Our FIRST Leno interview, 22 years ago

Two decades ago, when Jay Leno landed the job at The Tonight Show, he did his first 60 Minutes interview. This week, he returns to 60 Minutes as he leaves the job

[@robertpolanco1973]

Personally, I remain an admirer of Jay Leno. He is very funny and I miss him already.

[@josephkelley8641]

He's just incredible - have admired Jay since one of Jay's first appearances on Letterman. ...

[@graphicsRat]

Leno is pure class. I always enjoyed his humour.

[@dbreiden83080]

Except when he’s hanging around at 10 o’clock because he wants his old job back.

[@poppachoppa8956]

@@dbreiden83080 someones mad

[@coastaku1954]

@@dbreiden83080 As a Conan fan, I love this joke

[@mikestevenson576]

He did a great performance in that closing bit at the front door.

[@Orgakoyd]

I just came back just to watch that again! It's really good :)

[@CrzyMav]

This man is truly an inspiration to not only myself,but to a lot of people. He has done a lot for our Veterans and people that are around him. He took a pay cut once for his Employees not to be cut. Just that says whom he is...I met him once at the rock store, and he was extremely friendly spoke o me and my friend Eddy as if he knew us. That there tells you a lot.

[@SeanGodos]

7:13 Are you a republican or Democrat? ... Neither, when I think i'm Republican they do something greedy... every time I think I am Democrat they do something stupid. 😄 Some things never change!

[@OfficeIcarusLLC]

yep! Forever the _"dishonest"_ _"conniving"_ _"Machiavellian"_ Just think what our country's comedic attitude *_might_** of been* had this _Joke-Telling-Machine_ never been installed or reigned America's favorite -comic- _Jokesman_ ?? There'd never be any viable _Two and a Half Men_ audience; Moreover Chuck Lorre likely would've been David Chappelle's realtor, Larry David would've ousted Michael Eisner from Disney, and Keith Crofford & Mike Lazzo (Adult Swim) would've been President and CEO of NBC Universal instead Jeff-cesspool-of-buffoonery-Zucker.

[@porkwoofles3909]

Great video. I love Jay, he's a real professional and a dignified man.

[@emantabrizi]

Jay, you will be missed.

[@thegreatoptimist88]

Yes, I will miss him as well! He is one of the greats of all-time!

[@jimboj2068]

I will miss him.. Jay is one of the greats.

[@TheSmreeder]

Jay Leno an Honest , Hard Working , Down to Earth Gentleman... I hope to go to his Garage one day for the tour and , Possible meet him

[@metropunk2236]

Say what you will Leno is a down to earth human with a massive talent.

[@suzannegoode1557]

Saw 2014 interview, and so glad to see this earlier one. Adore this comic genius

[@josephkelley8641]

I love this line at about 5:35: "If you have TIME to complain - ye probably don't have enough WORK to do..." Probably answers the question: "What DRIVES Jay Leno?" Attitude, and a superior one - .

[@actownsend7288]

And a great sense of humor!!

[@robertphillips6296]

His garage looks practically empty compared to today. I really like his stories, I never grow tired of hearing them.

[@OfficeIcarusLLC]

hard hitting investigative journalism [ is probably what -Bill Carter- E v e r y b o d y is thinking ] _"Everybody"_ who never watched Tim Allen or _Two and Half Men_

[@suzannegoode1557]

Jim Cramer interviewed him a few yrs back. Those rare cars have appreciated more than S&P 500. Brilliant comedian AND investor

[@josephhinton5489]

The last ten seconds of this was one of, if not the, funniest things I've ever seen in my life. Love

[@Orgakoyd]

Yup!

[@pontiacgrandprix733]

He's the best, and he has a lovely wife

[@OfficeIcarusLLC]

Hi! _Jay's Garage_

[@piscatawaymechanic]

right here he seems so happy and in the zone ... just doing what u love , feeling great doing it. nothing more important then that !

[@caseyhansen4583]

No one works harder

[@hard2getitrightagain314]

Love Leno. Oddly enough he seems funnier and more accessible than ever thanks in part to KZbin.

[@Bernie3000]

I wouldn't call myself a Jay Leno fan. However, as a wife, I would be absolutely heartbroken if I heard that my husband didn't get a job, but they wanted a "good looking Jay Leno". I know it's the business, but it's still hard to hear rude comments about a loved one.

[@actownsend7288]

He really loves Mavis and now she has dementia. She was there for him when he was playing 300 gigs a year. That’s commitment and love. He helped get Ellen on The Tonight Show.

[@writerconsidered]

Never cared about Jay at all. Then his youtube channel about cars came out and I love him.

