There's always been something a little sad to me about Jay Leno, whose eagerness to please sometimes comes across as desperation.
But how eager would you be to please the company that was getting ready to replace you in a job you'd given every appearance of loving? Yesterday, it was announced that Leno's final night on "The Tonight Show" would be May 29, 2009.
If we're to believe what we've read elsewhere, Leno, who this morning staged a Jimmy Kimmel-like stunt at the beginning of a press conference with NBC entertainment co-chairmen Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, is more resigned than ecstatic about vacating "The Tonight Show" next year to make room for Conan O'Brien, who'll take over "Tonight" on June 1, 2009.
Sure, it's almost exactly what Leno himself did to Johnny Carson, but it's hard to imagine Carson disguising himself as a bald, bespectacled guy and impersonating a reporter, just to give the real reporters the impression that everything's OK between him and the NBC honchos, who'd obviously been part of the stunt. Especially when Kimmel had done the same thing the previous week with ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson.
After asking about those rumors that Leno would be going to ABC, the would-be reporter did get off a couple of lines, asking if it's "true that you've offered Leno a fifth hour on the 'Today' show?" and, "I know you've brought back 'Knight Rider.' Any chance you're bringing 'Manimal' back?"
Afterward, Graboff, who said he still hasn't given up trying to persuade Leno to stay at NBC in some other capacity, said, “We can’t thank Jay enough. He’s a class act.”
As to why he was bald, "he had to fool you," said Silverman.
Or maybe just himself.
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