Jay, We Fully Knew Ye

The New York Times called the upcoming Jay Leno primetime residency "the biggest scheduling stunt in recent memory," but as we say goodbye to Leno's Tonight Show, that decision by NBC doesn't seem all that crazy. If we have learned anything from his tenure in the house that Carson built, it is that Jay Leno knows how to make America laugh. Sure, chide him for not challenging viewers more, and there is all that water under the bridge about snaking the gig from David Letterman, but you can't fault him for completing a job well done. The lack of fanfare surrounding Leno's last day may not be surprising, but let's put an Entenmann's cake in the conference room and have a few seconds of reflection.

Even USA Today, never one to get too far ahead of themselves, used their top banner today for a forward-looking Conan O'Brien interview, rather than a Jay Leno retrospective. But since 2004, when NBC announced the succession crisis-preventing news that O'Brien would be taking over in 2009, we have all been guilty of looking at what will be with Conan, rather than what we had with Jay.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Johnny Carson starred in his version) was something that, unless you had kids, grandkids or a Midwestern accent, you couldn't admit liking. It wasn't a guilty pleasure or an acquired taste, it was just a comedy show hosted by a successful stand-up comic. And you know what? It still is.

There have been notable moments - Hugh Grant after his arrest, President Obama making history as the only sitting President to appear on late night television, Jay not being allowed to tell Michael Jackson jokes - but the highlight reel of the last 17 years is not full of belly-busting laughs or YouTube-ready clips. How do you decide which one-liner delivered at the expense of bandleader Kevin Eubanks to put in a montage? How do you even keep track of all the perfectly-honed monologue jokes Jay delivered over thousands of shows? If you haven't been watching, these little moments are what you missed every night, small nuggets of humor dispensed by an expert in the field. But after leaving the gig of his life on a high note, Leno is still humble, as he expressed in the May issue of GQ:

There are many jobs that are devastatingly awful. Designed to kill your spirit. This is why I always try to keep show business at a distance, because it will kill you. Your thing will never be the best, it will never be good enough, so enjoy, observe from afar, keep the friends you had. I'm still married to the same woman. I'm still driving the same car.

Granted, Leno also owns dozens of other cars that he keeps in an airplane hangar, but he's selling himself short. "Headlines" is funny (Letterman does a version himself). "Jaywalking" and the "Battle of the Jaywalk All-Stars" are solid, simply-produced comedy, and have been since the early days of radio and television when producers realized that regular Americans are funnier than famous ones.

As the Galifianakization of comedy continues, there is an increasingly large void for polite, punny, predictable comedy that very few comics can fill. Ray Romano and Bill Cosby are examples of this type, but neither work as hard as Leno. Even if Letterman would have lost the edgy awkwardness when he moved networks and an hour earlier, he would still be beloved by the generation that grew up with him on Late Night. Jay Leno had to earn the trust of viewers who recognized him from Tonight Show guest-hosting and chip commercials, but were used to Johnny Carson's cool charm. Leno is neither cool nor charming, so he used large quantities of simple jokes and ability to listen and let guests laugh at themselves (instead of of dig their own graves) to endear himself to the masses.

Considering that a percentage of America (not the higher percentage, if ratings are an indicator) believes that Leno has been hosting something that belonged to Letterman for the past decade and change, there's something exciting about Leno finally getting his own space this fall. He stepped into Johnny's shoes after allegedly stealing them from Dave, but now he forges on alone. As he mentioned in that same GQ interview:

I'm not a legacy guy...Show business is like a hooker: Have fun, but don't fall in love. I mean, I enjoy it, but I don't go, Oh, that hooker liked me! You go out, tell your jokes, be grateful. Never explain, never complain.

The thing is, no one in the commercial-watching, product-purchasing, key demographics has complained about Jay yet. Luckily, we who came late to the party still have time to judge Jay Leno on his own merits, or rather the merits of the middle-of-the-road comedy ether from which he draws inspiration.

The hipsters weren't with Jay at 11:35, so it's doubtful they'll make the move to primetime. But think about that other, larger section of the American public that loves cat videos and TV blooper specials and Jay Leno's specific-yet-generic comedy. Instead of falling asleep midway through the monologue, they'll have a full hour of a smiling Leno telling them what's wrong with the world before the local news does it with far less aplomb.