Click image to watch 60 Minutes’ interview with Jay Leno
As you may have heard already, Jay Leno will be leaving The Tonight Show on February 6. The show’s heir will be Jimmy Fallon, who currently holds the spot on Late Night. 60 Minutes sat down with Jay to talk about his departure from NBC and his reaction to it all might be quite surprising.
For the most part, Jay seems like he’s accepted the end of his era and knows that there’s a technological and age gap that he’s not in touch with, even though he’s still #1 in his time slot. He didn’t quite asked NBC why he was being pushed out again, because he understood what time it is. His wife seemed more mad than he was.
Oh, and you didn’t think he would talk about the CONAN beef, right?
Leno also described the debacle back in 2009 when Conan O’Brien was going to take over The Tonight Show and he got the 10 o’clock spot, then got his show back after ratings tanked. CONAN ultimately quit and went to TBS in a series of evens that turned into unscripted late night drama for the ages.
So what’s next for Jay? He doesn’t quite know, but he’s going on the road. Actually, his first show is in Florida, one day after his exit from The Tonight Show. Aside from that, he might still work on cars (he has TWO hangars at the Burbank airport full of old school vehicles and motorcycles) and we might see him on the History channel for a special.
Either way, Jay Leno will be alright.