During a conversation on Saturday, July 26, with David Trulio, the President of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno expressed strong criticism towards other late-night comedians and their producers. He condemned the current generation of late-night comedy shows for creating division and alienation in America through their one-sided, partisan humor.

Leno’s remarks to Trulio were made while he was explaining his approach to comedy, stating that throughout his 22-year career, he aimed to maintain a degree of political neutrality in order to entertain the entire nation rather than isolate it with an abundance of biased jokes.

He specifically pointed out that while political humor can indeed be amusing, it is detrimental to alienate an audience by favoring one side excessively. He remarked, “I love political humor, don’t get me wrong. But it’s just what happens when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.”

To reinforce his argument, he highlighted that alienating one side of the nearly equal political spectrum effectively halves the audience, which he deemed a poor strategy. He stated, “Why shoot for just half an audience all the time? You know, why not try to get the whole? I mean, I like to bring people into the big picture.”

Moreover, he mentioned that he had deliberately taken a different approach, striving to be fair to both sides, a quality that his audience seems to recognize and value in his performances. He shared, “I’d get letters saying, ‘You and your Republican friends,’ and others saying, ‘You and your Democratic buddies,’ over the same joke. And I’d think, that’s perfect. That’s how you get a whole audience.”]} “`

That was not the entirety of his message. Leno also referenced his late friend and renowned comedian Rodney Dangerfield to express his views on the role of comedians, emphasizing that the essence of comedy lies in being humorous and entertaining, rather than adopting a woke moralistic stance. He remarked, in this context, “Funny is funny… We just discussed jokes.”

Furthermore, Leno reiterated the importance of humor by stating that comedians ought to focus on being funny and entertaining, rather than marginalizing groups for political motives. He stated, “I like to bring people into the big picture. I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group. Just do what’s funny.”

You can watch Leno here:

Leno’s remarks followed the announcement that CBS personality Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” was permanently canceled due to “financial reasons.” The show, along with the comedian who became synonymous with unabashed wokeness, reportedly incurred losses of tens of millions of dollars annually, as the previous audience disengaged from the unamusing program.

Rather than simply acknowledging that Colbert lacked humor and that his show was canceled for this reason, his fellow television hosts reacted vehemently to the news. For instance, Sunny Hostin, a co-host of “The View,” stated, “The First Amendment is the First Amendment for a reason, and that is freedom of the press, freedom of speech. Freedom to speak truth to power.” She further elaborated, “If that is taken away, if the comedians are being attacked, then that means our Constitution is being dismantled…”]}]}