Joe Rogan Experience #692 — Jay Leno Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Good morning, everybody. Jay Leno, thank you very much for doing this, man. A lot of them are just old cars that I like that are kind of fun. Well, yeah. you start out I didn't I used to work at car dealerships when I was a kid I I remember one guy came in with He goes, no, no, give me my car back. Isn't that like a federal crime now? Worst thing? Oh, it's just, yeah, the car business has really been cleaned up.

2:40 So you started off just working on cars, working in dealerships, and then somewhere along the It's so different. Yeah, yeah. But a lot of times you don't really talk to the person. Would you put so-and-so in? I go, really? Right. Exactly. Wow. Exactly. I mean, when you watch old shows So you think that somehow – because of handlers and publicists to do a talk show on another network?

5:48 They gave him no budget, you know? getting that. champ, they come out of retirement, Boxing always ends bad. because it's got Cassius Clay in it. And he goes one comedian. later. I'm doing a podcast. Sorry. And before you know it, your body just doesn't function the same way anymore. That was something my dad and I always did. It was not me. You went to La Di Da College. He just knows stuff you don't know. It's not going to happen.

9:55 just to get humiliated a little bit. It's just like the cartoon. the bad guy the punch is always thrown from the perspective of the person and hitting you in the face while you're sitting there in the theater. And then he punches the other superhero, and the guy goes, oh, man. Sort of like the Tonight Show. Jack Parr left when I was number one. I shouldn't have to know all of Jay-Z's music.

12:22 When you're 64, you're like the creepy old guy. Right, right. No, thank you. I'm sorry.. Oh, it's sexy. When you're 64, you're like the creepy old guy. I'm like 40 years older than you are. I'll tell you something. Charlie, how you doing, man? I'm not an alcohol guy. But you still do stand-up. Well, it is different than all the other aspects of show business.

14:26 Let me go on the stage and tell some jokes. Back then they had Hoot Nanny Nights. But if their TV show gets canceled or the movie's no good or the Yeah, yeah. Wow. used to call in Boston. Really? Hootenanny night. Yeah, yeah. You're from Boston, rather. and places like that in Boston, And Lenny made me kind of the house comic, and I got to work with Miles Davis,

16:26 That makes me laugh. I never considered myself a Boston comedian, because I was born in New York, and I moved Did they have open mic nights back then? And they were like, they weren't prostitutes. And they were tough women. she gets out of the bathtub, walks over, grabs the guy It was hilarious. And we'd just drive around, and I would emcee and introduce the girls and they would come

19:15 Starting out like that is so much more difficult than the standard signed up at the open mic And the Improv then, Bud Blow would say, okay, four singers, then you. That's what you used to call him, Richie? to be an entertainer. Well, Kate Smith was an enormous woman at the time. guys that talked about, the kids today and George team, actually. Really? With who?

22:10 And then he became an aluminum siding salesman. pencils, caught me down with lines because he was so funny, but he couldn't, look out the right side of the plane in New Jersey there, you can see the remains of Flight ever really quit i mean he quit hitting it hard mm-hmm he's any he was selling the Yeah. I mean, I was a security guard out there was open to his dress room. Rodney's hanging out back there, walking around pacing.

25:13 And he's just, allegedly, I didn't see it. the back and I lived in that for a couple of weeks. Just wandered the streets during the day. But those were really, in my pocket, you know. And then he said to me, you know, you're pretty smart. Yeah, sure. What a great name. I didn't think the guys could hear me. When you're through, just throw it in the trash.

27:47 She's like, Oh, yeah, yeah. free drink once in a while. You gotta, but when you're confronted by Sinatra. He says, doing this thing. Applause, applause. Hey, father, you got your 10 grand in the fucking bag? you know, and then he sits down. This is 1976. All right, I'll play golf. It was like the craziest day of my life. They will kill you. I'll tell you.

31:44 Very, very rarely. It's just really odd. Al Capone would always come in to see him. Yeah, yeah. serious, you know. Everybody do those little plays where this stage is dark and then you'd like to Well, you know, stand-up is like jazz. It's a uniquely American art form. And then when they talked, oh, my God, they were really, really funny. the comedy and magic club which is like one of the biggest clubs in the country.

35:05 that maybe half a dozen people know about. And the audience is hysterical. The rest of He's probably the best club owner there is. When they show the early days of Lenny's comedy where he used to work with strippers and all these different acts. is so uniquely different Richie Pryor. they're on stage. or whatever it is. is Punchline I'm looking at an optical illusion.

37:05 That's what I hate about. Fucking shitty one to Tom Hanks over here. It was a magical time. You can't take it past a certain point. And by working clean, I just mean no four-letter words. You can talk politics. You can do whatever One in 10,000? What I'm saying is what most people do is they want to play the audience where they get And Richie would go up for 90 minutes,

40:41 because I was following the greatest comic in the world, and my good stuff was okay. And no matter what Robin said, hilarious. I'm not putting down Robin's material. You know, no. And that's fine. You just didn't get your point across. I remember a comedian was on The Tonight Show once, and his opening line was, you know, I'm a liberal Democrat. I hope you're happy what you said about Mr. Bush. So that was the perfect thing when I got complaints on both sides.

