User reviews

Not my cup of tea. Johnny Carson was the best. David Letterman second only to Carson. Jay Leno was both nauseating and boring all at the same time.

Jay Leno is funnier than Dave, but not as funny as Conan. Jay was a funny comedian at first but his skits are to formulated and predictable. I do not mind Jay Leno. Jay is a good interviewer and has A team guests on The tonight show. However, Conan has better skits. Jay like Dave has become glued to his seat in the last five years as a talk show host. I will watch the show depending on who the guests are, but for pure entertainment I like to watch Craig Ferguson. I give The tonight show 5 or 6 out of 10, depending on the guests. There are just too many of these late night talk shows. They all have the same guests on their shows. Over exposure is killing the industry.

Obviously being in the UK I might not see this show in the same light as it's seen in the US, but I discovered the show in April-ish 2003 when it started broadcasting on the little known UK channel Ftn (also broadcasts on CNBC Europe, although only a couple of episodes a week)...

Soon grew to love the show's topical humour (we've normally heard of the particular subject in the UK) as we don't really have a show that broadcasts on the same level for the whole year. The guests are also obviously well known to us, so pretty much the whole programme makes sense and is always worth a watch!

Only when it comes to the musical performances do I get a little stuck as not all the bands have much (or if any) UK exposure.

Stu

Jay Leno does not deserve to come back to the coveted Tonight Show spot. Conan is the guy who earned the spot that he truly wanted ever since he saw Johnny's show as a kid by doing 16 years of truly influential, groundbreaking and critically applauded comedy. The level of quality and quantity of material that Conan turned out every night on Late Night was truly outstanding and in the opinion of this reviewer has not been matched by many other comedy shows and certainly not any other talk show host in history. Conan's gratitude and adulation when he finally received his dream job did not go unheard and he specifically thanked Jay Leno on no more than three significant situations: On his Late Night farewell, as a guest on Jay Leno's last show and on his first Tonight Show.

In extreme contrast, when Jay Leno unashamedly began his return to the 11.30 slot, just like in 1992, Leno had absolutely no words, positive or otherwise, to say about the person who had just left the chair. Instead Jay Leno continued doing the very same easily digestible, hardly strenuous material he had been doing for 18 years. Anyone who had any hope that Leno might evolve to somehow warrant his un-relinquishing need to hang on to the show has been proved wrong by his March 1st premiere.

After a typical monologue(making almost no mention of Jay's premiere) spliced randomly with unfunny new sight-gag 'segments' like "The World's Tightest Pants" Jay did a taped piece involving him looking for a new desk. This was the cue for another unfunny segment where C list celebrities like Randy Jackson and Adam Corolla invaded people's homes while Jay sat at their various desks. That was the limit of the punchline. Jay then revealed his desk as if it was some momentous occasion and interviewed a hyper Jamie Foxx whose attempts to get the crowd to cheer along Leno were humorously futile. Same unfunny business as usual for Jay Leno...

Jay Leno has kept TONIGHT afloat on NBC. Leno is still learning to try to imitate Carson, but has not reached it. Johnny Carson wanted David Letterman to replace him & even wrote jokes for Lettermans CBS monologues until his death recently. When Leno first took over, he seemed to have more energy but he recently has allowed himself to get into a rut which shows. All his monologues are just jammed packed with jokes & he fires them off. Only thing is Leno is not humble like Carson. I have noticed in recent viewings Leno is using a laugh track. It is very obvious the laughs are canned to enhance the audience participation (or lack of it) when the joke is a dud.

When Carson fired off a dud, he could sense it & make a self-effacing joke about the material or himself. When Leno fires off a dud (which seems to be more & more often recently), it just sits there. When he fires off a bunch, things get pretty mean. Leno does have two big drawbacks Carson did not have. (1) Carson used to get 90 minutes to fill & had to develop a wealth of materials plus have longer interviews with guest stars which made him a better interviewer. Leno has not gotten this opportunity. (2) Leno has a competitor in Letterman & because of this, TONIGHT is no longer the number 1 show it once was.

