Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Jay Leno: Legacy in Motion - Inside His Garage & Life

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

In one of the most surreal episodes to date, Shawn French sits down with the legendary Jay Leno for an unforgettable conversation, inside his private garage. What unfolds is more than a tour of cars; it’s a masterclass in legacy, presence, and pursuing what you love without compromise. The Former "Tonight Show" host opens up about the evolution of comedy, craftsmanship, and collecting—not for clout, but for care. As they move through the iconic conversation of his life, they tap into something much deeper: how history teaches, humbles, and reminds us what really lasts.- A Garage Like No OtherStep inside Jay Leno’s personal collection—over 180 cars and 160 motorcycles—each with a story, a soul, and a moment in time. - Lessons From the Long GameFrom late-night to legacy, Jay reflects on what it means to stay relevant without losing yourself. - Humor, Humility, and HorsepowerUnfiltered stories from one of the greatest to ever do it—delivered with the same wit, generosity, and self-awareness that made him a household name. - Why Obsession Isn’t a Dirty WordJay explains how loving something—deeply and without apology—isn’t obsession. It’s devotion. Whether you’re a fan of comedy, cars, or simply mastering your craft over a lifetime, this episode is a once-in-a-generation conversation with a living legend. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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It's up to you. We'll take the laundry. Rinse. It's time to be great. So many friends of mine, as soon as the TV show ended, the table at Spago was gone. I never had a table at Spago. I just went home and made dinner. I've been used the same fork since high school. You have?

It works great. It hasn't broken. I haven't had to get any warranty work done on it. It just, it's an excellent fork. It works fine. In fact, when I was a kid, I used to carry like $20 in this pocket and like $300 in this pocket. So if I got robbed, I would just give them this pocket. I'm hitchhiking.

A guy picks me and puts a knife to my. throw it. Like, okay, hang on. And I went to the wrong pocket and I gave him the 300. I said, oh, it's the wrong pocket. What do you? You got something in the other pocket? Then he got my, he got my other money too. I went, oh, yeah, man. Oh, wow. When you create an environment, right? So a lot of times people think leaders or bosses or or whatever you want to call them, it's like, no, I have to, you know, drive the, I guess you say the influence or drive the motivated environment to be successful, but really what a real leader does, like what you did is you created that environment.

Well, I think you should always try to lead by example. Right. I find if I was the first one in the morning at 7.30 and the last one to leave, nobody grudges how much money you make because you at least appear to be working at least as hard as they are. You know, I remember once years ago, a Chevy, Chase had a talk show for a short time, like six, eight weeks or something. And I said to him, because he was successful as an actor.

So why are you doing a talk show? He goes, well, you know, I got young kids and I'd like to go sailing in the morning with them, you know, like eight to 11 or 12. And then come in the afternoon and do the Sean. I went, what are he talking about? I mean, I'm there at 7.3 in the morning. I don't get out of it until 8 o'clock. And then I have to go.

Then I write the monologue from 10 until 2 in the morning. How can he? He said, no, I don't know. I don't want to do anything. and he kind of saw what happened. I mean, nice guy, but he just had this idea. People think, you know, I love Johnny Carson's job. Boy, you come in at four.

You're tape at 4.30. You go home at 6. One night doesn't work that way. Yeah. You know, it's crazy because you're talking about these hours, right? And I think a lot of people, when they see success on the TV, when they look at your career, and they look at the Tonight Show and everything that you have done since then to really stay in the president.

It's for everybody on the podcast. planet, quite honestly, is they don't see the behind the scenes work. And what you just alluded to or flat out said was it's a blue-collar work ethic, right? Yeah, that's what it is. Like people always say, okay, what's the funniest joke you've ever told. Well, no matter what you say, it's not going to be that funny. Right. It's just, oh, that's not as funny as it. When you preface it like that, you know. Right. And so, you know, Dean Martin, Dean Martin did not drink. He really didn't. I work with the man. It was apple juice. but if he appeared drunk and was kind of all over the point,

oh, my guy, the guy just shows up and he's funny. Well, no, it's a lot of work to do that all the day. And that's the interesting thing, right? Because nothing comes, right? You can talk about passions or hobbies, but when it's your purpose, you care so much about refining your craft and building behind the scenes. So that way you go through the stages in the process

and that way when the cameras are on, that's where you shine. But that's not where it begins. Well, I'm dyslexic, and dyslexic people tend to, over-focus on things. I remember reading that, that my mother, as you say, you're going to have to work twice as hard as the other kids to get the same thing.

