History Creator / JayLeno

** [[invoked]] He was offered the job of hosting an American version of ''Series/{{Top Gear|UK}}'' (back when it was supposed to be a co-production between NBC and BB America) but turned it down, because the commercialized nature of American TV meant that the show wouldn't be able to freely criticize the cars being reviewed.

** The May 20, 1993 episode, which was a special live episode from the ''Cheers'' pub with the show's cast to commemorate the series' finale that aired earlier that night. Having been there the whole day celebrating, the cast was completely wasted and unable to properly participate in the show at any capacity, and Leno can be seen growing visibly frustrated with them as the hour drags on. Leno called the show a "mistake" afterwards and ''Cheers'' star Creator/TedDanson subsequently appeared as a guest a week later to apologize for the special being such a mess. It was quickly buried in the archives and never acknowledged by either party again, aside from Leno citing it as the worst episode he ever did and the reason why he never did another live show.

** The May 20, 1993 episode of ''The Tonight Show'', which was a special live episode from the ''Cheers'' pub with the show's cast to commemorate the series' finale that aired earlier that night. Having been there the whole day celebrating, the ''Cheers'' cast was completely wasted and unable to properly participate in the show at any capacity, and Leno can be seen growing visibly frustrated with them as the hour drags on. Leno called the show a "mistake" afterwards, it was quickly buried in the archives and never brought up again by either party.

* CreatorBacklash: Is not fond of the 1989 buddy-cop movie ''Collision Course'', in which he was paired with Creator/PatMorita.

* DoingItForTheArt: [[invoked]] He believes that comedy is best experienced live and in the moment and refuses to record stand-up specials because he feels that home audiences will not be able to get the proper gist of his jokes because they weren't in the room at the time the jokes were made.
* GrowingTheBeard: [[invoked]] It's generally agreed that it took Jay a few years into settling into hosting ''Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno'', with him truly getting comfortable around the time Kevin Eubanks became his bandleader and the two began establishing a rapport.

* MoneyDearBoy: [[invoked]] He is well-known for being financially cautious, always working two jobs and only spending the smaller of the two incomes unless he absolutely had to dip into the other. Even when he was making tens of millions of dollars a year as the host of ''The Tonight Show'', he'd do at least 150 stand-up shows a year and only use the income from those live appearances.

* OldShame: Is not fond of the 1989 buddy-cop movie ''Collision Course'', in which he was paired with Creator/PatMorita.

James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno (born April 28, 1950 in New Rochelle, New York) is an American comedian, actor, and television host.

** [[invoked]] He was offered the job of hosting an American version of ''Series/TopGear'' but turned it down, because the commercialized nature of American TV meant that the show wouldn't be able to freely criticize the cars being reviewed.

* MotorMouth: When performing stand-up, he talks very fast while rambling at length.

* SkunkStripe: Inverted. For many years, he had a shock of hair toward the front that remained dark while the rest of his head went gray. He remarked on this during his tenth-anniversary show on ''[[Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno The Tonight Show]]'', prompting Creator/JohnTravolta to come out and spray that section white. It's gotten significantly smaller over the years, but never completely gone away.

* SkunkStripe: Inverted. For many years, he had a shock of hair toward the front that remained dark while the rest of his head went gray. He remarked on this during his tenth-anniversary show on ''[[Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno the Tonight Show]]'', prompting Creator/JohnTravolta to come out and spray that section white. It's gotten significantly smaller over the years, but never completely gone away.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]] He was offered the job of hosting an American version of ''Series/TopGear'' but turned it down, because the commercialized nature of American TV meant that the show wouldn't be able to freely criticize the cars being reviewed.

* SkunkStripe: Inverted. For many years, he had a shock of hair toward the front that remained dark while the rest of his head went gray. He remarked on this during his tenth-anniversary show on ''[[Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno Jay Leno]]'', prompting Creator/JohnTravolta to come out and spray that section white. It's gotten significantly smaller over the years, but never completely gone away.

