The NY Times reported this weekend that Jay Leno’s boss, NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt, complained to him about jokes he’s made about the network, but Leno is not letting up. Here’s a thingie from Leno’s monologue last night:
“Did you hear about this? A 28-year-old woman from Serbia has a rare brain condition where she sees everything upside down. The good news? She’s now been given a job at the White House as President Obama’s economic adviser. Isn’t that crazy? It’s unbelievable. She sees everything upside down. In fact, she thinks NBC is at the top of the ratings.â€
Sure, it’s a tame joke, and it would be totally fine if any other late night joke made a joke like this (or a worse one) about their own network, but for some reason, Leno’s boss is really bothered by jokes like this. This is the second night in a row Leno has made such a joke, immediately following the Times story about his boss complaining about this exact thing. Leno’s joke on the previous night’s show involved him calling NBC executives “snakes.â€Â With unconfirmed speculation that NBC is looking to replace Leno with Jimmy Fallon as Tonight Show host in 2014, it looks like Leno may go out fighting - and by “fighting,†I mean “making tame jokes about his bosses.â€