And that always seemed fair. I'll do that. And that seemed all right. I remember my high school graduation, I said, I'm going to go to L.A. and try to be hosted at the Tonight Show. I just, well, that didn't seem that ridiculous. In hindsight, now, it looks,

it's not ridiculous. But that's what I set the goal to be. And it actually worked out okay. You know, what about you, though, right? Because I have big goals, too, and there's always the sideline commentators like, man, you really can't do that. You just can't start a podcast. Right.

So what was it about your mindset and your determination and discipline that? Well, I figured I would do it until I had to get a real job. I just never had to get a real job. And I found that... So, you're about to make a trade based on a friend's text. But which you do you listen to? Is it... We could buy a house in Tulum.

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90% is perspiration, not to inspire you, whatever it is. Whatever it is. Right. But I remember I'd go down to the improv and back in those days, there weren't that many. comedians and the improv is mostly singers. So you'd line up at 6 o'clock to get an 11 o'clock spot, you know. And I remember getting at like 5.30, you know, and it'd be like eight guys in front of me. And their mom would go, this sucks on that way.

And I'm like, and he'd step up. Oh, I move forward. Oh, all right. So that was always my attitude. Just wait for the other guy to wear out or tire out or get fed up or get frustrated. Yeah, there's something to say about that, right? Because I see a lot, you know, even in my industry, it's like, who has a staying power who's going to sit there when it's inconvenient and there's a little bit of pain going

on and so like to your point that's what you did you just people were dropping out and you kept going i always i always tell people if you can stay in the show business stuff for seven years you'll make a living but something happened too greedy too straight too gay too high too drunk too jealous too envious well there's always some other reason why i mean assuming you have talent to start with sure sure yeah you can't yeah yeah but the reason The reason they fail usually has nothing to do with, you know, I mean, I love Charlie Sheen, but he's my example. Very talented guy, funny, still funny. It just implodes.

It just gets crazy, you know. What do you do? How do you go through $200 million? You know, it's pretty crazy, yeah. It is pretty crazy, you know, just when you think of all that, there's always something about somebody that reason why they're successful when they stay or they fade out. Well, see, it's a genetic flaw that makes you a performer. It's not a plus. You have this thing which, you know, I always use an example, you know,

like if you're a soldier in the Crusades and you're a comedian, who's making the soldiers laugh? That guy there. Kill him. You know, because we don't need that. Right. We just live in an era now where funny, ooh, just happens to pay huge dividends. Right.

Which is very good. But if you grew up in the era where, what, why are they laughing? Kill that guy. And then you're dead. They kill a guy. So you have to find your error where you want to live. You know, it's interesting to me because when you were going through everything, when you were starting in your career, you didn't come up in an era with, you know,

YouTube, social media, where people can really see you, a stage after stage. What did that environment teach you about greatness? Well, you know, you can only live in the era you live in. I always hate these things where if Muhammad Ali for Joe Lewis, No, they didn't fight. They're never going to fight. You don't know what the odds are.

It didn't happen. So let's not pretend that it didn't. So, I mean, the era I grew up in, you had to sort of get your own. Well, this is kind of a silly story. I think I've told the story. Jerry sign, I was maybe a little bit ahead of Jerry. I'm a couple years. I'm five years old than Jerry.

So I was a little bit ahead of him. So one day, and we both had like done one Merv Griffin. or something. And I got picked to be the best face to caricature by the caricatured association of America. And they had a picture of me. And this press, it went out of it. And Jerry calls me, he goes, how could you have,

haven't really been anywhere, how do you get to be the most caricature of face? I said, Jerry, I'm president of the American caricatures association. I said, there is no American character. But I found if you sat on a press release, newspapers were just printed. They don't fact check. They don't do anything.

But there was this impression. Jay Leno voted most, and it just showed up everywhere for a couple of weeks. That's hysterical. I mean, come on. I just said it out as president. I mean, it was just so stupid. And that's pretty much what is.

Plus, the other thing was, I never asked how much the job paid. I just turned. Well, I don't meet that. I did ask, but I never, I didn't want to be a guy that turns down at how much to pay. I'm not working for that. No, you're not worth anything.

