Jay Leno

At 73 years old, Jay Leno has this physical status:

James Douglas Muir Leno (born April 28, 1950) is an American comedian, writer, editor, and former late-night television host.

He spent years on stand-up comedy before becoming the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 1992 to 2009.

Leno's The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET, as well as on NBC, began in September 2009. After the Jay Leno Show was cancelled in January 2010 due to a host row, Leno returned to host The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 1, 2010.

On February 6, 2014, he hosted his last episode of The Tonight Show.

He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in that year.

Leno's Garage has been hosting Jay Leno's Garage since 2014.

Early life

Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York, on April 28, 1950. Catherine (née Muir, 1911–1993), his homemaker mother, was born in Greenock, Scotland, and moved to the United States at the age of 11. Angelo (1910–1994), his father, was born in New York to immigrants from Flumeri, Italy. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated from Andover High School. He received a bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Emerson College, where he started a comedy club in 1973. Patrick, his older brother (May 12, 1940-2002), was a Vietnam War soldier who became an advocate.

Personal life

Leno has been married to Mavis Leno since 1980; they have no children. Leno's mother died at the age of 82 in 1993, and his father died at the age of 84. Patrick, Leno's older brother and Yale Law School graduate, died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 62.

Leno is best known for his prominent jaw, which has been described as mandibular prognathism. In the book Leading With My Chin, he says he was aware of surgery that could resurrect his mandible, but that he did not want to endure a lengthy healing process with his jaws wired shut.

Leno is dyslexic. He claims to need only four or five hours of sleep each night. He does not drink alcohol, smoke, or gamble. He spends a large portion of his free time touring car shows and repairing them in his own garage.

Leno has denied that he spent any of the money he earned from The Tonight Show but rather lives off of his savings from his stand-up routines, according to Leno. In 2005, he reportedly earned $32 million. He received an Honorary Doctor of Human Letters degree from Emerson College in 2014, where he delivered the commencement address.

He and his wife gave $100,000 to the Feminist Majority Foundation in Afghanistan to inform the community about the plight of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Mavis Leno is on the board of the Feminist Majority.

In 2009, Lennie Sogoloff, who gave Leno his first appearance at his jazz club, Lennie's-on-the-Turnpike, donated $100,000 to a scholarship fund at Salem State College (now Salem State University).

Leno auctioned his Fiat 500 in August 2012, with all of the proceeds going to a charity that supports wounded war veterans by providing them with transitional housing.

Leno has been the Grand Marshal for the Love Ride since 1985, a motorcycle charity event that has raised nearly $14 million for charities promoting muscular dystrophy research, Autism Speaks, and the September 11 attacks reclaim in 2001.

Leno owns approximately 286 cars (169 cars and 117 motorbikes). Jay Leno's Garage, his website and TV show also has video clips and photos of his car collection, as well as other cars of concern to him. Bernard Juchli, Leno's Garage Manager, is on hand. Two Doble steam cars, a sedan, and a roadster from Howard Hughes, the fifth Duesenberg Model X known to exist, and one of nine remaining 1963 Chrysler Turbine Cars are among his collection. The 1925 Baker Motor Vehicle is also included in the collection; his wife Mavis' favorite vehicle is the 1925 Baker Motor Vehicle.

He has a regular column in Popular Mechanics that showcases his car collection and gives tips on various automotive topics, including repairs and unique models such as his jet-powered motorcycle and solar-powered hybrid. Leno also writes occasional "Motormouth" columns for The Sunday Times, focusing on high-end sports cars and giving his humorous spin on motoring topics.

Leno opened his garage to Team Bondi, the company that created the 2011 video game L.A. Noire, which is set in Los Angeles in the late 1940s. Leno's collection features over one hundred automobiles from this period, allowing the team to recreate their images as accurately as possible.

Leno, the presenter of the 2014 Genesis Prize award ceremony in Jerusalem, made a joke accusing then-President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State John Kerry of "attempting to break" Israel's ties with Israel.

"I always thought Israel was not the only democracy in the Middle East, not just the first one," Leno said in a 2015 interview with The Jerusalem Post. "Israel is so effective at protecting itself, and so good at it, that to the rest of the world, it seems bullying."

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Career

Leno appeared on The Tonight Show on March 2, 1977, doing a comedy routine for the first time. He appeared in several television series and films throughout the 1970s, first in Good Times' "J.J. in a Dangerous Situation" and then in Holmes & Yo-Yo's pilot. After an uncredited appearance in the 1977 film Fun with Dick and Jane, he appeared in more prominent roles in American Hot Wax and Silver Bears. Almost Heaven (1978), "Going Nowhere" (1980), The Wild One (1981), "The Watermine" (1981) on Laverne & Shirley; "Do the Carmine" (1984) on Alice is one of his many film and television appearances from the 1980s, including Almost Heaven (1978), "One Day at a Time" (1979) on Alice, Almost Heaven (1978) on Laverne & Shirley. Pat Morita and his only starring role was in the 1989 direct-to-video Collision Course. On Late Night with David Letterman, he has appeared on several times.

In 1983 and 1984, he appeared on three weeks of the short-lived NBC game show Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour.

Leno appeared on Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show as a regular substitute host. Carson was fired in 1992 as host amid controversies with David Letterman, who had been hosting Late Night with David Letterman since 1982 (aired after The Tonight Show), and many, including Carson, were upset to be Carson's successor. The tale of this turbulent change became the basis of a book and a film. Throughout his tenure on Tonight Show, Leno performed as a stand-up comedian. He was granted a salary increase with NBC in 1988. The Tonight Show, which included an interview with Hugh Grant (who had been jailed for oral sex in a public place from a prostitute), had Leno's rate higher than Letterman for the first time.

