Leno: I'd Return to "Tonight" If Asked

The NBC Prime-time Newcomer Praises His Successor Conan O'Brien, But Admits He Would Have Liked to Stay Put

(AP)  Prime-time newcomer Jay Leno says he would have rather stayed put at "The Tonight Show" and if NBC offered him that job again, he'd take it.

In an interview with Broadcasting & Cable magazine published online Monday, the talk show host hastily added that such a decision isn't his to make.

My First Guest...
Leno at 10?

Conan O'Brien, his successor as "Tonight" host after 17 years, is "doing fine," Leno said.

"Conan is in the same position I was in when I took over. It takes a while. Some will like it; some will leave forever and not come back."

Leno said he doesn't think the recent controversy surrounding his former late-night rival David Letterman "will have a big effect at all."

Referring to Letterman's acknowledged sexual affairs with female members of his staff, Leno said, "If it were me, it would kill me. I'm the guy who's been married 29 years. But Dave has never pretended to be Mr. Moral America, he's never set himself up that way. He's not a hypocrite."

"The Jay Leno Show" began on NBC in September, airing Monday through Friday at 10 p.m., where it has displaced several prime-time scripted dramas. For that, and for his less-than-stellar ratings thus far, Leno has taken heat within the TV industry as well as from critics.

It's just part of the battle, said Leno, who insisted he enjoys it.

"I get a certain amount of satisfaction from pounding my head against the wall," he said. "I'm not having a bad time at 10 o'clock now. I look at this as a job, and now I'm faced with a challenge, and it's a challenge I find difficult but interesting."

[gosstom]

Hopefully, some day, the Idiots at CBS will get their heads out of their Collective Rectums and get rid of that piece of Pedophile White trash called Letterman. Either that or have Letterman devote part of his program showing the various Positions he uses on kids and Band Members.

[pickaguitar1]

Can't stand Leno...corporate safe humor sux

[Zann-Zel]

PLEASE PLEASE Ask him!!! Get that red-headed idiot off my TV!!! He's so frickin immature it hurts to watch him - I feel sorry for him! I would love to have Jay Leno back!

[pickaguitar1]

Please do not ask him!

[california64]

carson was a class act who knew how to retire. leno has no class. he needs to ride off into the sunset like his predecessor. instead, he is doing the same show in an earlier time slot without a desk...