Jay Leno’s Phony Case for Balanced Comedy

Why is it that every time a great late night host loses a job, Jay Leno appears? Back in the 1990s, when David Letterman lost out on hosting The Tonight Show, Leno was there to claim victory. When Conan O’Brien briefly replaced Leno and then got fired from The Tonight Show, Leno was there to take his old job back. This month, CBS fired arch–Trump critic Stephen Colbert and canceled The Late Show—perfect timing to signal to the Trump administration that CBS’s new owner, David Ellison’s Skydance, would offer more “viewpoint diversity” (i.e., Trump-friendly material) on its airwaves. And out of a clear blue sky, Leno is back!