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Jay Leno in The Jay Leno Show (2009)

Biography

Jay Leno

Overview

  • Born
    April 28, 1950 · New Rochelle, New York, USA
  • Birth name
    James Douglas Muir Leno
  • Nickname
    • Hardest Working Man in Showbiz
  • Height
    5′ 11″ (1.80 m)

Mini bio

  • Jay Leno began his career in night clubs, where he worked 300 nights a year before hitting it big in 1992 with his own late-night talk show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992). By that time he had appeared on television, acted in a few films (American Hot Wax (1978)) but hit paydirt with his late-night television appearances (he made a record number of visits to [error]); for several years, he served as Johnny Carson's permanent guest host on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). A big, sweet guy with a very good comedy routine, he vied with David Letterman to inherit Carson's seat when Johnny retired in 1992. His victory was well-publicized, but empty, though he did gain a measure of revenge when his show beat Letterman's for the Emmy in 1995. Though he consistently lost in the ratings to Letterman except on special occasions, like Hugh Grant's first TV appearance after his encounter with Divine Brown, he surged ahead in 1996, as CBS plunged further into oblivion.
    - IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com

Family

  • Spouse
      Mavis Leno(November 30, 1980 - present)
  • Children
      No Children

Trademarks

  • His large chin
  • High-pitched voice
  • White hair with black spot
  • His successful marriage

Trivia

  • Met his wife while performing at a comedy club in Los Angeles, California. Mavis was in the audience, and she laughed at all his jokes at the right time.
  • Under the teacher's comments of Jay's 5th-grade report card read, "If Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he would be a big star.".
  • On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), Jay developed a tradition for his Thanksgiving day shows. Each year on Thanksgiving Day, the entire audience is made up of men and women of the Armed Forces. He was usually the only late-night host to tape a new show on Thanksgiving Day.
  • In November 2006, on his show, he ate a vegetable for the first time in 37 years.
  • On an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), he claimed that he got in his first auto accident a mere 81 hours after getting his driver's license.

Quotes

  • "A historic operation occurred over in Boston. Doctors successfully transplanted tissue from a pig's brain to a man's brain -- and the man's brain did not reject it. That pretty much confirms what women have been saying about men" (From The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), April 25, 1995).
  • During the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial: "Actor wannabe Kato Kaelin is very excited about this trial. It's the first call-back he's had in two years. 'Oh, a part! A part! I got another part!'"
  • In Huntington Beach, California, three police instructors lost their jobs after ordering two cadets who were caught smoking to eat cigarette sandwiches as punishment. And of course the tobacco companies are thinking, 'Cigarette sandwiches - what a great idea.'
  • A new medical study reports that men who eat ten pizzas a week are less likely to develop prostate problems at age 50. That's because they are usually dead by age 40.
  • They always say the Miss America Pageant isn't a beauty contest, it's really a scholarship program. If that's the case, why don't we just put all the contestants on Jeopardy! (1984) and pick Miss America that way? At least you get the smartest one.

Salaries

  • The Jay Leno Show (2009) - $30,000,000 /year (2009-10)
  • The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) - $20,000,000 (2002-3)

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