Leno deferred his employment with NBC in 2004, extending his contract with the Tonight Show until 2009. Conan O'Brien left NBC to become the show's host in 2009, replacing Leno at the time.

Leno was accused of breaching WGA rules by composing his own monologue for The Tonight Show during the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike. There were private consultations with the WGA where a tense deal was reached allowing this, according to NBC and Leno, but the WGA denied such meetings. Leno answered questions in front of the Writers Guild of America, West trial committee in February 2009 and June 2009, but Leno was not on it when the WGAW announced its list of strikebreakers on August 11, 2009.

Leno checked himself into a hospital with an undisclosed illness on April 23, 2009. On Monday, April 27, he was released the following day and returned to work. The two then cancelled Tonight Show episodes on April 23 and 24, his first in 17 years as host. The disorder was not announced at first, but Leno later told People magazine that it was for exhaustion.

Leno was one of a handful of people deposed in court during Michael Jackson's 2005 trial for allegations of child molestation. Leno said he was not asked for any money nor did not appear to be any teaching, although the calls seemed strange and scripted in his testimony.

As a result, Leno was not allowed to make jokes about Jackson or the situation, which had been a regular feature of The Tonight Show's opening monologue in particular. However, Leno took the floor for a brief moment while stand-in comedians joked about the trial. Roseanne Barr, Drew Carey, Brad Garrett, and Dennis Miller were among the stand-ins. The gag order was suspended, and the court ruled that Leno would continue to joke about the trial as long as he did not discuss his testimony. Leno celebrated by devoting an entire monologue to Michael Jackson's quips.

Since Leno's show continued to lead all late-night television in the Nielsen polls, there was rumors that after his deal came to an end, he would become a late-night host for another network. On Friday, May 29, 2009, he appeared on The Tonight Show, and Conan O'Brien took over on June 1, 2009.

Leno will stay on NBC and shift to a new hour-long show at 10 p.m. Central Time (9:30 p.m. Central Time) five nights a week. The Tonight Show will have a similar appearance to The Tonight Show, be shot in the same studio, and retain several of Leno's most popular segments, though O'Brien will host The Tonight Show.

The Jay Leno Show, Leno's latest exhibition, opened on September 14, 2009. One or two celebrities, occasional musical guests, and the enduring "Headlines" segments would be included on the program, which would be near the end of the program. Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey (via satellite), and Kanye West's brief sit-down on the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards were among the night's first guests.

In their new roles, neither O'Brien nor Leno succeeded in attracting the viewing audiences that the network aspired for. Multiple media outlets announced on January 7, 2010 that Leno will transition from his 10 p.m. weeknight time slot to 11:35 p.m., as a result of several local affiliates' affliction, as well as both Leno's and O'Brien's poor ratings. Leno's performance will be reduced from an hour to 30 minutes. All late night programming by the 2010 Winter Olympics will be preempted by the 2010 Winter Olympics, bringing The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m., the first post-midnight timeslot in the United States. O'Brien's deal guaranteed that NBC will move the show forward to 12:05 a.m. without penalty (which was primarily to cover sports preemptions).

On January 10, NBC announced on January 10 that Leno would be pulled out of primetime as of February 12 and later as soon as possible. According to TMZ, O'Brien was given no advance notice of this change, and that NBC gave him two options: an hour-long 12:05 a.m. time slot or the option to leave the network. O'Brien said on January 12 that he would not continue with Tonight if it were to a 12:05 a.m. time slot, saying, "I think that delaying The Tonight Show to accommodate another comedy series will seriously damage what I consider to be the best franchise in television history." The Tonight Show at 12:05 isn't really The Tonight Show."

NBC had reached an agreement with O'Brien: He would leave The Tonight Show and receive a $33 million paycheck, and his staff of nearly 200 will be paid $12 million in the departure. On Friday, January 22, 2010, his last episode aired. Following the 2010 Winter Olympics, Leno was back as host of The Tonight Show.

Variety announced on July 1, 2010, that viewers for Leno's Tonight Show's second quarter dropped from 5 million to 4 million, relative to the same time in 2009. Despite the show's lowest second-quarter ratings since 1992, Tonight was still the most watched late night show on television, ahead of ABC's Nightline (3.7 million) and Late Show with David Letterman (3.3 million).

Leno will leave The Tonight Show in spring 2014, with Jimmy Fallon as his named replacement.

Billy Crystal (first viewer on Leno's show), musical host Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Burnett, and Oprah Winfrey were among Leno's last shows as host.

Leno has maintained a regular schedule as a touring stand-up comedian, appearing in over 200 live performances a year in cities around the United States and Canada, as well as at charity functions and USO tours. He has appeared on Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers and was a guest on Craig Ferguson's final show. On the premiere of The Late Late Show hosts with James Corden, he appeared in a cameo role fesing and raging James Corden in a sarcastic boot camp for talk-show hosts. Despite rumors that he will be on the show's finale, he declined an invitation to appear on Late Show with David Letterman.

On CNBC, Leno hosted a one-hour Garage special, and the series has appeared on the cable channel since 2015.

Leno has appeared in Tim Allen's comedy series Last Man Standing since season 5, portraying Joe Leonard as a mechanic in a store operated by Allen's character, Mike Baxter.

Since its debut in fall 2021, Leno has hosted the third revival of the game show You Bet Your Life. It has been revived for a second season.

Leno has performed on television shows, including The Crimson Chin on The Fairly Odd Parents from 2001 to 2016, and The Roadster Racers' Billy Beagle of Mickey and the Roadster Racers.

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