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Here's a transcript made by IFmagazine.com of Jay Leno posing as TCA reporter "Ala Kimmel" and pretending to grill Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, the co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, about his exit from The Tonight Show. As I previously posted, this was Jay's idea...
JAY LENO: When is Leno’s last show?
MARC GRABOFF: Well, I figure we’ll get right to that. OK. Jay’s last show will be May 29, 2009. That’s a Friday. And Conan’s first show as host of The Tonight Show will be on June 1, 2009 – the next Monday night.
LENO: Will Leno be paid for the rest of the year?
GRABOFF: Yeah, sure. Sure.
LENO: Now, Brett Favre retired and then wanted to come back, and the Packers said no. What do you make of that?
BEN SILVERMAN: Well, everyone’s entitled to change their mind, but I would imagine that puts management in an impossible situation.
LENO: Let me ask you something. Do you think what Jimmy Kimmel did – the four-time Emmy-nominated Jimmy Kimmel – do you think it was kind of cheesy coming in disguise and harassing you reporters?
SILVERMAN: You know, I can’t imagine anyone stooping to that level.
LENO: I know Leno got a nomination for his website Garage, but none for The Tonight Show. Do you think people like him better as a mechanic than a talk show host?
GRABOFF: He’s equally skilled at both.
LENO: Is it true that you offered Leno a fifth hour on the TODAY show?
GRABOFF: That’s a great idea actually.
SILVERMAN: Would that work?
LENO: No, it’s a crappy idea. [beat] I know you brought back Knight Rider. Any chance Manimal will be coming back?
SILVERMAN: We’re negotiating for Air Wolf and Manimal's original creator will not share the rights with us.
LENO: Alright. Thank you.
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I can’t tell whether I’m supposed to find this funny or not. I think I am. When’s he leaving again?
Mike: It’s meant to be funny, but it’s way over my head
Leno’s humor is nothing to be laughed at.
Poor Mikey, he doesn’t like anything.
Jay’s so funny I forgot to laugh.
Jay was really funny when he crossed the picket line and began writing and telling monologue jokes when his fellow Writers were freezing their asses off during the strike. Then lied about it. Funny guy.
Sorry, I’m just still a little sore at some of these self serving jerks.
Jay, you can leave now. No one will mind. Watch the show start getting Emmys once he’s gone.
FINALLY someone mentions that the SCAB asshole deserves any bad treatment thrown his way.
Hey Jay — how could the scumbags you rolled over all of us for treat you this way? How could they be so cold and heartless? Wasn’t there a little wink-wink in your crossing the picket line? Don’t tell me they can’t be trusted.
Go away. Forever.
Wow…if this was the most exciting thing to happen at the TCAs, looks like that press tour is well and truly done. 100% irrelevant to being a decent TV critic. And the Jay Leno bit is the TCA’s ‘jump the shark’ moment.
In the future the critics if they’re looking to hang out with one another, goof off and maybe drink too much ought to just get together and go on vacation to New Orleans, Las Vegas, some Disney/other theme parks, Hawaii, etc and maybe invite an actor or three along each year for the fun. Because the TCA presentations are clearly a waste of everyone’s time and the critics should just cut to the vacation chase already.
This is hilarious. I love it when Jay asked them about Brett Favre. The executives were clueless. BTW – I’m a writer who was on the picket line and saw Jay there every day. Jay went back when the other hosts did. People have short memories.
Ugh. 17 years of Leno is quite enough. All it took for him to achieve the ratings he’s enjoyed since 1995 were 6 words: “What the hell were you thinking?”
I’m sure that May 29th show will be a sight for sure. Special appearences by Pamela Anderson, Carrot Top and Larry The Cable Guy.
Conan will bring wit back to TTS in 2009. Conan actually LISTENS to what his guests say. He doesn’t wait for his turn to talk.
Scabbing is scabbing regardless of who else is doing it. It’s great that he came to the picket line, but how many picket days buys you a free pass to go back to work before your union has a contract?
