It’s been quite the (traumatic) year for those of us who enjoy the late night talk shows, what with the recent departures of Jon Stewart from “The Daily Show” and David Letterman from “The Late Show.” Earlier, Craig Ferguson from “The Late Late Show.” And earlier still, Jay Leno from “The Tonight Show.”
It seemed like a good time to pick up a copy of Jon Macks’ new book “Monologue.” Besides, it’s summer, and who can focus on anything? Macks survived all 22 years of Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” reign as one of the comedian’s top writers.
He quotes the Center for Media and Public Affairs’ list of Leno’s top political topics during his 22 “Tonight Show” years. Here are the top five followed by the number of jokes done of the show on each subject.
- Bill Clinton: 4,607.
- George W. Bush: 3,239.
- Al Gore: 1,026.
- Barack Obama: 1,011.
- Hillary Clinton: 939.
Also the center’s list of Leno’s top pop culture figures. (This is what they do at the center, I guess.)
- O.J. Simpson: 795.
- Michael Jackson: 505.
- Martha Stewart: 208.
- Paris Hilton: 153.
- Lindsay Lohan: 153.
What can we learn from this? I’ll get back to you.
