Jay Douglas Muir Leno American Humorist/Actor Born: April 28, 1950 in New Rochelle, New York Present, age 58. Residence: Los Angeles, CA. --Biographical information from: Taken mostly from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Leno

Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York, on April 28, 1950. His mother, Catherine (née Muir), a filmmaker, was born in Greenock, Scotland, and came to the United States at age 11. Her schooling was limited and as a result she prized her children's successes. Leno's father, Angelo, who worked in show business, was born in New York to immigrants from Flumeri, Italy. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and although his high school guidance counselor recommended that he drop out of high school, because of his grades, Jay not only graduated but also went on to receive a bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Emerson College, in 1973. He also attended Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, but did not like it. Leno's siblings include his late brother, Patrick, who was a veteran.

While growing up in Andover, Massachusetts, Leno was a born comedian. Never the academic but always the class clown, even his teachers knew that he would someday go into show business -- and be good at it. He used to say that he would take over Johnny Carson's job, which Leno eventually did. Early in his career, Leno did commercials for Doritos brand tortilla chips. In the late 1970s, he was the warm-up act for Johnny Mathis, Tom Jones, and John Denver. He replaced Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show in 1992, after having been a regular substitute host for Carson since 1987. Leno has continued to perform as a stand-up comedian throughout his tenure on The Tonight Show.

May I Have Your Attention Please?

But alas, Leno went on to study speech therapy at Emerson College in Boston, and graduated in 1973. He may not have pursued a career in therapy, but his passion certainly involved speech -- Leno headed to Los Angeles to find work as a stand-up comedian.

He started out as an opening act for Johnny Mathis and Tom Jones (he already had stand-up experience, as he did the circuit of nightclubs and talent shows while in University), and got a job as a writer for the series Good Times, incidentally, just like late-night rival David Letterman.

Leno made his Tonight Show debut in 1977, as a comedian, while appearing on The Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. Show. He was gaining experience in acting -- he was cast in 1978's American Hot Wax; in comedy, with numerous appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, which followed The Tonight Show on NBC; while guest hosting for Johnny Carson several times since 1985, and hosting his television comedy special, Jay Leno and the American Dream.

Heeeeere's Jay!

In 1987, Leno became the exclusive Tonight Show guest host, warming up the chair for himself. When Johnny Carson -- the king of late night -- announced his surprise retirement, the media and apparently David Letterman thought that The Tonight Show torch would be passed on to the gap-toothed host, whose show followed in the 12:35 timeslot on NBC. But to Letterman's chagrin, Leno was named Carson's successor, and the next to follow in the line of Tonight Show talents such as Steve Allen and Jack Paar.

When Letterman was dissed by NBC, he made the move to CBS to host The Late Show with David Letterman, and thus began the battle of the late-night ratings. Although Letterman's snarky sarcasm was beating out Leno's more clean-cut shtick in terms of ratings (that changed after Hugh Grant made his first national television appearance after his encounter with a certain Miss Divine), Leno was honored with the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy, Variety or Music series in 1995, and Outstanding Technical Direction in 1996.

Leno's comedy routine includes "Headlines", featuring actual funny newspaper headlines, which Leno compiled into a series of books and desk calendars by the same name, as well as Police Blotter, which features funny newspaper clippings of police stories. The proceeds of both go to various charities.

During an August 1, 2007, interview with CNN journalist Anderson Cooper on The Tonight Show, Leno confirmed that he is dyslexic. He has been married since 1980 to Mavis Leno and has no children.

Leno has stated that he saves all of his income from The Tonight Show and lives solely off his income from stand-up comedy.

Leno is known for his prominent jaw, which has been described as mandibular prognathism. He has stated that he is aware of surgery that could reset his mandible but does not wish to endure a prolonged healing period with his jaws wired shut. Leno also wrote an autobiography, entitled Leading With My Chin (not hard to see why).

Leno continues to take his act around the States, from Las Vegas to college campuses, and travels overseas to entertain the troops.

Leno and his wife, Mavis Nicholson (a scriptwriter and children's books author), reside in Los Angeles, where Leno spends his spare time tending to his antique car and motorcycle collection. At this rate, he'll only be adding to that collection.

