David Letterman: Jay Leno Is "the Most Insecure Person I Have Ever Known"

[Calico Kid]

^where is all of that info coming from?

There was a book and TV movie (1996) called The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night, that presented much of the same information. IIRC, Leno didn't come out too well at all.

[fgg]

thanks. i meant more of the recent stuff like the layoffs.

[Waterslide]

Leno forced Carson into retirement. He and his manager planted stories in the press that NBC was unhappy with Carson, that Carson was too old and out of it, etc. Carson found out and confronted Leno about it and never liked him after that.

The first year Leno hosted the Tonight Show the ratings were so bad that NBC went behind his back and offered the job to Letterman saying they'd made a mistake. Letterman refused because he was happier at CBS and said he didn't like Jay, but wouldn't humiliate him like that. Leno went whining to the press at the time and said how unfair it was that he'd only been given a year, no one could expect an adjustment in that time, etc. Which is why it was so shitty when Leno tried to blame Conan for the low Tonight Show ratings in his first nine months on the air, especially since a huge part of that was Leno's fault with his disastrous nightly talk show which wrecked NBC's primetime schedule. Because when Leno tanked for much longer than that he was full of excuses, but when he had a direct hand in wrecking Conan's ratings suddenly it was only Conan's fault. (Leno's Tonight Show only recovered in ratings when NBC's primetime schedule bounced back with The Cosby Show, Cheers, et al.) The only reason Leno got away with it was because he was buddies with Jeff Zucker, but Zucker is gone now (fired partially because of the Tonight Show debacle).

Leno's ratings have been down ever since his return and now with Zucker gone he has no protection, so he's getting axed next year. They already cut half the staff to save costs and are running a skeleton crew now. In the end, Conan and Letterman are going to have the last laugh, because they'll both still outlast Leno on the air. And instead of retiring gracefully and getting the dignified sendoff (with five years of preparation!) he got when Conan took over, Leno is going to end his TV career basically in disgrace as the the guy who wrecked NBC primetime, fucked over two different Late Night hosts, brought The Tonight Show to its lowest depths and got the president of NBC fired, only to eventually get fired himself. All because he panicked and decided he couldn't deal not having his own TV show. All those people he screwed over (including his own staff) for a paltry extra two years of airtime. Sad.

Thanks for the info NoNo and Trixie. Reading over my post, I think it came off like I thought Jay is some nice, cuddly guy when I meant that I don't think he's any worse than Conan, Letterman, Rivers, etc. as far as ambition goes. Possibly, Letterman is more of a stand-up guy, because he didn't want to stick a knife in anyone's back when he left NBC. But I wouldn't trust anyone around the promise of that level of fame and money, it's still big business. I still think it's kind of dumb what Conan did, because IIRC, he got paid a huge sum of money when he left and the only thing he really succeeded in doing was burning his bridge with NBC. Maybe he'd be back up for the job now. Jimmy Fallon is OK, but I still haven't decided if he's Tonight Show material or not.

[Daisy Sun]

@NoNoRehab... Thank you! Wonderful post. I'm old enough to remember the 'Carson ratings slipping' scare. And I was upset when NBC choose Leno over Letterman. The first year Leno took over, he was godawful. His humor improvement was due to better writers. Good to be alive and see this backstabbing, manipulating bastard get his karma.

I have to giggle at Letterman, he was upstanding enough to not take the job from Leno when he had the chance. But he's a douche when it comes to women especially interns. LOL!

[Brookie]

Guess I'm the only one on the board who likes Leno. I can live with that.

[Waterslide]

Guess I'm the only one on the board who likes Leno. I can live with that.

I don't hate him and he's definitely made me laugh before. I think I'm an equal opportunity hater/liker of all of them.

[Flygirl]

Good to be alive and see this backstabbing, manipulating bastard get his karma.

If getting fired (or what I consider at his age retiring) after hosting your own show since 1992 and career earnings of over 286 million is karma, I'll take some of that karma! I get your point; I just detest Jay's whining. Why can't people ever be grateful for all the opportunities they've been given? Throwing a hissy fit because someone's telling you it's about time to turn over the reins is not bowing out gracefully, which he's had several chances to do.

[Seth82]

meh they're both awful. Letterman hasn't been funny in years. Leno never really was.

[HWBL]

Guess I'm the only one on the board who likes Leno. I can live with that.

No, I like him too.

[BITTER]

Team Dave. I've always liked him. But what others see as no longer being funny, I see him as mellowing out in his old age. He's still funny to me, and he has good writers. Leno IMO, beats topics to death for weeks on end. And I think what he helped do to Conan O'Brien was so vile and low. The only thing I like about Jay is the fact that he is a car geek.

[CornFlakegrl]

Team Dave here too. I agree with Bitter he has mellowed but I still love the old dog. He's insecure though too. His neurosis about doing a good show are legend. But anytime he wants to give that ham sandwich Leno a smack down is fine with me.

[Labelwhore]

Count me in as Team Dave too. Loved him for years and while the show has lossed the edge it once had, I still prefer him way over Leno. I find Leno schmaltzy and boring. Strange thing is when Leno used to come on Late Night he was my favorite guest. He and Dave together were a riot.

[Trixie]

Thanks for the info NoNo and Trixie. Reading over my post, I think it came off like I thought Jay is some nice, cuddly guy when I meant that I don't think he's any worse than Conan, Letterman, Rivers, etc. as far as ambition goes. Possibly, Letterman is more of a stand-up guy, because he didn't want to stick a knife in anyone's back when he left NBC. But I wouldn't trust anyone around the promise of that level of fame and money, it's still big business. I still think it's kind of dumb what Conan did, because IIRC, he got paid a huge sum of money when he left and the only thing he really succeeded in doing was burning his bridge with NBC. Maybe he'd be back up for the job now. Jimmy Fallon is OK, but I still haven't decided if he's Tonight Show material or not.

I hear ya, but for me, anyone who who screwed over Conan, Letterman AND Johnny Carson--who he basically forced into retirement to get his job, then when the time came for HIM to step down (per the written contract he agreed to) for Conan, went kicking and screaming and whining--well, just not a nice guy in my book and somebody who I can't respect or ever watch on tv again. Sure, it might be a cutthroat business but it's not like his actions were an isolated incident, it's a pattern of activity from a man with no integrity.

I hope Jimmy Fallon doesn't fall prey to the Tonight Show jinx; he seems to have carved a nice niche for himself but I don't know if I'd touch that gig with a ten foot pole if I were him.

[Brookie]

AFAIK, people in show business aren't nice. If they were, they'd be doing something else.

[HWBL]

It's a public secret that Johnny Carson was a major a-hole in his own right, so much so, that people were scared shitless of him and only dared open up about it after he died.