Saturday 2 May 2009

Jay leno trivia

  • Born at 2:03am-EST.
  • Raised in Andover, Massachusetts.
  • He and his wife of many years have no children.
  • Maintaining classic cars and motorcycles is one of Jay's hobbies.
  • Owns over 30 classic cars and over 40 motorcycles. His very first automobile was a 1934 Ford V-8 truck, which he restored himself at the age of 14.
  • His wife, Mavis, is active in the Feminist Majority Foundation which helps raise funds to combat the strict Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime that requires women to wear head-to-toe shrouds. Her first appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) was March 2, 1977.
  • Met his wife while performing at a comedy club in Los Angeles. Mavis was in the audience, and she laughed at all his jokes at the right time.
  • A 1972 graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
  • Jay's father was Italian, but his mother was Scottish.
  • Growing up in Massachusetts, he suffered from dyslexia.
  • Under the teacher's comments of Jay's 5th-grade report card read, "If Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he'd be a big star."
  • Had guests sign one of his Harley Davidsons (the first being Arnold Schwarzenegger), after which the bike was auctioned off with the money going to help victims of the September 11th attacks.
  • In May 2003, he hosted NBC's morning talk show "Today" (1952). In a May sweeps promotion, "Today" show host Katie Couric, in turn, hosted "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992).
  • Is a "seasoned" Monopoly player; likes to play with real money and the "race car" is his favorite playing piece.
  • Attended Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. Dropped out after only one semester.
  • Is one of the few owners of the McLaren F1 supercar.
  • Was a writer on the 1970s comedy series "Good Times" (1974), as was his current late night talk show competitor David Letterman.
  • He will step down as host of the "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992) in 2009. His replacement will be current NBC "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993) host Conan O'Brien.
  • Although Leno's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992) predecessor Johnny Carson appeared on rival late night talk show "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) twice (in a walk-on stage appearance soon after Letterman's show debuted, and later in a filmed segment), Carson never once appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992) with his successor. Many, including Leno, took this as a sign that "Johnny likes Dave more" and would have preferred David Letterman to have been his "Tonight Show" replacement.
  • During the Michael Jackson trial in February of 2005, Jay Leno had been subpoenaed to testify at the trial. Judge Rodney S. Melville issued a "gag order" barring anyone involved in the case from discussing it outside court, and the comedian feared that the order would apply to his monologues on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992). He was allowed to write the jokes but not tell them. To get around this order, Leno called on his fellow comedians to tell the jokes he wrote for him. Some of these people included Brad Garrett, 'Scott 'Carrot Top' Thompson' , Roseanne, Dennis Miller, and Drew Carey. They came out and told the jokes while Leno stood beside them on stage. On March 11, 2005, the judge had the gag order lifted. In a statement, he explained, "I am not attempting to prevent anybody from making a living in the normal way that they make their living," adding that Leno may not talk about the specific things to which he is a witness.
  • Is a die hard fan of Elvis Presley, Patrick Rondat, and Johnny Cash.
  • Is portrayed by Daniel Roebuck in The Late Shift (1996) (TV).
  • He and his wife were contestants on the couples game show "Tattletales" (1982) in the early 80s.
  • In November 2006, on his show, he ate a vegetable for the first time in 37 years.
  • He has recently started a tradition for his Thanksgiving day shows. Each year on Thanksgiving Day, the entire audience is made up of men and women of the Armed Forces. He is usually the only late-night host to tape a new show on Thanksgiving Day.
  • Billy Crystal was his very first guest on Monday May 25, 1992. when Jay took over the late night throne vacated by Johnny Carson on Friday May 22, 1992.
  • Is famous for his collection of motorcycles, two of which were featured in the movie, Batman and Robin.
  • In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings for the year to be $32 million.
    When he was a child, he fell down the stairs. As a result of the accident, his spleen was ripped and had to be removed.
  • On an episode of "The Tonight Show," he claimed that he got in his first auto accident a mere 81 hours after getting his driver's license.
  • Driver of Pace Car at 83rd Indianapolis 500; May 30, 1999.
  • "The Mike Douglas Show"(1961) was the first talk show appearance for Jay Leno which aired on October 19, 1977. Danny Thomas and Teddy Pendergrass were also guests.
  • Barack Obama's appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: (2009-03-19)" (2009) marked the first TV talk show appearance by a sitting President.

2 comments:

  1. I knew all of that, believe it or not! I hope that you will like Jay's new show, although I'm not sure I will. It will be sad to see the Tonight show taken over by Conan "The Barbarian" O'Brien (my husband's nickname for him).

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  2. He's been under the weather recently hasn't he? I heard it was food poisoning or something.

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