Former late-night comedy giant Jay Leno thinks today’s TV hosts are fools for falling back on one-sided political humor – explaining they’re isolating half their audience with the endless partisan jabs.
“Why shoot for just half an audience all the time? You know, why not try to get the whole?” Leno, 75, told Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation CEO David Trulio during a recent interview.
“I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group, you know, or just don’t do it at all,” the former “Tonight Show” host said. “I’m not saying you have to throw your support or whatever, but just do what’s funny.”
Jay Leno hosts “The Tonight Show” here in 2012.AP
Leno’s comments come after late-night comedy was thrown into tumult earlier in July when CBS announced it was terminating Stephen Colbert’s run on “The Late Show” and ending the show altogether.
Some have speculated that the firing of Colbert – a comedian who made his name lampooning conservatives – was a politically motivated move, especially since President Trump won a huge election interference lawsuit against CBS’ parent company Paramount just days later.
Leno is criticizing his TV successors over their one-sided politics.Snorlax / MEGA
Leno said such conflicts are exactly why he pointedly avoided partisan political humor during his 22 years as the king of late night – with one analysis cited by Trulio showing he made fun of both sides of the aisle in equal measure throughout his career.
“Funny is funny,” Leno said. “It’s funny when someone who’s not … when you make fun of their side, and they laugh at it, you know, that’s kind of what I do.”
The former late-night host appears on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” in 2016.Getty Images
“It was fun to me when I got hate letters, ‘Dear Mr. Leno, you and your Republican friends’ and, ‘Well, Mr. Leno, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy’ — over the same joke.”
Leno thinks that’s a lesson today’s late-night comedians – who, like Colbert, tend to target conservatives alone with their humor – could learn from.
“I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, you know, the pressures of life, whatever it might be,” Leno said. “And I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just what happens when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.
“You have to be content with half the audience because you have [to] give your opinion.”
Colbert appears during a shooting of “The Late Show” last week.Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
CBS insisted Colbert’s canning was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
But just days earlier, Colbert had called CBS’ and Paramount’s $16 million settlement – reached after Trump accused the network’s “60 Minutes” of editing an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to make her look better — a “big fat bribe” on his show.
Jimmy Fallon hosts “The Tonight Show” in 2013.AP
Seth Meyers hosts “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in 2014.AP
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will end in May 2026.
Other late-night comedians have thrown their support behind Colbert. His “Late Show” predecessor David Letterman called Colbert’s termination “pure cowardice,” while talk-show stars Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and John Oliver all attended Monday’s taping of Colbert’s show.
The contents of this article are compiled based on a convergence of internal briefings, behavioral records, contemporaneous documentation, and public-facing developments. Contextual alignment of events is presented to reflect evolving corporate dynamics as interpreted through direct access and secondary insights.