These 2 problems are not Leno's fault, just facts. All this said, Leno is OK doing Stand-Up & holding his own but the show Conan Obrien is taking over is not the dominate show Carson had. Leno has made it his own- but he is not quite up to the standard once set by the master- Carson never needed a laugh track & Letterman has shaken TONIGHT's foundation thoroughly.

Leno's last Tonight ending was especially correct. He ended with all the children that he and his staff had in 17 years. The last scene with Leno & all the kids is a great reminder that Leno is the kid who took over for the master, Johnny Carson. He never considered himself to be as great as Carson, but he is his own man. Let's see how 10 PM treats him in the fall.

Jay Leno's jokes simply aren't funny. Period, His style of comedy is so unappealing. I am surprised by how he stayed on air for as long as he did. Also what he did to Conan O'Brien (Love Conan :D) is unforgiveable. Putting on a show before him therefore tanking his rating was a awful thing to do. I'm glad this man isn't on TV anymore.

Jay Leno is the most successful of all the late night talk show hosts but that doesn't necessarily mean he's the funniest of all them. Middle aged people tend to prefer him in the Tonight Show slot more then when Conan O'Brien had it since they like safe humor instead of anything truly inventive. Most of Leno's best skits are just the same skits he does over and over again like Jay Walking and Headlines. Which are decent skits to do but it's not like he's coming up with completely new and inventive skits that make you laugh, he just goes to the same well over and over again. I'm not saying Leno is bad but if you were to rank the funniest moments in late night talk history chances are he wouldn't have as many things on the list as Conan or David Letterman would.

For all who say that Dave is better, I have to say he's a STIFF! Every time I've looked at Dave while Jay has been doing reruns all I see is that he stands there like his feet are glued to the stage, and gives a monologue that doesn't even last as long as Jay's do. I find Jay to be much more animated, using spunk to give us some added flavor to the jokes. Dave smiles, Jay smirks. Dave's BORING! I think I've seen 3 top ten's I've enjoyed out of about fifteen total I've seen. I find Jay to be a very professional interviewer, having a blast with each guest. Headlines rock! Jaywalking rocks! Sidewalking rocks! I find GREAT chemistry between Jay and Kev. It will ALWAYS be Jay, NOT Dave.

Jay Leno and his version of THE TONIGHT SHOW are simply not funny. His style of humour is cornball. His lame jokes do not elicit laughs from the audience but groans. His voice is irritating. His regular features like JAYWALKING are stupid and not original. Wearing a denim shirt with jeans looks ridiculous. What he has just done to Conan O'Brien is unforgivable. My bet is that many people in Leno's committed audience (retirement home patrons) have either forgotten him or died and won't be back. I say his ratings will be flat and within one year he will be yanked from NBC for good. Bets?? Many people in the entertainment business will boycott his show. He will never woo the younger audience NBC very much needs. Hot bands will refuse come in his show. Jay, please go away.

Jay Leno may not have had the natural presence of Johnny Carson but he does have something else that matters. Leno is completely devoted to his show so much that he has declined hosting the Oscars. He is often the first person to come in the mornings and the last to leave at night. Leno doesn't take vacations because he prefers to work doing his stand-up. I often joke that he's the Judi Dench of stand-up comics because he could have comfortable life with just the Tonight Show salary but he still works about 150 shows a year on the club circuit. The show is always a thrill to watch for his humorous monologues and occasional sketches he does. No, he's not Johnny Carson who barely handled three shows a week and often used replacement hosts like Jay Leno and Joan Rivers. Thank God, Leno doesn't do that. He gets us caught up on episodes we may have missed and he's not gone too long. Leno strives for perfection with humor and it's never-ending!

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" is the best late-night show ever. I have been watching it ever since it began, when I was seven-years-old. Seven years later, he continues to provide the world with wonderful monologues, specials, and guests. Mondays would not be complete without Headlines, and who could forget those stupid Jaywalking folks?

For a funny, and honest nice guy, Leno is your man.

I must say out of all late night shows, he's my least favorite. I guess what I hate the most, and I know many will agree, is when he tells a joke in the monologue and goes on for about 5 minutes about the same damn subject. Also I find his humour to sometimes be too patriotic. Although he does often have excellent guests, it doesn't make it a much better show...

