Page 2 - Point Jay News Today

Sit here, the more uncomfortable it will make jay. >> if you lose a television show, theres a part of you that feels rejected by america. >> and now jay leno! >> thank you very much. it is good to be home. good to be home. good to be home, kev. im jay leno. your host, at least for a while. >> when we went back at 11:30, there was nothing, oh yea, about it. it was just march on. here we go. >> we really were determined to do a great show and prove that we were worthy to be back. that was my goal,...

>> here is a strange thing in "the wall street journal" today. toys r us has announced they might sell their toy division. so we was toys, is that their new name? >> we started out by doing jokes that were completely nonpolitical, non-september 11th. and then you started to be able the make jokes about the tangential things. there was the taliban. >> things are not looking good for the taliban. today one of their top commanders took a head count. only half of his guys had one. >> and then the id...

I would rather follow an hour of "the tonight show" than half hour of "nightline." and five years or whatever when jay was done, i would move into the 11:30 slot. >> i said to nbc, would you release me from my contract? they said no, we want to keep you here. okay. what are your ideas? >> nbc wasnt doing well in prime time. so, we had an idea to strip a variety show across our 10:00 hour. >> they tell us were going to give jay a prime time show at nbc. and i think one of us asked, which night? a...

>> i asked jay what does he think about all this. >> and they came to me and said we dont want to lose conan obrien. okay, what does that mean? >> i laid out this five-year plan to him. i think he understood what we were trying to get at. and there was nobody in my time at nbc who was ever more of a team player than jay leno. >> you know, this show is like a dynasty. you hold it and hand it off to the next person. i dont want to see the fighting and whos better and nasty stuff and the back and f...

Reporters. its not even believable. >> jay stepped in there, dug himself out of that hole. and thats amazing because the pie has been cut up so much. >> we did four more years, and then wed come to the end of our run. >> thank you. i -- i dont like good-byes. nbc does. i dont care. i dont -- i dont care. >> as sad as it was that it ended, i felt really good walking out of there. >> when people say to me, hey, why dont you go to abc? why dont you go to fox? why dont you go? i didnt know anybody t...

>> can you name any of them? >> freedom of speech. >> freedom of speech. >> jay was a man of the people. he wasnt playing to the television critics. he wasnt playing to the comedy critics. his humor was for america. >> around this time, jay leno is doing great, basically cruising in first place. letterman on cbs is in second place. craig ferguson takes over what is now called "the late late show," which is the show that followed david letterman. you have conan. conan is really hot at the 12:30 h...

I had a horrible dream. i couldnt breathe. i felt like i was suffocating. then i woke up and realized, oh, conan was holding a pillow over my face. hey, hey! >> five years goes by pretty quickly. and we got to that moment, and we said oh shit, because the fact is jay was still doing incredibly well. >> so after like 17 years, they still have the number one guy. >> jay had the point of view that i shouldnt leave until i start to decline. >> i felt an obligation to the fact that i gave my word to ...

I just thought, i cant believe i get to do this. >> good lord. pearl jam. well take a break. well be right back. >> the first couple of weeks of results were very promising and surpassed what the expectations were. but i think conan was feeling the pressure, and who wouldnt? >> conan gets three months on the air as the host of "the tonight show" before jay leno gets his prime time show at 10:00 and becomes conans lead-in again. >> late night television is very dependent on leading. lead-in. so h...

Him at some point and that jay is not going to go forever. >> the only way to really keep both of these guys at nbc was that we were eventually going to have to promise conan that he would take over "the tonight show." but we didnt want that to happen any time soon because we knew jay was on top of the world. >> the suggestion was that we offer jay leno an extension of his tonight show contract for five years and that conan obrien would be made the host of "the tonight show." >> this was the ult...

>> how many commandments are there? >> ten. >> can you name any of them? >> freedom of speech. >> freedom of speech. >> jay was man of the people. he wasnt playing to the television critics. he wasnt playing to the comedy critics. his humor was for america. >> around this time, jaylen mow is doing great, basically cruising in first place. letterman on cbs is in second place. craig ferguson takes over what is now called the late late show which is the show that followed david letterman. you have ...