Comedic/broadcasting style

Leno's comedic style is chiefly observational, with storytelling and topical humor often mixed into his routine. Leno's comedic delivery is usually straightforward and that of a folksy, "everyman" personality.

An audience favorite since Leno's hosting of The Tonight Show is his weekly installment Headlines, in which he features unintentionally humorous newspaper articles, advertisements and other printed media that viewers mail into the show, especially crime reports, nuptial announcements and menus. Leno has a penchant for media items involving stupid criminals, bad foreign language to English translations for household or food items, and he especially finds amusement from unhappy looking animals in silly costumes. Leno has highlighted his cat Cheeses dressed up with a limousine driver's cap in past installments. Leno also has written a series of book collections taken from Headlines, published by Grand Central Publishing.

Another recurring sketch on Leno's Tonight Show is Jaywalking, where Leno asks people off the street some questions regarding current or historical events. Leno frequents the areas just outside the NBC studios such as down Melrose Avenue or within Universal Studios Hollywood's City Walk.

Michael Jackson trial

In the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson over allegations of child molestation, Leno appeared as a defense witness (many celebrity defense witnesses had been expected, but Leno was one of the few who actually testified). In his testimony, he was expected to say he called police to say the accuser was coached by his mother to ask for money. Instead, Leno testified he never called the police, no money was asked for, and there was no coaching but that the calls seemed unusual and scripted.

Due to this, Leno was initially not allowed to continue telling jokes about Jackson or the case, which had been a fixture of The Tonight Show's opening monologue in particular. But he and his show's writers used a legal loophole by having Leno briefly step aside while stand-in comedians took the stage and told jokes about the trial. Stand-ins included Roseanne Barr, Drew Carey, Brad Garrett, and Dennis Miller among others.

After NBC challenged the gag order, the judge permitted Leno to make jokes, as long as they were not related to his testimony. After the gag order was lifted, the next show featured a monologue entirely of Michael Jackson jokes.

E! Entertainment Television created a re-enactment of Jay's testimony using the actual trial transcript, with Jimmy Kimmel as Jay.

Leno is not widely known as an actor, but he did have a number of small roles early in his career in mostly unsuccessful movies; an exception was a bit part in the more popular film American Hot Wax. His largest role was in the 1989 film Collision Course, a comedy about a mismatched crime fighting pair, in which he played a detective opposite Pat Morita. When Steve Martin appeared on Leno's Tonight Show in December 2005, a clip from the movie appeared during Martin's game of "Name That Clip."

Leno was one of the "pool guys" in the original 1977 version of Fun with Dick and Jane. He appeared on other TV shows such as Laverne & Shirley and Alice. In 1986, Leno hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live in its 11th season with musical guest The Neville Brothers.

Since becoming the host of the Tonight Show, Leno made a number of cameo appearances, usually appearing as a talk show host or making fun of his famous chin (due to mandibular prognathism). In 1993, Leno played the voice of the alien "Vorb" in the animated film We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story. In 1994, he played "Bedrock's Most Wanted Host," along with Cynthia Clemons, in the live-action comedy film The Flintstones. Also in 1994, he played himself in Major League II which starred Charlie Sheen. He has also appeared as himself in the movie Space Cowboys, and an episode of Baywatch, in which Mitch (David Hasselhoff's character) saves him from choking to death. In 1995, Leno appeared in the pilot episode of JAG, giving a monologue on a TV screen about a recent incident. In 1996, Leno appeared on NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street as himself trying to get a drink in a Baltimore bar.

In 1998, Leno made a series of appearances in conjunction with World Championship Wrestling as part of the nWo storyline. This culminated in a pay-per-view match at Road Wild '98 at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. At the event, Leno tag teamed with Diamond Dallas Page to defeat Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff.

