JAY LENO

BY ED BRUCE edbrucevegas@yahoo.com

I have been interested in seeing Jay Leno for a long time and for a lot of reasons !

First, with my tenured history in Las Vegas, I like to see them all and I have, this my first review on Jay Leno. Second, I have seen them all.... Carson, Skelton, Foxx, Klein, Miller, Carlin, Maher, Wright, Shawn, Burns, Berle, Thomas, Buttons, Cohen, Berman, Frye and lots of others who were short of the afore mentioned ability level. Finally I have a big Tonight Show history with Carson, having recorded 20 years of monologues and adapted a big history with late night tv and my personal TV work and my love for the genre.....today I record both Leno and Letterman and have actually leaned toward Letterman until recently.

So what......well I appreciate standup comedy and after seeing Jay Leno...he is second to none. Great new fresh contemporary comedy delived with a non stop continuity in the genre of Robin Williams.....(tons of brilliant stuff on the mind and a mad stop rush to get it out)...what a talent. Jay used no notes, no monitors, no clipboards, no ques and looked like he could go on forever....I still remember Red Skelton doing over two hours and making it look easy....a lovely comparison and complimant to Jay Leno !

84 minutes of good humor from Jay at the Mirage (Terry Fator Theatre) Las Vegas strip. Jay has done 8 or ten weekends a year here and I can now say, RECOMMENDED TO THE WORLD. What the hell do you write about a comedian...he tells the jokes...he provides the material....you either like him or you don't. On Leno I loved him and he does full house business in this perfect venue.

An a capella singing group that remains nameless for me opened the show 6 minutes late....I wanted to like them but at 1006 it was already past my bedtime. 7 young attractive singers from Seattle, they did 5 songs and I wish I could have selected the songs in lieu of their selections....they had a nice sound but it had a bang and was unfamiliar to the old ear. They were well dressed and polite but they brought up the question....were they necessary ?

So....thank you for a great show Jay Leno, you remain as you once said on the Tonight Show...raised perfectly by great parents producing a positive life...something that cannot be said for Johnny Carson and David Letterman.

93 A......lost 7 points for the lateness of the opening act...late is unacceptable.