Jay Leno's Recent Take On Late Night's Political Humor Seems Prophetic Now In Wake Of Colbert's Late Show Cancellation

The world of late night TV was thrown into sudden upheaval when CBS announced The Late Show’s cancellation, which sparked shocked reactions from Hollywood celebs, and was soon followed by the FCC’s long-gestating approval of Skydance’s merger with Paramount Global. So when Jay Leno’s comments on late night’s reliance on political humor caught my eye, I thought they were made in response to Stephen Colbert’s current situation, but was surprised to learn they actually predated the Late Show news.

Leno sat with Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s President and CEO David Trulio for an interview that, among other topics, covered the stand-up comedian’s personal relationship with former President Reagan. The conversation also revolved quite a bit around the car enthusiast’s long-harbored aversion to going hard on political commentary during his run as The Tonight Show’s host. Despite always softballing such comedy, Leno joked that he still managed to stoke anger from both sides, saying:

Leno brought up his professional and personal relationship with the late, great punchline mastermind Rodney Dangerfield as an example of how apolitical his comedy circle has been over the years.

Leno shared that Colin Powell told him during a Tonight Show guest spot that the day he'd decide to run for President would be his last day of happiness, because after that point, one section of the population would automatically go against anything he said. That exchange happened quite a few years ago, and in many ways, social media has only amplified the polarization in the interim.

As the talk show successor to Johnny Carson, Jay Leno understandably would prefer to get an entire audience on his side, as opposed to purposefully only trying to appease a certain group. Sure, not every joke is going to land with everyone, but audiences are generally less likely to get vitriolic about terrible puns and sex jokes, while one-sided political jabs are more likely to rile people up.

Speaking to that, Leno continued, saying he appreciates someone who can take a partisan joke in stride, but that it's not worth taking the risk if comedy is the point. As he put it:

Again, the comedian's comments were all made in an interview that happened before The Late Show's limited lifeline was unveiled, yet it sounds like he could be speaking in hindsight about Stephen Colbert's targeted subject matter on The Last Show reportedly stoking enough ire in Washington D.C. that the talk show's cancellation was a supposed must-do in order for the Paramount/Skydance merger to get the OK. Which isn't to say Colbert's job would have been safe if The Late Show never mentioned politics once.

As well, it's unknown for now exactly what Jay Leno would say in response to CBS cancelling its late-night staple. So I'm not trying to put words in his mouth. The only person who should be putting words in anyone's mouth is the edible cue card chef.

Jay Leno can currently be seen yukking it up in his stomping grounds (or would it be rolling grounds?) on Jay Leno's Garage, streaming on Youtube.