{"id":396241,"date":"2025-11-22T05:23:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T05:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/396241\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T05:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T05:23:15","slug":"jay-leno-says-ticket-sales-up-after-eliminating-politics-from-his-stand-up-routine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/396241\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay Leno says ticket sales up after eliminating politics from his stand-up routine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary late-night host\u00a0Jay Leno<\/a>\u00a0revealed in an interview Thursday that he got rid of politics from his stand-up comedy sets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The veteran comic told NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d that his ticket sales have gone up following the decision because he\u2019s not alienating a third of his audience with a political lecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 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,\u201d he told \u201cToday\u201d anchor Hoda Kotb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former host of NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d said that comics can play more political jokes\u00a0on their shows, but when touring to other parts of the country \u2014 like red states \u2014 they have to tone it down.<\/p>\n

In the \u201cToday\u201d segment, first noticed by NewsBusters managing editor\u00a0Curtis Houck<\/a>, Leno said, \u201cWhen you\u2019re on TV and you can play directly to your audience and there\u2019s a laugh track. When you go to Indiana or Kentucky or any other place in the country, you\u2019re always going to have a third of the people who don\u2019t agree with you politically. So why even go there?\u201d<\/p>\n

When Kotb followed up by saying it seems trickier to do comedy in the current political climate, Leno disagreed with her, noting his craft has always had challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s any trickier than any other [time]\u2026 No. You know, we\u2019ve always had tough times,\u201d Leno said. <\/p>\n

\"JayLegendary late-night host of NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d\u00a0Jay Leno said he no longer discusses politics in his stand-up comedy routines. NBCUniversal via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that it\u2019s better now \u2026 But stuff that used to be the law is now against the law.\u201d \u201cAnd that\u2019s great,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked if he seems hopeful about the future of comedy, Leno said yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I\u2019m very hopeful. I am optimistic,\u201d he replied. \u201c\u2018Cause ultimately, it\u2019s a bit like a donkey \u2014 sometimes you gotta hit it in the head with a two-by-four to get its attention, but eventually it will listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JayLeno told \u201cToday\u201d anchor Hoda Kotb that ticket sales for his shows have increased significantly. Getty Images for Children’s Oncology Support Fund<\/p>\n

Leno made similar points in an\u00a0interview last July, stressing how people don\u2019t want to go to a comedy show to get a political rant.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd to me, I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, you know, the pressures of life, whatever it might be,\u201d Leno told Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation CEO David Trulio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I love political humor, don\u2019t get me wrong, but it\u2019s just what happens when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Leno told Trulio he got a kick with people not knowing where he stood politically while hosting his famous late-night show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fun to me when I got hate letters [like] \u2018Dear Mr. Leno, you and your Republican friends\u2019 and \u2018Well, Mr. Leno, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy\u2019 \u2014 over the same joke.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary late-night host\u00a0Jay Leno\u00a0revealed in an interview Thursday that he got rid of politics from his stand-up comedy…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":396242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[171,81128,63619,398,1030,80,30907,16683,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-396241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-hoda-kotb","10":"tag-jay-leno","11":"tag-media","12":"tag-nbc","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-stand-up-comedy","15":"tag-the-tonight-show","16":"tag-tv","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115591683748511315","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}