* SkunkStripe: Inverted. For many years, he had a shock of hair toward the front that remained dark while the rest of his head went gray. He remarked on this during his tenth-anniversary show on ''[[Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno Jay Leno]]'', prompting Creator/JohnTravolta to come out and spray that section white.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jay_leno.jpg]]

James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno (born April 28, 1950 in New Rochelle, New York) is an American comedian, actor, and television host. After doing standup comedy for years, he became the host of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno'' from 1992 to 2014, except for a time between June 2009 and February 2010 when it was supposed that he would be succeeded by Creator/ConanOBrien while beginning in September 2009 a primetime talk show, titled ''The Jay Leno Show'', which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m., also on NBC; however, a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Tonight_Show_conflict controversy]] led to Leno returning to host ''The Tonight Show''. He hosted his last episode of ''The Tonight Show'' on February 6, 2014.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]] He was offered the job of hosting an American version of ''Series/TopGear'' but turned it down, because the commercialized nature of American TV meant that the show wouldn't be able to freely criticize the cars being reviewed.

James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno (born April 28, 1950) is an American comedian, actor, and television host. After doing standup comedy for years, he became the host of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno'' from 1992 to 2014, except for a time between June 2009 and February 2010 when it was supposed that he would be succeeded by Creator/ConanOBrien while beginning in September 2009 a primetime talk show, titled ''The Jay Leno Show'', which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m., also on NBC; however, a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Tonight_Show_conflict controversy]] led to Leno returning to host ''The Tonight Show''. He hosted his last episode of ''The Tonight Show'' on February 6, 2014.

* LanternJawOfJustice: He occasionally pokes fun at his prominent jaw[[note]]due to a prominent underbite that he's elected not to surgically correct[[/note]], even daring Wrestling/HulkHogan and other members of NWO to take a jab at it when he and Kevin Eubanks appeared with Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage on WOW.

James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno (born April 28, 1950) is an American comedian, actor, and television host. After doing standup comedy for years, he became the host of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Series/TheTonightShow'' from 1992 to 2014, except for a time between June 2009 and February 2010 when it was supposed that he would be succeeded by Creator/ConanOBrien, while beginning in September 2009 a primetime talk show, titled ''The Jay Leno Show'', which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m., also on NBC; however, a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Tonight_Show_conflict controversy]] led to Leno returning to host ''The Tonight Show''. He hosted his last episode of ''The Tonight Show'' on February 6, 2014.

* GrowingTheBeard: [[invoked]] It's generally agreed that it took Jay a few years into settling into hosting ''Series/TheTonightShow'', with him truly getting comfortable around the time Kevin Eubanks became his bandleader and the two began establishing a rapport.
* MoneyDearBoy: [[invoked]] He is well-known for being financially cautious, always working two jobs and only spending the smaller of the two incomes unless he absolutely had to dip into the other. Even when he was making tens of millions of dollars a year as the host of ''Series/TheTonightShow'', he'd do at least 150 stand-up shows a year and only use the income from those live appearances.

* DoingItForTheArt: He believes that comedy is best experienced live and in the moment and refuses to record stand-up specials because he feels that home audiences will not be able to get the proper gist of his jokes because they weren't in the room at the time the jokes were made.
* GrowingTheBeard: It's generally agreed that it took Jay a few years into settling into hosting ''Series/TheTonightShow'', with him truly getting comfortable around the time Kevin Eubanks became his bandleader and the two began establishing a rapport.
* MoneyDearBoy: He is well-known for being financially cautious, always working two jobs and only spending the smaller of the two incomes unless he absolutely had to dip into the other. Even when he was making tens of millions of dollars a year as the host of ''Series/TheTonightShow'', he'd do at least 150 stand-up shows a year and only use the income from those live appearances.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: He was offered the job of hosting an American version of ''Series/TopGear'' but turned it down, because the commercialized nature of American TV meant that the show wouldn't be able to freely criticize the cars being reviewed.

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