As a general principle, we here at Warming Glow do our best to avoid posting anything related to “The Tonight Show”. There are a number of reasons for this policy, most notably that Jay Leno is a duplicitous creep who screwed two far more talented and creative people out of the hosting gig and turned the show into a world class derpfest filled with mediocre jokes aimed squarely at the lowest common denominator of its mouthbreathing audience. (Other than that, he seems swell, though.) That said, as with almost everything in this world, there are certain situations where we will make exceptions. One example of this would be if, oh I don’t know, “Community” star Alison Brie went on the show and talked about nude massages and balloon animals. Another would be anytime Louis C.K. is on, because he is the best.
The two clips from his appearance last night are posted below, and they do not disappoint. He covers everything from being envious of gay people, to Jerry Sandusky, to what a weird looking dude Ol’ Chins McGillicutty is, all in the span of about 10 minutes. Their conversation even managed to bring some zingers out of Leno, which, if I’m being fair, were actually pretty funny. The whole thing serves as continuing proof that Louis C.K. — who just announced a national comedy tour designed to stick it to Ticketmaster and scalpers — is a valuable natural resource and should probably be bronzed and stored in the Smithsonian upon his death.
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“who screwed two far more talented and creative people out of the hosting gig”
I will never understand why everyone seems to think that Letterman is significantly better than Leno. Was he far more funny many years ago, before my time? Because today they both come off as equally awful in my opinion.
I’ve stared at this comment for about a minute, and it still makes no sense.
Letterman regularly featured edgy comics like Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison (his first network gig ever), and even had Harvey Pekar and Crispin Glover on to share their weirdness. He gave Chris Elliot free rein, and subjected himself to a variety of insane stunts, including the Alka-Seltzer Suit. He regularly told his employers to go fuck themselves too.
Meanwhile, Leno makes cutesy jokes about typos in the supermarket flyer.
But it says “penis” instead of “peanuts”!!! LOLZ!!
Ok so apparently Letterman was good in the distant past because nothing and no one you are referencing is ringing any bells with me other than he gave the guy from Eagleheart free rein for awhile. My point being YOU ARE OLD OTTO! Also my disdain for Leno is so intense that not even CK can get me to watch this clip.
Vintage Letterman is a glorious display of one guy not giving a crap. If you search YouTube (which I can’t do at work), you can find stuff like the Alka Seltzer suit, or Dave working the drive-thru at Taco Bell and just pranking the hell out of customers. There’s also the time he interrupted a live taping of the Today Show via bullhorn.
He’s toned down a lot, but he still has some great moments of snark. Of course, I’m always 100% Team Dave, because I’ve been a fan since I was 10 and my dad let me stay up to watch him on Fridays. (I’m 28 now.)
Dave’s nothing compared to what he was, but it’s not like the screwing over we’re talking about was just yesterday. In the 90′s, it was no contest between the two.
Okay so I have to admit I agree with JCSK here, and I looked up the Alka-Seltzer suit and I didn’t find it particularly funny. Was it a play off of some ad campaign or a bigger bit? Otherwise it was just a dude in bubbles for about 15 seconds.
The stuff Letterman did that I found funny were like the Monkeycam, the various skits he’d break away to do at random (something that Conan has continued doing but Letterman really hasn’t), and his monologue humor was funnier when he was on Late Nite.
As for currently, Dave is a better interviewer, he despises things I despise (reality show contestants, Madonna, Bieber, etc.) and makes no qualms about showing it, and most importantly: He hasn’t screwed over his peers to be where he is.
Three (3!) consecutive segments of Dave and Bill Murray throwing comedic jabs at each other … and that was just the very first show.
It got better for years.
I may be old, but I’m not the one who can’t tell the difference between Leno and Letterman.
Jesus, man, you’re practically dead.
I’ve always found it laughable that Leno is supposed to be some kind of horrible horrible person because he pursued and tried to keep in his dream job using every legal means available to him. I guess Leno isn’t honorable enough for late night television. Dave is naturally, since we all know he is a pillar of integrity.
I rarely ever found Jay to be anything other than mildly amusing, 12:30 Letterman was much funnier then Leno could ever dream of being. 11:30 Letterman is a cutesy knock off most of the time. Neither Leno or Letterman are great comics if you ask me, Letterman’s innovative days are behind him and Leno never had them.
Conan is much funnier than either of them if you ask me, but was outfoxed behind the scenes like Letterman by Leno. Letterman would have probably eaten his lunch too if Conan was after his show.
The blame if you want to call it that in regards to the Tonight Show should be directed at the fools at NBC. Don’t hate on the cunning guy with less talent working all the angles to take millions off of halfwits with billions. Emulate him.
Who cares anymore anyway, don’t we all have cable? Plenty of pie to go around. All three have much more money than many people who are much funnier.
Both of these shows have been boring for at least a decade.
And, in the interest of full disclosure, Letterman also told his employees whom to fuck.
Dave, back in the day, was awesome and hysterical. Also he’s far more honest. leno is milktoast.
Also, if you’re too young to know what the fuck you’re talking about, maybe you should just shush while the grownups are having a discussion. Thanks, kid.
By the way, if you want an easy answer as to why Letterman >>>>>> Leno, just look at Leno’s face while Louis was talking about Sandusky. He was half-cringing the whole time just expecting Louis to say something “controversial” that his stupid audience will be offended by, even when he is talking about one of the biggest news stories of the year.
it was before my time, but Late Night with David Letterman is hallowed ground, at least that’s how my dad and seemingly everyone else who watched it speaks of it. I can understand why, imagine what was considered edgy 20-30 years ago, plus Letterman, plus the fact that he was on after midnight and took advantage of it.
The closest I can get to that is how I feel about Late Night with Conan O’Brien, but apparently even that isnt all that comparable to Letterman’s fearlessness in the 80s. Guys like him and Norm MacDonald who just railed against the establishment without fear are non-existent anymore. You can find old clips of Letterman bashing GE on his NBC show in the same way that Norm kept up the constant OJ Simpson jokes (which were part of the reason he got fired) until the very end.
Leno’s a corporate lapdog of a comedian
Mr. Potato Head – good one Jay!
Love his daughter’s joke. It starts off like a kid’s setup/punchline joke but with a compelling beginning then has a Louis CK kind of “reset” punchline. I’m overanalyzing this but I’d like tickets to her conert.
THANKS FOR SHITTING ON MY CASUALLY-NOT-QUITE-RACIST-MOSTLY-JUST-WHATEVER CITY YOU GINGER FUCK.
I kid. I love that dude.
I want this in every Leno article ever.
The gay bit fell flat for me.
This owns. I hate Leno.
Oh Louis, you’re the greatest. You even forced Jay Leno to be passably funny! Very impressive indeed.
It’s so sad how Leno feels like he has to defend himself from Louis’ comments with the “burn” about being bald and having a beard – original, Jay! Dave would have just laughed it off or agreed.
Here’s a flashback: my first book I ever bought at a Scholastic book fair when I was in 4th grade was a book with all of Dave’s Top 10 Lists up until that time (1994). Sure my dad had to explain what most of the jokes meant, but I sure did laugh my ass off whether I got it or not.