Legendary late-night host Jay Leno said in an interview aired Thursday that he has removed political material from his stand-up comedy routines, a decision he says has boosted ticket sales and improved audience reception.
Speaking with NBC’s Today anchor Hoda Kotb, Leno explained that focusing on nonpolitical humor has helped him avoid alienating sizable portions of his audience while touring across the country.
“I’m on the road a lot. I just took politics out of it, completely. I know ticket sales are up 20, 30 percent, just because nobody wants to be lectured,” he told Kotb.
Leno, who hosted The Tonight Show for more than two decades, said political humor works more easily for hosts performing for a defined TV audience, but becomes a liability in diverse live venues. “When you’re on TV and you can play directly to your audience and there’s a laugh track. When you go to Indiana or Kentucky or any other place in the country, you’re always going to have a third of the people who don’t agree with you politically. So why even go there?” he said.
Kotb suggested comedy may be trickier in the current political climate, but Leno pushed back. “I don’t think it’s any trickier than any other [time]… No. You know, we’ve always had tough times,” he said. He added, “It’s not that it’s better now … But stuff that used to be the law is now against the law. And that’s great.”
Asked whether he’s hopeful about the direction of comedy, Leno said yes. “Yes, I’m very hopeful. I am optimistic,” he said. “‘Cause ultimately, it’s a bit like a donkey — sometimes you gotta hit it in the head with a two-by-four to get its attention, but eventually it will listen.”
Leno made similar remarks in a July interview, saying audiences want relief from political tension. “And to me, I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, you know, the pressures of life, whatever it might be,” he said. While saying he enjoys political humor, he noted what happens “when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.”
He also said he used to enjoy confusing audiences about his own political leanings. “It was fun to me when I got hate letters [like] ‘Dear Mr. Leno, you and your Republican friends’ and ‘Well, Mr. Leno, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy’ — over the same joke.”
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Learning from Carson
I kinda like it. …with apologies to Ron White, the comedian, where I heard it.
“Drive the Drug Cartels and the Central American Narco States across the Panama Canal and the border crisis becomes very manageable.”
This is nothing new. A class act, Mr. Leno has never depended on politics, following the lead of Johnny Carson who’s show he took over.