What are you doing on a Tuesday that's worth this much money? All right? So, shut up. That's perspective, though, right? Just go do the job. I think a lot of things nowadays, people think they're entitled to more without going through the stages and then doing more, right? It's unbelievable how entitled.

I meet entitled. people are, you know, I am a huge believer in low self-esteem. It is the key to success. If you don't think you're the smartest person in the room, to be smart, you're able to find the people that are smarter to you and take their advice, you know. Like David, you mentioned a young guy, smart guy. He comes up to things like, oh, wouldn't be the way I do it. And then, oh, I guess that's pretty good.

Kind of work, didn't it? Yeah. But that's what it is. You know, I go on the presumption. Most people can't do anything. something if you can do one thing. I can do one thing. But I've had so many friends that got TV shows.

And when they got TV shows, I want the lighting this way. Well, this is Jack Solentery. He's the best light. I don't care. I don't care. I want, you know, to me, I tried to hire the best people I could.

And then I listened to them. When they told me I sucked, look, you sucked. Okay. You got another show tomorrow. I'll fix it then, you know. And that always seemed to work for me. I relate to that, right? Because for me, it's like, this is what I can do.

But my partner, Pat Sicken's, he has a whole another business partner. Right, right. I wanted to clarify it for you. Far be it from me. Yeah, because, you know, you just, you know, so many different skills. And there's a lot of different things that I don't understand. Like, I don't understand this concept here, but this is what you do. So, yeah, like, go for it.

Let's do this, right? Right, right. You have to be able to, you know, like you said, the gift of low self-esteem or the ability to know that other people have other gifts and channel those gifts so that you can elevate even more. Right, right. You know, that's a great point, man. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter.

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I mean, you know, because like you said, what are you doing on a Tuesday that makes you worth this much money or like, hey, I want the lighting like this. If you could do everything, man, just do it yourself. You know, why do you think people go that route? I don't know. I mean, just, well, there's ego involved. People think they're better than they are some particular thing or whatever it might be. I don't know.

I consider that somewhat of a gift having being able to see that you're not that good. Thank you very much. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't seem that complicated. No, I agree with you. I just want to get your perspective on it. Were there ever points when you're on the Tonight Show

or after a stand-up routine, You kind of looked at yourself and you're like, man, you know, because you have other people, like you said, like, hey, you suck tonight, fix it tomorrow. Were you one of those guys that were always hypercritical of yourself? Like, I can get better here, here and here. Okay, don't do that again. What was that like for you when you watch yourself? Yeah, it's just a matter. Listen to the audit.

Listen to your tape and throw out everything that's not funny. You know, comedians get married to a joke. They don't know. You know, it worked in Denver two years ago. Okay, but that that was one night in time. There's been a million other nights, you know. Right. I always tell comedians when you get successful in one place, get out of there.

I started in Boston. When they started to get successful in Boston, I just left and went to other cities to work just because then you wind up with a Boston act. You got 20 minutes on the sitcom sign in Kenmore Square. You got the thing where the Red Sox play, Fenway Park. All your material is now local. Right. And then you go someplace else and they don't laugh.

Then you run back to the place. you know yeah that's why i was never really that concerned about making money because the worst comedian in the world sadly makes 10 times more than the best comedian for what a best teacher i mean that teacher not comedian yeah and that seems badly unfair so whatever the job paid it was fine i didn't you know i mean the example i always used when i was i was one of seven or eight guys guest hosting the Tonight Show. And a manager for like six of those guys called me and said, we're going to Johnny.

We want to get $25,000 a show to host. And I said, well, I'm getting $512, which was scale. And they said, well, we can get you. You sign with me. We get you with the, no, I'm fine. Well, I knew Johnny owned the show. Mm-hmm. And at the end of the month, let's see, we spent $250,000.

Leno costs us $2,500. Why don't we go with Leno? It just seemed like common sense. It's $2,500. Well, I get $500, you know, a couple of it. Yeah. And that's what my expenses for the month with that. And I mean, I have no proof of that.

Mm-hmm. But we all did about the same rating, and we're all pretty good and funny. You know, so I think it was a financial decision. And I said, okay, so then I got the show permanently, you know, so it was fine. That's pretty awesome. It's nice to hear, like, the background of it, right? Because the public just sees you on the Tonight Show. Right.

