Jay Leno has been away from the late night circuit for the last couple of years, however, he is still pretty skilled at monologues and last night Jimmy Fallon had him on to remind us how witty and humorous he can be. During last night's episode of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon claimed he had "pulled something" before he brought Jay Leno out from the audience to finish out the monologue. The whole thing is pretty great, and you can give it a watch, below.
People were really pumped to see Jay Leno back at NBC, and it took him a few tries before the audience calmed down enough to let the former late night host talk. Of course, we are getting pretty close to the election, which means there were plenty of directions Jay Leno could go, and he kicked off with a well-timed Hillary Clinton barb. He didn't stop there, however, also cracking a Halloween-oriented Donald Trump joke before hopping to cracks about pumpkins, Halloween costumes and more.
This monologue actually went pretty hard, as Jay Leno went after Billy Bush (although that joke is less timely now, it was still pretty hard-hitting) and even made fun of the American electorate in a statement joke that was delivered perfectly by Leno.
The greatest thing about our country---and this is why I'm optimistic---out of more than 325 million American, we were able to narrow it down to the two best-loved, most qualified people. That's unbelievable. That is a testament to us!
It's actually kind-of great to see Jay Leno back and doing a monologue. He dealt with a lot of issues during his tenure at NBC, notably egging on a rivalry with David Letterman and briefly being forced to cede his position to Conan O'Brien on The Tonight Show. Things were not always perfect in the world of late night during Leno's run, but it's nice to see that he can come back to the small screen and bust out jokes that keep our attention, all while looking like he's having a blast. It's also a big reminder of how sharp late night monologues could be before the likes of Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert turned late night into a different sort of entertainment.
This isn't the first time Jay Leno has made an appearance on The Tonight Show during Jimmy Fallon's tenure, and it's unlikely to be the last. In fact, Jay Leno has been vocal about liking Jimmy Fallon and what NBC has been able to do with The Tonight Show since her formally left the late night game. Still, although he has appeared before, it doesn't lesson how fascinating moments like these can be, when two popular late night names are both able to showcase their skills during the same broadcast.
New episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon air on weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET, only on NBC. If you'd like to catch Jay Leno in action, new episodes of Jay Leno's Garage will hit CNBC on November 9 at 10 p.m. ET. More premiere dates can be found, here.