[@byronwelichko8577]

People didn’t like him but he worked hard and succeeded...🤔

[@twalker191]

Critics & Elitists didn't like him, but audiences did....the reason people say he was "hated" is because generally all writers/critics are from NY/LA and they don't generally don't want to be associated with Leno because they saw it as "what the common folk liked"....it was more about them hating his audience rather than Jay himself. They couldn't understand why Jay got more viewers and did better....the guy they liked didn't have the same appeal....so they just say "Oh well Dave and Conan are smarter and only dumb people like Leno!" but it seems like all the Jay haters spent more time hate watching his show as they know so much about his jokes lol

[@mumvictoria2757]

@twalker191 very well put! I totally agree. When I was much younger I could be snotty, but now I'm glad to say I'm one of the "common folk." I just turned 70 and I'm still working full-time and plan to continue till I can't get my rear in the door. That's my retirement plan. LOL

[@twalker191]

@@mumvictoria2757 Jay always made me laugh. I always saw Letterman as an old bitter man. Jay's monologue had energy and really was a good take on the world in a funny way. Something everyone could watch. I liked Conan, but he wasn't the same when he moved to LA...he was better on Late Night. Craig Ferguson was my favorite.

[@jeffwagner8108]

Would be great if even one of current late-night hosts had talent and humor even approaching Leno.

[@stevendeitrich6933]

Jay has a natural talent at making people feel at ease & to loosen up & laugh at this screwy world mankind has made . He is one of the best .

[@RBCharger]

Always leave them laughing. That was funny.

[@danam0228]

The thing that stood out for me is that he was making joke about layoffs at Sears which just closed it's doors.

[@destro513]

Thank you. Love him

[@CORRIGEEN71]

Comes across as a really nice guy

[@musicman76enator]

God Bless Jay Leno ☺

[@xyada]

Truly miss his monologues

[@jakespeed63]

Jay is a great American 🇺🇸

[@Joelontugs]

That hoorker joke I was not ready for lmao

[@richardoconnor2560]

Ya gotta love that work ethic.

[@Tommy2shoe811]

Cheese n crackers, that 5 n 10¢ store joke is hilarious

[@LRS905]

9:10, that sound of glass being tapped is something you don't ever listen to nowadays, with all these LCD and other new TV sets, lol.

[@cmoore185]

Jay and I are the same age so I have pretty much seen his whole career. In my opinion, next to Carson, he is the best. Personally, I think that the reason he trumps letterman is that Dave actually turns some people off because he doesn't really seem blue collar. Jay is the car guy that we all wish we could have been.

[@markmoses7300]

All American kid Jay Leno An American treasure for sure

[@vickyoftexas]

Truly an American treasure ❤

[@beniamino939]

Thought this said it was uploaded 60 minutes ago!

[@luxurreview]

HE IS HILARIOUS

[@literoadie3502]

That ending at the door scene was the funniest thing ever! I didn’t even understand half of it, but I loved the whole big CEO getting busted vibe and Jay performed perfectly! Something about asbestos shields and meat stamps? What was the first things he said?

[@chicletzz]

...dioxide in baby powder.

[@johanbrand8601]

Why does everything always look softer on the eyes in old video's like these? I just can't understand it. It's not like the world looked like that, but.... Older video's just looks so much better. Today's video's with the sharp lines ... I don't like it. But I don't have the technical background to understand this. If somebody could please explain this to me, I'll be very grateful. Regards

[@CeeStyleDj]

Wow, there was a point in America where producers thought he was "too ethnic"?...... SMH

[@craigcolavito5606]

Jay is the best!

[@johnking5174]

Why do they always say "WITHOUT CHILDREN" in these interviews regarding Jay? Always on about how he and Mavis have no children. So what? They decided not to be selfish, and not have a child, and then have a father who is working hours away on the show and stand up, and a mother busy with her career, it would be unfair on a child, so they decided not to have any. Having children has nothing to do with his role as host. They always come back to it though, Conan, Stern, Kimmel, Rosie O'Donnell, all have mentioned it.

[@manofiske3318]

It is our , primary, function in life to reproduce in order to perpetuate the species.

[@Inthemixmedia]

@@manofiske3318 and produce people like you

[@manofiske3318]

Precisely. That's the goal, at least.

[@gg5115]

Ask a grown person today if they would trade their existence for a 'fairer' childhood. It's the silliest most backwards justification of hypocrisy I may have ever read.

[@WarrenSal]

The peoples comedian

[@xyada]

Love Jay

[@OfficeIcarusLLC]

Fuzzy-bloom [camera] lens filter is Helen Kushnick *_100!_*

[@thetreblerebel]

Jay Leno is a good dood

[@janedoe8533]

I love you. !!!!

[@petesmitt]

Kushnick played a huge part in Leno's success; she found him doing stand-up in the 70's and aggressively pushed his career all the way into the Tonight Show, where she became the show's executive producer; unfortunately, her aggressive, pushy style got her fired by NBC only a few months later; Leno managed his own career from then on..

[@josephkelley8641]

Only sad pat of the clip? The very end. When Jay's arrested. With a SIXTY MINUTES crew busting in on Jay. Musta felt like treason. After the great SHOW and MATERIAL Jay gave them. It's always something. ...

[@margiemorrow328]

😂😂😂he’s great!

[@retroboomer3197]

Oh yeah, this guy.