That's all the public sees, right? Was there a certain point in your life when you were coming up that you, you know, look at comedy? You said, okay, this just isn't a passion, but this is my purpose. Well, I was, this is my purpose. It's a dream, the impossible. No, yeah, it always seems, it just makes me laugh. Yeah.

Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. It just seems like such a silly. We're not curing cancer here. I knew this test tube, you know, you're just writing, you're just telling jokes. Right. You know, so you can't really take it too seriously. The real simple rule is, you know, comedy is the economy of words.

Rodney was always my favorite because Rodney would get to the joke very quick. You know, my favorite Rodney joke. I saw this bar. It said, Toplis ball of us. I went in. There was nobody there. I mean, it's perfect. It's like six words.

And it makes me, boom, he gets you right there. And that was all the thing. The idea was just, you know, for years when, I call him Ricky Pryor, Richard Pryor, but he was Ricky when he was, he was like the king.

Oh, my God. And he was getting ready for his live in the sunset strip live, recording of his comedy act. And he's hit the comedy star every night. And I asked me, see, can I follow Richard every night? She said, why? Because I'll find that if I'm funny or not.

And I would do 45 minutes and realize, I've got about 16 minutes here that are really funny. I just threw out everything else. But now I had 16 really tight minutes. And that's what I do now. I add on just another joke 30 seconds at a time. I don't go out with a whole brand new thing. I just try to do it one joke at a time.

work, okay, try it and different, you know. I always mention this, that, you know, the best advice Johnny Carson gave me was write the joke down, get on stage, read it as flat and as dull as you can. And if it gets a laugh, okay, you got a funny joke. Then add the physicality to it, the loud voice, whatever it might be, to make it it come alive. That's interesting. Is there a certain comedian that you enjoy most in current day?

Well, I like all the comics. So, Mullaney's good, Bill Burr kills me, just the most Boston guy. Yeah, I like anybody doing it. I like people who look normal, but are funny. Even in the old days when it was Jack Benny and Carson, I never cared for the throw a pie and the Milton Burl squirt and the flower squirts water kind of stuff. You know, Jerry Lewis was never one of my favorites.

I like Newhart to me. Newhart to me was just the greatest, because it was just a slight turn of phrase. You know, I always give the example of Bob's joke. He had a bit about the first astronaut to make contact with extraterrestrials. So he makes contact, comes back to Earth, and there's a big press conference. And one of the reporter says, how far ahead of us are these extraterrestrials? Bob says about six weeks.

You know, it's not two weeks, which is too close. It's not six months. It's six. And you can't. You can't reach, you can't catch up to six weeks. Right. And it just killed me because it was just like a slider, just the, you know, right over the plate, swing and miss because you don't see it coming.

Yeah, yeah, just that was all. I always liked those kind of jokes. I like when words are used effectively. You're using some baseball references. I know nothing about baseball. You know nothing about baseball. No, it sounded like you're talking about sliders. No, I know nothing about it.

That's also a hamburger. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A hamburger. Yeah. You never heard of a slider?

Well, no, I'm a baseball guy. Okay. But, oh, okay. Now I see, look at you. Look at you. Catch it on quick. I'm like hyper-focused on the game and you're throwing food at me. There you are.

Making me hungry right here. There you go. There you go. I love sliders. It's good. Couldn't hit one, but I can eat a couple. There you go. That's everyone that I know that has come into contact with you and had some type of experience with you,

it talks about, and I can confirm because I'm sitting. here in person with you and we've had interaction off cameras, you're very down to earth. And you're simple, your kind. What was it about, you know, your parents that instilled that type of, I guess, overall beingness inside you? Well, I think that's mostly from my mother's side. My mother was very cognizant of everybody else's feelings for things, you know. When she'd come see me, like, why don't you pick on that?

man in the audience. Amani, he was heckling him. You know, she's going, he seemed like a nice man. You know, it's always that kind of thing. So, yeah, probably more so my mother's side of it. Okay.

My dad was Italian. My dad had been a prize fighter as a young man. My dad was a tough guy, but a good guy, led by example. You know, I remember when I was, I think I was five to six years old. My dad came in, and my dad quit finding, got a job selling insurance.

And he must have closed some big deal because he's giving people cigars and, oh, who. And he got the big meatball that night and whatever my meat. You know, and I thought, well, that's what success. That looks like success. My dad was very good at teaching by example.