I was gonna say – didn’t Leno pay his writers out-of-pocket and keep up his support after NBC practically forced him back on the air?
No, Leno was publicly humiliated into paying his Writers after a cut off date was established because Dave Letterman said he would pay his Writers throughout the strike. In other words Jay wanted to cut them off.
As far as his actions, he was Writing or telling monologue jokes with written material during the strike, a clear violation of WGA rules, then made up some bullshit story about how they were written before the strike even though the topical nature of them belied reason.
First off, Joe Mederois, the head writer on the Tonight Show, asked Jay to come to the picket line the first day of the strike, which Jay was going to do anyway. And then showed up every single day thereafter. Showed nothing but support.
Second, Jay gives the largest xmas bonuses to his workers every year., among other perks. All of his coworkers have talked about how generous he is. There are very few hosts that give anything? Jon Stewart and Carson didn’t give a dime. Dave owns his own show, so he can call the shots. NBC owns the tonight show, and per Joe, Jay told people he would take things week by week. NBC was strongarming him. Trouble started when TMZ got a hold of $100 checks from employees that had been there less than 6 months. Mederiois felt bad because the media twisted everything around. Jay had every intention of paying. Every intention.
Third. You can’t please everyone in situations like that. You help one group, and someone else gets pissed. Its a hard position to be in.
Fouth. He DID write his own material! There was no bullshit story? It was a clause in the NBC contract that the average person doesn’t even read. CNN ran a story about it. Short-term memories.
There are a lot of Leno-haters on this board. Not deserved.
Oh Melissa, Melissa, Melissa. What Kool-Aid have you been drinking? Let’s go point by point, shall we?
First off: “Every single day”? Where? I was out there and saw him a few times in the beginning of the strike. Is there anyone who saw Jay-boy out there every single day? And, by the way, I’ve heard this from a lot of places. Jay ’showed nothing but support’? He’s not a SAG member lending us some of his time. He’s IN THE WGA! He was SUPPOSED TO BE OUT THERE! He was on strike, too. The fact that he drove up in his fucking car of the day and dropped off donuts didn’t impress me. Why wasn’t he walking picket shifts like the rest of us?
Second: What the hell does his going back to work (and giving NBC a huge break in a part of their business that was being seriously hurt) while thousands of his fellow union brothers and sisters were on strike have to do with Christmas bonuses? By the way, Carson Daly and Jon Stewart are SCAB assholes too.
And, wow — how magnanimous of him to say he was going to ‘take things week by week’ instead of SUPPORTING HIS UNION. NBC was ’strongarming him’? Oh, well, that’s different then. No other show runner was being strongarmed by their network or studio. None of them were being force-majeured or suspended. No — for everyone else it was all roses. And as long as Jay had ‘every intention of paying’ then, hey, game over. It’s all about intention.
Third: No one asked him to please anyone, just to SUPPORT HIS UNION. He could have done that. Almost everyone else did.
Fourth: Uh… the problem was ‘he DID write his own material’. It was a strike — he’s a member of the union on strike. HE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO WRITE A FUCKING THING. And what the hell ‘clause’ are you talking about, anyway?
Look — he went on national television and told the world that it was a decision between supporting his crew and supporting the strike. Every single show runner on strike had a a crew or crews they were worried about. He threw them all under a fucking bus by saying that. It was never a choice between supporting our crews over our own self interest. It was about supporting thousands of fellow union members now and for years to come. Leno went back on for the same reason Stewart and Daly and O’Brien did — because they couldn’t stand to be out of the fucking spotlight long enough to make a stand for their fellow union members. He wasn’t about to let Letterman go back on the air without him (even though pitting one network against the other was the point in the Guild strategy of side deals). And make no mistake — the strike lasted longer because of the relief late-night gave the corporations — hurting EVERY OTHER CREW in television.
Leno-hater? Absolutely. Now and forever.
Not deserved? Please…
Haha, look at that page in the back.