[@abuwadie3]

Always loved jay and his comedy never understood why he was hated so much. Understood letterman and conans wild humor but never found them to be “ funny”

[@josephkelley8641]

Steve Kroft, (ex Columbia University Lion along with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti), pauses-for-effect. At about 6:52. It's quite dramatic - and Steve makes it almost a 3 or FOUR syllable word. TENTATIVELY saying the "B" word, i.e. "Bland." (a common gripe/complaint from all of the comic's Jay's surpassed) HE'S NOT DOING COMEDY ANYMORE. THAT'S NOT COMEDY!! HE'S STOPPED BEING JAY LENO !!! Me I always thought this was envy, the evil eye - "A throbbing kind of Green." That Jay was ABLE to adjust, transition TO Johny's chair (knowing how many advertisers/stations The Tonight Show actually answered/answers to) On Madison Avenue we once answered to the same voices. i.e." Toyota Dealers complaining about the spots we were writing, producing - " FORCING upon them. I'd go to these Dealer meetings/parties, rich dudes who wanted DIFFERENT Toyotathon spots: "We're TIRED of the same old crap !!!" Toyota Dealers from Denver were never happy - So I totally got, understood Jay needing to back-off his biting wit. (if Jay went on INSISTING to be Jay - it wouldn't have lasted very long - the whining would have started right away) Then they complained Jay's interviews weren't "Sufficiently-searing." Yeah, cuz then you can't GET guests - and The Tonight Show is ABOUT that-night's-guests. (lots of A-Listers were stiffing both Dave AND Howard Stern) Again, Jay just knows. It's supernatural. -and Jay doesn't CARE. "Who likes it or who doesn't like it ..." Because IF you cater to this group - then THAT group gets offended. For me Johny's STRESS killed Johny - i.e. the cheap fix (anxiety) that cigarette's were/are. (In NYC and in grad school? I worked for Phillip Morris. "Weekend security guard." A job where Phillip Morris "gave" each employee "ANY carton of cigarette's they preferred." So every Friday in my employee slot? There'd be a tiny check to pay an Ivy League grad school 100 more dollars. Along with a carton of Marlboro's - cuz I could SELL this carton EACH FRIDAY for five dollars, and to film school pals Joseph Minion and Jim Koch). Point being then Phillip Morris CEO George Weissman? CALLED cigarette's "The CHEAPEST form of therapy available - (for high anxiety) yeah he REALLY said that. Really SOLD tobacco as individual THERAPY sessions. "Having a tough time of it - relax - light up a Marlboro (Merit or Virginia Slim)." Then HE'D be photographed HAPPILY SMOKING in any/every interview George gave. EXHALE with great gusto, pleasure - "Aaaaaahhhhhh." Same with uber exec Jim Bowling - SMOKING GIDDILY through each/every interview, tv appearance, etc. Made and makes me THINK of the late Pastor John Osteen (Joel's Dad). Whose MOTHER chewed/spat tobacco. "Ma had a mouthful of chaw," he'd remember. Anyway, I'm out I don't even know how I got to this. Only point being Johny chose cigarette's and found The Tonight Show/celebrity to be crippling, stress-wise. Jay? Jay doesn't DO celebrity - doesn't HANG with celebrities - doesn't LIKE or BELIEVE in celebrity. Making Jay about the-most-consistent-human-being that-ever-lived. Reinhold Messer (sp?), the great climbing expert? Once said he sees "lines" going up mountains that "No one else sees." WAYS TO GET UP AND GO UP never "seen" by other climbing guru's. I submit the same applies to Jay - he saw a line going up the mountain. Never deterred, never changed in mid-climb, just kept going and going and going. I hope Jay and Jerry Seinfeld live forever. are still here in like three or four hundred years. ...

[@gg5115]

Well said. Glad I came upon this a year later.

[@aananhenderson2689]

RIP Helen kushnick, for all her faults none of us would have ever heard of jay if not for her

[@Hot80s]

he looks 16

[@mattparr3038]

So the year 2000? It looks so dated.

[@a.brounz]

Jay's one silver tongued devil I'll tell yuh ...

[@Georgann-x3l]

I have no comment about jay! Except your probably sorry❤

[@angelicacushing6032]

too ethnic?

[@signal44]

She sure doesn't look like a "MAVIS"

[@wadebarnett2542]

What should a woman named Mavis look like?

[@mrmagoo916]

Has a tendency to try and overtalk guest s.

[@simultaneity8014]

Every Jay interview I see sooer or later he gets around to bragging about how much money he has.

[@coastaku1954]

Still not as good or as likeable as Conan O'Brien...

[@pronemanoldbutyoung5548]

Is this a Jay cult going on here? Jay Leno the weasel that hid in the closet during that NBC meeting

[@sergiolobato1798]

I have yet to find a clip of Jay Leno telling a funny joke or just being funny.

[@robertpolanco1973]

@Sergio Lobato - Well, keep trying, because Jay Leno IS still a classy and funny guy. So who do you think is funny these days?

[@stevendeitrich6933]

Maybe it's you . He was very funny in this interview even.

[@moedanglez]

I just don’t get it, he’s not funny at all what are you people watching?

[@robertpolanco1973]

@moedanglez - Then who do you think is funny nowadays?

[@robheaton]

Now you know how we feel about Letterman