Jay Leno has mentioned he can be open to the concept of a reunion with fellow late-night legend David Letterman however revealed it may very well be “awkward.”
Showing on the most recent episode of In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Leno was requested in regards to the potential of reuniting with Letterman for a future venture. “I wish to try this,” Leno mentioned. “I’ve no downside with it. I feel Dave may be awkward.”
As for what it could take to make it occur, the previous Tonight Present host mentioned, “I don’t know! It’s simply… Dave’s a unusual man. I don’t imply that in a nasty means. [We’re] reverse sides of a coin.”
Leno then recalled a narrative about driving bikes with fellow comic Wil Shriner once they stopped by Letterman’s Malibu residence. “‘We’ll simply shock him at his home,’” Leno remembered saying. “It was probably the most awkward day. Dave’s like, ‘Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, come on in.’ And we’re like, ‘Oh, it is a mistake.’ It was simply so awkward.”
“‘So, uh, you desire a glass of orange juice?’ ‘No, I’m okay Yeah. We gotta get going.’ It was simply so awkward since you actually, you don’t have anything else in widespread apart from comedy actually. Dave’s a sports activities man. I’m not a sports activities man.”
Regardless of the awkwardness, Leno reiterated, “Imagine me, if Dave needed to do one thing, I’d do it. However I’m not gonna… I are likely to get my hand bitten once I instigate these form of issues.”
When requested what he meant by getting his hand bitten, Leno shared a narrative about when Letterman had a coronary heart assault. He claimed somebody on The Tonight Present on the time advised him to not point out something in regards to the coronary heart assault on the air. Leno mentioned he needed to ship his effectively needs however was advised, “‘Dave doesn’t need you to.’”
“Nicely, alright, okay, I don’t say something,” Leno remembered. “Two or three weeks later I learn New York Submit: ‘The one one that didn’t give Dave good needs was Leno.’ I walked into that. I simply bought arrange.”
The media has typically pitted the late-night icons towards one another ever since Leno was chosen over Letterman to interchange Johnny Carson on The Tonight Present again in 1992.
Earlier within the interview with Bensinger, Leno touched on the claims that he “stole” The Tonight Present from Letterman. “To start with, Letterman by no means had the present,” the comic acknowledged. “Letterman was an enormous success at 12:30 and NBC realized in the event that they transfer him right down to 11:30 they lose the 12:30 spot.”
He continued, “I used to be visitor internet hosting [The Tonight Show] for 5 years earlier than I bought the present. Individuals assume I bought the present and took it away from Dave. Dave by no means had the present. Johnny most well-liked Dave, however NBC needed to maintain Dave the place he was. I used to be matching Carson’s numbers, in order that was successful. So that you had two actual successes proper right here on the identical time; they’re not going to screw [with that].”
You possibly can watch Leno’s full interview within the video above and tell us your ideas beneath.