Former Tonight show host Jay Leno cracks up Auditorium crowd

Jay Leno’s Tonight Show career might be over, but his standup is still as funny as ever.

The Boston-born comedian, who made his mark filling in for Johnny Carson on Friday nights before being named the permanent host in 1992 when Carson retired, had the Thunder Bay Auditorium crowd in stitches on Sunday night.

His repertoire spanned just about every topic imaginable, from the difference between cats and dogs to growing old in Hollywood to the presidential primary races that dominate the American airwaves, the election less than a year away.

On the Republican race, Leno mused that experts are saying it might come down to the celebrity of Donald Trump or former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the younger brother of former president George W. Bush.

“It’s kind of like the tortoise and the bad hair,” Leno deadpanned, also taking shots at Marco Rubio, who he called the brainiest of the Republican hopefuls.

Not really a compliment, he said.

“That’s kind of like being the smartest Kardashian.”

For the most part, Leno – never the edgiest funnyman on the block – steered clear of the political realm, mixing in a couple of ISIS jokes into a comedic pot filled with every day observations.

He joked about caskets being available at Wal-Mart, the fact he still uses a flip phone, binge watching television and competitive eating.
“It’s the only sport where marijuana is considered a performance-enhancing drug.”

Opining on the merits of bacon-flavoured condoms was about as raunchy as the 65-year-old got.

“Guys, can I tell you something? Don’t try putting one on when the dog is in the room.”

Though his act centred mainly on American culture, Leno threw in a few Canadian jokes, recalling his younger days when the Littlest Hobo founds its way to American television – “It’s the stupidest show” – and the sad state of our currency.

“The dollar is up,” said Leno. “Luckily I’m being paid in Canadian money.”

He also took time, toward the end of his 90-minute set, to interact with the audience, asking several patrons what they did for a living.
One woman mentioned she works for Service Ontario.

“Oh, so you just punch in and come watch the show,” Leno joked, throwing shout-outs to Sassi water – the lone prop he had on stage, other than a stool that went unused – and the Kappa Java Coffee Shop, where he stopped earlier in the day while out walking about the south side of the city.

He called out to the owners, whom he’d left tickets for, surprised how far back in the Auditorium they were seated.

“Sorry, really crappy seats,” said the man with the most famous chin in Hollywood. “It was last minute. It was the best I could do.”

Leno can be seen on Jay Leno’s Garage, a web and television series devoted to his lifelong automotive passion.