Is it a bad sign for a new talk show when the first guest comes up with the best line of the night?
"You know, in the '90s, when we quit a show, we actually left," cracked comic Jerry Seinfeld Monday night, injecting a brief bit of actual comedy into the floundering, listless exercise that was the first 10 p.m. Jay Leno Show. "But not in the Brett Favre, Lance Armstrong double 00s."
This was about the point where fans who had turned up to watch Leno try forging a life beyond the Tonight Show may have wondered whether Seinfeld had the right idea.
Much as industry types obsessed over how the new Jay Leno Show might reshape television, nobody really considered things might turn out the way they did Monday night.
What if the show just isn't funny?
That was an unthinkable prospect three months ago, when Leno left the Tonight Show, having maneuvered NBC into giving him 25 percent of its entire prime time landscape. After all, this was a comic's comic, who had led television's top late-night comedy show for the past 17 years.
The last problem anyone expected was the funny.
But that exactly what proved most troublesome Monday night, mostly because too much of this new show felt like shadows of old late-night programs. Walking through a set of glass doors, Leno strode onstage to shake hands with the audience, just like he did on the old Tonight Show, backed by longtime bandleader Kevin Eubanks and the old Tonight Show band, working under a new name.
Leno's monologue felt like a rerun, too — centered on the president's speech to Congress Wednesday and jokes about the long-gone Cash for Clunkers automobile purchasing program. ("I made $5 billion," cracked the comic, referencing his passion for collecting old cars).
Even the much-anticipated appearance by rapper Kanye West, who asked for a short interview before performing to apologize for dissing Taylor Swift at MTV's Video Music Awards Sunday, fell flat.
"Just dealing with the fact that I hurt someone or took something away from a talented artist …it was rude," said a barely coherent West, who had been castigated all day for snatching the microphone from Swift during an acceptance speech to tout singer Beyonce's video.
Of course, the first episode of any comedy show is rarely funny (if you doubt that notion, try watching Saturday Night Live's first episode). The best you can hope for is evidence of a strong framework; a template for a show that can eventually be filled with quality comedy, once everybody settles down.
Who knew that might be the biggest challenge for a guy once known as the King of Late Night Comedy?
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