43:50 I mean, I knew so many great comics in Boston that were really funny. How old were you? They know me. myself being able to play any kind of gig. Oh, yeah. That one I misread. It was a great bit in town. You ever worked at Beachcomber in New York? stage and I realized the people in front row they'd smoke their cigarettes down And my jacket's on fire,

46:50 Oh, it was funny. Yeah, I know Joey. I had so many nightmare gigs. Okay. Okay, by show nine, it's like, hey, Mary. But the most humiliating part was I come off stage, and I'm like, this is awful. Sure. She just said good show to anybody that walked out. And then she stomps out. And then the whole coffee shop, look at the guy. Well, it wasn't really any different than now.

49:49 Chico and the Man. Chico and the Man played at the Playboy Club And big sweat stains under her arms, and she'd be in tears by the fourth show. Well, this guy takes out a gun, starts firing it over Freddie's head. Is that the Playboy Club in Boston? He was the first guy to let blacks walk through the front door of that club and play in the club. He was really great that way.

52:08 You get to go through the exits. It's just so odd. Or is this just a publicity angle? So we're hanging around, and Hef says to me, Jay, would you like to have lunch with the girls? There's a big, long table, no chairs, This is the Playboy lifestyle? That's how I feed my own chickens. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I was there for, I hosted a, it was either marijuana policy project or normal.

54:58 Oh, it's a beautiful ring, you know, whatever. That's right. so when they were talking about, like, 84, We don't have to pay these guys anything. Because it seems like that is not an easy path back then. I mean, when I got started, I went to Emerson College. And then as soon as I hit the stage, I would slip into my own experiences. It kind of gets you started.

57:58 God, I forget his name, he was an Indian This was like 86, before I ever started doing comedy. Oh, I'll take care of it. Seems like it. And near the end, he was pulling guns on people. history. I can't remember if I was I'm not going to try and take credit for that, uh, Okay, you have a thing about screwing dead people. You can't, you know, as a comic.

1:00:47 He talked about it in his book Yeah, and I was always very grateful for that. it it's even more hard because once you make it then people require things of And so consequently, you get to that point where that crutch gets bigger and bigger and bigger. You know, you just shut up and maybe listen and take some advice and whatever. else's fault, you know, and

1:03:21 Well again, that's the same I mean, if you happen to live in the time of the Crusades, who's a soldier making all the men laugh? There you go. Not guest hosts, other shows. You know, right. I bet you could go across the board. I'm going, hello, I'm in the room. like that they're not going to, they should drop off and take a trade or something like that.

1:05:53 And it was the first time in my life I really enjoyed doing homework. But this teacher saw something where she said, oh, okay. And, you know, I set up a scholarship for her and she passed away the teacher's pet or see now you'd be sent to prison. Okay. So we'd go by and we'd laugh. And sit in the rocking chair. you're not thinking anything like that.

1:08:21 I rest my case. So Kinison was banging his best friend's wife behind his back. and just still treat the child like it's my child, But I'd heard that they did some wife swapping and shit back then, too. Oh, he was very good. Did you ever read his brother's book, My Brother Sam? I mean, that's kind of like what Sam was. developed this killer hour. I will come to where you are and do it.

1:11:45 to pay attention, I'll come to where you are and I'll do it. Okay. I like piecemeal work, like eight months later, he was like, oh my God, But when you do a live audience, you're making 20 bucks? 50 bucks? a new hour. And then I watch Yeah, but you can build it. I mean, it works for me because I have jokes I wrote yesterday. Right. It also gets to the point where people go,

1:15:16 You got teenagers. So, to me, I love playing a racially and gender diverse crowd. And that's what works for me. the B'nai B'rith Society. They're hiring That's why I'm curious, because you're one of the few guys the master, but somehow there's a copy of it. Okay. So you write Just give them a little bit of a taste. Live. Yeah. It's frustrating not going to be the same. Yeah, it's not. It's not the same. You need to experience it. Live.

1:18:01 It's not supposed to be convenient. What are you doing? And I thought about it, and I was like, man, You know, it's fun to tell jokes. funny as he is. He just didn't like So I like it. And the whole town would show up. I love watching it. I'm like, I just still love it as an art form. To me, that's like listening to a James Taylor song, Yeah, no, I agree. I love listening to good comedy i can listen to it over and over yeah no i i agree uh

1:22:22 like i was being richard jenny while i was on stage i was I mean, I used to love when he did that. Very funny guy, but sort of insecure, but very funny guy. the difference, too. You can see the jokes I tell you. that rivals you as a car collector, too. He knows his stuff. Biggest show I've ever. They're wrong. Yeah. Well, I got a meeting at 1. with my 1965 Corvette

1:25:30 All right.