Jay Leno on political comedy: “I just stopped doing it”

Jay Leno may have acknowledged why late-night comedy shows are losing viewers in droves: they’re just too political.

In a recent interview, the legendary late-night talk show host expressed his opinion on former President Trump, telling British journalist Piers Morgan that while he was “not a fan” of the former President he wouldn’t be too upset if he were to win a second term.

The former “Tonight Show” host brought up the subject when speaking on  “Piers Morgan Uncensored”. He then talked about how he stopped making jokes about politics.

But that doesn’t mean Leno doesn’t have an opinion on what is happening now.

The comedian told Morgan that he opposed state attempts to remove Trump from the ballot, saying, “I’m against that ’cause that could turn against you.”

“It’s anti-democratic,” Morgan added in response, and Leno agreed.

LENO: Everybody has to know your politics

However, unlike many of his colleagues in the entertainment business, the comic did not express outrage about the former president.

Data shows that as comedians became more partisan after the election of Trump in 2016, viewers fled by the millions culminating in recent years with mass “retirements”.  Stephen Colbert lost 27% of his viewers. Jimmy Fallon went from 3.3 million viewers to just 1.4 million in late 2022. Jimmy Kimmel lost 50% of his viewers.

During much of that time, comedians told viewers why they needed to “hate Trump. For Leno, though, he pointed out Americans are free to choose the former President.

“If the people want that person as president, that’s fine. I mean, I’m not a fan, and it has nothing to do with politics,” he said.  “I just want people to come and laugh and have a good time. That’s the idea of doing a comedy,” he said, noting that injecting his own opinion is “useless.”

The comedian shared with Morgan that when Trump was just a real estate tycoon and made cameos on his talk show, he didn’t bother him as much.

He said, “I liked him. He was fine. He was an interesting character.”

He continued with a more general discussion of politics, saying, “I just stopped doing politics in my act altogether. You know, when I did ‘The Tonight Show,’ the idea was you made fun of both sides equally…they’d both be angry. And I’d go, ‘Oh, that’s good.’ You know, they both think you’re supporting the other guy.”

Leno talked about the state of comedy in which it caters to one side.

People today “want to know the punchline before – is this pro or against – you know? So I just, I just stopped doing it.”

Of the most virulently political late-night hosts, almost all have lost their shows. The list of comedians leaving or planning to in the coming year include Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and James Corden, Samantha Bee, with Jimmy Kimmel rumored to be considering it.

As CNN put it, “Late-night television’s golden age is over.”

–Metro Voice and wire services