COMEDY

Q&A: Jay Leno talks injuries and state of late-night TV ahead of central Ohio visit

Peter Tonguette
Special to The Columbus Dispatch
Jay Leno will appear at the McCoy Center for the Arts in New Albany on Friday.

Jay Leno has long been a uniquely durable presence in American pop culture.

Whether as a stand-up comic, a two-time host of “The Tonight Show” (1992-2009 and 2010-2014) or as the face of a fresh version of the iconic game show “You Bet Your Life,” Leno keeps turning up on stages and on our TV sets.

The 72-year-old comedian proved his resilience — literally so — through his recovery from a widely publicized accident in November while working with a 1907 steam car in his garage, where he houses his much-noted automobile collection. (Leno also serves as the host of “Jay Leno’s Garage” on CNBC.)

Although he suffered burns, Leno was soon giving interviews about the episode and is now back in the road — including in Greater Columbus.

Leno will appear at the McCoy Center for the Arts in New Albany on Friday. More information about the nearly sold-out show can be found at mccoycenter.org.

The Dispatch caught up with the comic legend in a phone interview in January. What follows are excerpts from the conversation.

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After your accident in November, are you pretty much back to your old self?

Well, yeah. That was (November). This month (January), man, I got knocked off my motorcycle, broke a collarbone, two broken ribs, two cracked kneecaps. I’m getting there, I’m getting there. Fortunately, I’m only 72. If I’d been an older man, this would have been much more serious.

I assume you’re kidding?

No, no, no — I got them all. ... I was going down the road and went to turn around in a parking lot, and the guy had a wire across the parking lot but with no flag on it, so I didn’t see a wire and it just clotheslined me and, boom, threw me on the ground.

You’ve been banged up the past couple of months.

But it’s OK — hey, you’re in show business.

What did happen in November?

I was underneath the car and it had a clogged fuel line, and I asked my buddy to blow a little through the fuel line, and, boom, it hit me in the face with about a quart of gas. There was a spark nearby and ignited it, and my face caught on fire. Luckily, I didn’t lose the eye, but I’m OK.

How many cars do you have in your collection?

You sound like my wife. There are about 204 cars, about 168 motorcycles.

Do you have a favorite?

No, I wouldn’t have all these cars if I had a favorite. You know, I like the history of transportation. I’ve got early cars from the late 1800s (and) early 1900s; speed cars; gas turbine; electric — all kinds of stuff. I just like the whole aspect of it. Anything that rolls, explodes and makes noise.

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Jay Leno poses over the engine of one of the many cars in his collection.

Other than your own collection, has there been a car collection you’ve been most impressed by?

The most fun is when I go to the Midwest. Because when you’re in California, everybody collects the obvious: the Ferraris, the Lamborghinis, supercars. It’s fun when I go to the Midwest and people collect like ’68 Dodge Darts — just cars that were popular when I was a kid. ... When you’re in a business like show business, it’s subjective—some people like you, some people think you suck, and they’re both correct. If a guy doesn’t think you’re funny or doesn’t think you can sing or whatever, well, that’s his opinion. But when you have something that’s broken and you get it running, no one can say it’s not running.

What appealed to you about hosting “You Bet Your Life”?

It’s basically a comedy show with a game element attached to it. My favorite thing when I did “The Tonight Show” was "Jaywalking," where we’d go out in the streets and just talk to people. It’s basically an extension of that. You’re just talking with people, getting some funny answers and then (you say), “OK, you want to earn some money?” . . . I like the fact that there’s no politics (on the show). It’s funny, when you do a show like that, you meet people from all walks of life. You meet people and you go, “OK, I can tell right now I’m not going to agree with this guy politically,” but we’re not talking politics. You realize there are people on both sides of the argument that you actually have a lot in common with except the one thing you’re arguing about.

On “You Bet Your Life” and "Jaywalking," it’s like a parade of humanity, and there’s silliness everywhere.

When I approached the networks about doing the show, I said, “It’s ‘You Bet Your Life,’ and the premise of the show is no politics — there are no political jokes at all.” They said, “Well, how are you going to do that?” And I said, “We just won’t. Just watch it and see.” And it’s worked out great. ... (On “The Tonight Show”), I think both Johnny (Carson) and myself prided ourselves that people couldn’t figure out (our) politics. You made fun of both sides equally. Nowadays, you have to give your opinion on every issue and "What do you think about this?" I noticed when I would do shows, when I did political material, people would wait to hear the punchline before they decided they were going to laugh.

Groucho Marx was the original host of “You Bet Your Life.” Did you ever cross paths with Groucho in your comedy career?

No, I never got a chance to meet Groucho. People say, “How does it feel following an icon?” This show went off the air in 1961! If you still remember the show, what are you, 90?

Besides "Jaywalking," do you miss anything else about “The Tonight Show”?

I notice on YouTube they post an awful lot of the old "Headlines" segments, and those hold up pretty well. It’s just mistakes that are in the newspaper, and they’re so stupid. Those seem really, really funny. That was like found comedy. We just went through newspapers, and every day there was just more and more stuff. The same with "Jaywalking." ... (On "Jaywalking"), my favorite question was, “How was Mount Rushmore formed?” You know what a common answer was? “Erosion.” . . . Not only did wind and rain pick four presidents, it picked four of our greatest.

Do you keep up with late-night TV?

The trouble with late night has nothing to do with the shows or the hosts. It’s the fact that there’s a new rule, after like 11:30 at night, you can add more minutes of commercials to an hour than you can during primetime. ... The host comes out for six minutes, there’s a break for seven minutes, you come back to four-and-a-half to five minutes, there’s another break for six minutes. Then, at midnight, there’s like a nine-minute ad break.

You’re going to be here in central Ohio. What’s the format? Is it just you getting up on stage and telling jokes?

That’s basically the format. It’s the most basic form of communication. With the exception of the microphone, there’s nothing modern about it. It’s just people talking to other people. It’s great fun; I like it. I don’t do Netflix specials. I just don’t like doing those things. I would rather come to a place and perform for people.

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