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Jay Leno likes John Mulaney, Florida, books about history. Dislikes: Trump.

 
What’s Jay Leno reading
What’s Jay Leno reading
Published Dec. 20, 2018

We recently had a quick phone chat with late-night TV legend Jay Leno. On Jan. 3, Leno, 68, will appear at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota. Tickets are $37-$112, with limited seats remaining; vanwezel.org.

What's on your nightstand?

Equations of Motion: Adventure, Risk and Innovation by William F. Milliken. He was a guy who lived to be around 100 and wrote this book when he was about 96. It's an interesting history. I'm a car guy and he was really interested in engines and experimented in vehicle stability control. I'm not big on fiction. I also have Ron Chernow's Grant. It is very good and changed my opinion of Grant as a president.

Did you read humor when you were growing into being a comedian?

I think of Jack Douglas and of course Mark Twain and Calvin Trillin of the New Yorker. I have always liked writers who might not start out trying to be humorous, but they turn out to be humorous. I will say the state of comedy right now is just too crude. Maybe it's the times we live in.

Do you have some favorite young comics right now?

John Mulaney is an absolute favorite. He is a wordsmith. The real key, I believe, is when you listen to a routine, and it is lyrical. It has a rhythm almost like a song. I like Chelsea Peretti, Bill Burr, although he's not new new. I like Michelle Wolfe. She comes out like an athlete. She is actually a long-distance runner and she is like that, an athlete, pounding the jokes. She keeps them coming one after another.

If you were asked to perform at the White House Correspondents' dinner and Donald Trump was attending, would you say yes?

No. I have had dinner with every sitting president since Gerald Ford, but no. How could any man say John McCain was not a hero? And he calls people and countries names. I would not want to do it. He is a man who doesn't seem to have a conscience.

What made you decide to come and perform in Florida?

I don't go knocking on doors, but when I get invited, I like to say yes. I enjoy Florida. I enjoy performing in front of people my age. I mean, I'm 68. I'm not up there making Snapchat jokes.

Piper Castillo, Times staff writer