Slap & Tickle

Flipping Past Jay Leno

I’ve never liked Jay Leno. I never found him that funny. Amusing? Sure. Funny? Not so much. Letterman? Hysterical. Even when he’s not that funny, he’s really funny. Remember when Johnny Carson told a joke that bombed? It was almost better than when he was funny. Letterman reminds me of that. He can take a bad moment and work it for the next half hour. Leno? He has writers that are… um, bad. I once saw one of his writers at a comedy show. The guy actually billed himself as “a writer for Jay Leno.” I’m sure Jay’s lousy comedy isn’t all this guy’s fault, but jeez… he sucked. Jay apparently goes for quantity over quality. His jokes may suck, but he does tell a lot of them…

Jay, crapping on our TVs...

Jay has this squeamishness about gays. It’s like high school kids discussing anything about sex outside of blow job and missionary: giggling, misunderstanding, and complete idiocy. Letterman, on the other hand, you can tell isn’t into it—he gives that look of “ewww”—but, at the same time, he isn’t laughing at the gays. It’s not Dave’s cup of tea, but he’s not mocking them. Douchebag Leno is.

Well, a number of people are finally fed up with Mr. Leno. Of particular note is Jeff Whitty (playwright, most notably for Avenue Q), who wrote a letter a few years back that went viral on the internet. He got some press coverage and eventually spoke with Jay. Jeff thought that Jay understood a bit.

Nope. Stupid is as stupid does.



Recently, Jay Leno had Ryan Phillipe on his show and Jay felt that Ryan’s playing a gay teen early in his career (One Life to Live) was great fodder for the morons that still watch the mess he’s made of The Tonight Show. He asked Ryan to give his “gayest look.”

What. A. Douchebag.

Jeff Whitty decided he needed to address the situation one more time and posted a brilliant picture where he gives his “gayest look” to Mr. Leno:


Well, it hasn’t taken long for others to follow suit and post tons of pictures of people giving their gayest look to Jay Leno. (I love me some Melissa McEwan at Shakesville.)

Feel free to send on your “gayest look.” For me, I prefer this gay look:

Ten years on…

Next time you’re flipping channels late at night, be sure to give Jay your gayest look and then keep flipping until you get to Letterman.

[UPDATE: You know, I feel bad I neglected Jon Stewart and Craig Ferguson in my late night TV discussion above. Jon is brilliant in just about everything he does--and The Daily Show is completely in its element right now with the election. But Craig is often ignored because he's on so much later (hence, his aptly named show: "The Late Late Show". Jon has always been good to the gays, calling the b.s. when he sees it. This clip from TLLS is a prime example of how funny and geniune Craig can be. And Jay Leno still sucks... the "give your gayest look" is getting more and more play!]

[Another Update: Jay is apparently "sorry" for his remarks. Sorry that that his crack didn't go unnoticed. Still a douche... ]