I love watching the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Leno is very funny and has funny skits such as Jaywalking and much others.

He also has a much much better band then Letterman's so called band. Leno's band doesn't sing really all that much except when going into commericals, they just play excellent music going into a skit instead of singing it like Paul Shaffer or whatever his name is.

Also, Leno doesn't have stupid guests like Letterman does. Leno only has Melendez and Eubanks not other stupid people like the one who just randomly enter Letterman's show.

Jaywalking is super funny to watch as well as Headlines. I love Headlines, they make my day :] My final rating for this show is 9/10. Excellent show Jay, keep up the good work ;]

As for Letterman, make changes...now. Get rid of your stupid skits like, which one will float? give me a break Letterman. That has got to be the most stupidest skit I have ever seen.

People underrate this show too much. I think its hilarious. Jay Leno may not write his jokes but hes damn good at telling them. His comedy is real subtle and in-your-face. Conan 'O Brian is just as funny, but his comedy is much different from Lenos, his is more childish (which is funny just the same) while Leno's is more sophisticated. Please people, don't underrate this show.

I was watching your show 2/27. How dare you use Jesus Christ and Mary as a brunt of your jokes. You were right about one thing, the tomb is empty. I think that you are an egotistical individual. I hate your show because you never have anything worthwhile to say. I would rather see you taken off television because you do not know how to act. You will never get my vote MR. JAY Leno. Your show is a disgrace to the human race. I hope that your show is soon taken off the air and replaced with someone who has more sense than you will ever have. Your life is a joke. You think that is all life is, a joke because I have never seen you serious on your show. You think it a joke to run people down, even those who are in government, especially our president. I feel sorry for you because truly you are not a happy person because otherwise you would not talk about people like you do.

Of the 3 late night talk shows,Leno's is definitely the worst.The problem is,he rarely comes up with any jokes himself,unlike Letterman and O'brien,who have the rare gift of being able to think of things to add to their material on the spot eg-the monologues and it actually be funnier than their given lines.Leno,however simply does not have this ability,and it is the writers you admire and not the host,which shouldn't be the case,as the most important thing is to love the host.

Another thing the show suffers from is that it feels more like a comedy show than a talk show.There are far too many unfunny comedy sketches and obviously set up occurences for it to have the unpredictable feel of Letterman,which thrives on its spontinaity.It tries much too hard for laughs.A very annoying and unnecesarry part of the show is the black band member(I can't remember his name)that is really only there to let out huge and put on sounding laughs at everything Jay says and to be the butt of a lot of Jay's jokes.

I don't hate the show,I mean if there's nothing else on,I'll watch it but it comes nowhere near its two competing talk shows.

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" is a great television program/show (whatever you wanna call it). It is one of those American shows good to watch especially at night.

This is a type of program which isn't intended to be a great production, ambitious, brilliant or artistic. It is made for pure fun and entertainment, ingredients which are very well combined. And all of this with Jay Leno's humor, which is funny and not dirty. Jay Leno is such a talented, cool and funny guy. He's perfect for this night show and he makes it a pleasant television experience. In fact, I think that this wouldn't be the same without him.

I wonder if there's any celebrity that hasn't gone to Jay Leno's show yet. It is above all things a program where famous people go and talk to Jay Leno, with full audiences watching the show. In fact, the number of celebrities that already went to this show is countless.

Conan O'Brien's show is an alternative to this one. Basically it is exactly the same thing (sceneries are equal and everything else). However, I personally prefer Jay Leno, so I recommend his show more than the show of Conan O'Brien.

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno is great. I have a couple of favourite US Late Night shows and Jay Leno is definitely one of my favourites and as I watch his show more and more, I begin to like to him more. His jokes are great and he's just one funny talk show host. I don't like that Kevin Eubanks though.

If it's one thing Jay Leno does better than any of the late night comics I've seen it's that he is the best at recovering from a bad joke. His everyman's style is very appealing, relatable and funny. I also love the shows variety, its not uncommon for him to pull the rug out from under feet and make things funny out of weird and unusual situations. I love Jay's correspondence and both Jay and Kevin are good for bouncing off each other. Oh yes, and I also love the Headlines.