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Comedian and late-night legend Jay Leno said in an interview Saturday that modern comedy has been eclipsed by the “outrageous” society we live in, particularly in the era of President Donald Trump.
“You know, people always say, ‘Oh, and I bet you missed it with Trump being president.’ No, not really. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel,” Leno told Maria Shriver on her “Life Above the Noise” podcast. “You know, you kind of do it, psychologists used to say the punchline of the joke would be like ‘that’s like the president with a stripper.’ OK, now the president is with strippers.”
Shriver had asked the comedian if he envied today’s late-night scene or if he was glad he wasn’t part of it.
“I mean, you can’t — we live in a society where there’s nothing you can say that’s so outrageous, because comedy comes from a place of conservatism. You start with a sort of moral high ground,” he said.
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Legendary talk show host and car collector Jay Leno is seen in the paddock ahead of the Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 17, 2025. (Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Leno told an anecdote about performing at a prison to make his point.
“I had an act about meeting women. You know, I said, you know how when you see a girl, you’re not quite sure how to approach her. And this guy yells out, ‘Just punch her in the face and f— her,’ and they all cheer. And I go, ‘OK, I’m playing a prison.’ The idea of approaching and being, it just made me laugh because the cultural mores in the prison really are not the same ones I’m dealing with here,” Leno said.
Shriver said it was like what used to be off-limits is now real, and what was shocking is now “everyday.”
“That’s why it’s fun to go the other way,” Leno replied. “I just like to work clean just because it requires a bit more thought, and it makes it a bit trickier.”
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Jay Leno hosting “The Tonight Show.” (Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
He said it was harder to work with clean material because you need to please every audience member.
“We live in a society now where people just whatever you’re into, there’s an audience for that. And you just play that audience,” he said.
Leno said during a November interview that he completely cut politics out of his stand-up act.
The veteran comic told NBC’s “Today” that his ticket sales have gone up since the change because he’s not alienating a third of his audience with political jokes.
“I’m on the road a lot. I just took politics out of it, completely. I know ticket sales are up 20, 30 percent, just because nobody wants to be lectured,” Leno told co-host Hoda Kotb.
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The former host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” said comics can take political risks on their own programs, but when touring across the country — especially in red states — they often tone it down.