This is Jim Carrey making fun of how the show looked in the early 1990s. The clip is from In Living Color.
Ross the Intern Ross Mathews first appeared in 2001 as an intern; the flamboyantly gay guy was entertaining enough to be sent out on various missions over the years. He even gets to touch Madonna in this clip.
Politicians on The Tonight Show Here’s another compilation clip showing various political guests on The Tonight Show. This is the place where Arnold Schwarzenegger announced to the world that he was running for governor in 2003; also, Barack Obama showed up earlier this year as the first sitting U.S. president on the show.
Comfortable around guests Leno has an ability to make guests feel comfortable (maybe it’s the booze backstage), as in this clip where the inimitable Gordon Ramsay does his best to make a cooking segment work.
Celebrity Jeopardy One of the most enjoyable parts of The Tonight Show were the “Celebrity Jeopardy” segments where comedians and impersonators appeared as various celebrities. Here’s Fred Willard as Lincoln, Steve Bridges as George W. Bush and someone else as Barack Obama (I don’t know who). Willard in particular has many funny skits behind him on the show where he would appear as a usually drunken Washington politician or whatever; he and Jay had a knack for making those poorly written skits work.
Published by Stefan Hedmark 2009-05-30 15:24
Tweet
Bookmark this on Delicious
Comments
Due to spam, I am forced to moderate comments, which is why it may take a few hours until your comment is displayed.