Also in 1998, he made a number of voice appearance on animated TV series including The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park. He provided voiceovers for animated movies Ice Age 2: The Meltdown and Cars. He also made appearances on the sitcoms The Drew Carey Show, Friends, The Nanny, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Titus, Joey, Scrubs, and he played the "Crimson Chin" on The Fairly OddParents. He made a cameo appearance in an episode of TV sitcom Just Shoot Me!, and The West Wing. He has also appeared on Home Improvement as a mechanic in a wealthy car collector's garage (in reality his own collection).

He has also appeared as himself doing Tonight Show monologues or interviews in a large number of movies. He also did several car commercials in the 1980s.

Leno made an appearance in The Jim Henson Company's Unstable Fables: Tortoise vs. Hare, released in September 2008.

Criticism

Howard Stern accused Leno of stealing material from him, and criticized him for being such a "safe" interviewer. Most notably, Stern says Leno stole the idea of the 'Jaywalking' segment, where Leno asks people on the street basic intelligence/current event questions. Stern has been upset with Leno since hiring announcer "Stuttering" John Melendez from his staff without clearing it with him first; though he gave Melendez his blessing before leaving.

Late comedian Bill Hicks criticized Leno heavily in his own stand up shows. Hicks often impersonated Leno, opening his skit with the words, "Hey folks, I'm Jay Leno. Remember when I used to be funny?" He was also intensely critical of Leno's endorsement and promotion of various consumer products, and would often mimic Leno eating Doritos tortilla chips on a television advertisement by saying "Mmmm-mmm, these are so good, I feel fulfilled, fulfilled spiritually as a human being."

During the 2007-2008 WGA Writers strike, Leno was accused of violating WGA guidelines by writing his own monologue for The Tonight Show. While NBC and Leno claim there were private meetings with the WGA where there was a secret agreement allowing this, the WGA denies such a meeting.

Vehicle Collection

Jay Leno in one of his cars (Hispano-Suiza 8 aero engine powered) coming at the 45th Emmy Awards, September 19, 1993

Jay Leno is widely known as a car and motorcycle aficionado. He has a large antique car and motorcycle collection of various international marques spanning from the early 1900s to modern vehicles. He is also a promoter of the mechanical crafts through a column in Popular Mechanics.

Along with his collection of classic cars he has several high performance cars. These include a 1994 McLaren F1, Porsche Carrera GT, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, Lamborghini Miura, Ariel Atom, Dodge Viper GTS, Ford GT, Audi R8 and a custom Corvette C6RS (a modified Z06 built by Pratt & Miller). This Corvette can run on either E-85 Ethanol or gasoline. His EcoJet car runs on bio-diesel fuel. Its engine is a 650 horsepower (480 kW) Honeywell LT-101 turbine. The shell is carbon fiber over Kevlar.

Leno's Blastolene Special is a 21-foot (6.4 m)-long aluminum-bodied roadster powered by a V12 engine from an M47 Patton tank Leno bought from Blastolene Brothers. It was featured in the 2005 racing game Gran Turismo 4, and Monster Garage.

The collection also includes an original 1912 Stanley Steamer and a rare 1964 Studebaker Avanti.

Leno's column in the American magazine Popular Mechanics showcases his car collection and gives advice about various automotive topics, including restoration and unique models, such as his jet-powered motorcycle and solar-powered hybrid.

Leno also writes occasional "Motormouth" articles for The Sunday Times (London), reviewing high end sports cars and giving his humorous take on automotive matters. He also writes a monthly column for Octane Magazine.

Leno's passion for classic cars led him to an affiliation with the Automobile Restoration Department at McPherson College, in McPherson, Kansas. Today he serves on the National Advisory Board for the college's automotive restoration program and helps fund the Fred Duesenberg Memorial Scholarship.

Leno also has an Internet site called, "Jay Leno's Garage," which contains video clips and photos of his automobiles in detail.

In 2001, he auctioned off a Harley-Davidson motorcycle signed by his celebrity guests in an effort to help victims of the September 11 attacks. The bike sold for about $360,000. In 2005, he repeated the gesture twice: early in the year to aid victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake — the bike sold for $810,000; and later to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. That bike sold for $1,550,100.

Since 2006 Leno has had his garage work on a biodiesel, turbine powered car in collaboration with GM, the EcoJet concept car.