From Washington Examiner: Former late-night television host Jay Leno asked why comedians only “shoot for half an audience” in a recent interview, saying he doesn’t believe “anybody wants to hear a lecture.”
Leno hosted NBC’s The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2009 before comedian Conan O’Brien briefly became the new host, with Leno hosting the show again from 2010 through 2014. Leno said he used to receive hate mail from his show’s audience of both political spectrums, “over the same joke,” and viewed this as a positive since he was getting “a whole audience.”
However, Leno said current late-night hosts need to be content with “half the audience,” since the hosts “have to give your opinion.”
Leno sat for an interview with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.
“To me, I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, you know, the depressions of life,” he said.
“And I love political humor, don’t get me wrong. But it’s just, what happens with … people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.”
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