You know, my dad would drink occasionally, but I never saw him drunk. I never saw I'm abusive or anything of that nature, you know. So, yeah, they were just a good example. So it sounds like the kindness from your, your mom's family, right? That empathetic kindness. And then from your dad,

that's where you learn to lead from example. Yeah, I think that's fair to say. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, it was, uh, yeah, I was very fortunate. I had great parents.

Uh, I had, I grew up in a small town in New England, so I had, I had good teachers, you know, when I meet teachers in LA, they were I was writing a screenplay or they're, you know,

they have something else that's trying to get out, trying to get out. Whereas I, I grew up in a town where, and Mr. Robesha, I was in the same home room for 40. We're in the same suit. Yeah.

For the whole 40 years. That's his profession. That's what he does. You know, the front of the shoes coming apart, you know, and there's chalk marks on the jacket. Yeah. I think I have a pair of shoes that have the front coming off too. I don't wear him anymore, but I haven't thrown them away.

I don't know why. But I can see that, you know. Like when I was even growing up, I'm 46. You know, I graduated high school in 1997, but even then, right? Teachers were teachers, right? They weren't looking to, to, to, you. use that as a stepping stone to move on to something else. And in fact, my wife, she spent her whole career in sales,

making great money, just an absolute killer. And she recently, four years ago, switched careers to be a Spanish teacher at a prep school, which allows my children, our children, to have the best education possible for a Myers. It's what she does. And the effort that she gives is different than I see a lot of other teachers nowadays,

to your point. Yeah, yeah. You know, not a stepping stone. Well, I'm not denigrating teachers. No, no. I just, I just, what I had seemed different. Yeah, no, absolutely. It was because there was nothing else, right?

It was like, that was the thing. You know, it's interesting to me because I look around here and, you know, all these beautiful vehicles. You know, do cars, do cars resemble something else for you other than just to have nice collectibles? Is there any type of mentality or satisfaction internally on that? We're talking with my psychiatrist now. I know, yeah. That's what I do. Sexual inadequacy.

No, I didn't say you had sexual inadequacy. Well, obviously I do. I mean, I might. I don't think so. Well, I like things that roll, explode, and make noise. I mean, it's a real simple. Very cool. You know, when you work with your hands, it makes you appreciate how easy it is just to talk for a living.

You know, that's, I think, when you work on a car all day and it's still not fixed, then you go on stage and they give you a big check. Oh. Well, this is so much easier than doing that, you know. So I think that's part of it. Plus, I'm one of those people when the, you know, the hardest health is when the head and the hands work together. You do something manual and then you do something mental.

And it sort of balances out today. It's one of those things that I remember growing up, you know, I had the dad that, you know, would yell at me in the driveway, you know, because I could never, my mind didn't work like that. I was just so hyper-focused on baseball. Right, right. That was my thing.

I was, of course, I was going to be a major league baseball player, right? And, you know, he would say, can you hand me this tool? And I would hand him something complete opposite. Right, right. And so for me, like, cars growing up was like, if daddy asked me to go to the garage,

like, mom, tell him I'm not here. Right, right. You know, so I never, I never got to connect that. And I think it's one of those things that, you know, I've been missing because, like you said, the mental in your hands. Right, right.

It's funny. I mean, I get excited when I could change a light bulb, man. Like, look at what I did. Well, there you are. I did that, man. That's my case. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

So it's just interesting because, you know, I knew there always has to be some other type of reason why somebody, you know, really dives into something. And it's because it's working on your mental. So, you know, I just think it's interesting, you know, very, very cool, very cool. And this thing is huge, you know. You've had this place for quite a while. Right, right. banded and it's just, I mean, it's overwhelming. It's incredible.

It's incredible to see it. Yeah, it's fun. We have a good time. Yeah. Like, it looks like it. Everybody's so nice, saying hi and walking around, enjoying themselves. You know, movie theater. That's what it looks like behind you.

Well, that's just a, yeah, that's a, we usually have a bad car movie now. You try to find all the bad car movies your wife won't watch. The guy's short here. Yeah. What's your favorite one? Well, the one that makes me laugh the most is Steve Laquite. Steve McQueen's Lamont. Because it's just a car going on a track.

And when we're watching, he's just driving around. What's the story here? Honey, look at that, look at 9-7. He's turning left. Yeah, yeah, turning left. Look at that. Yeah, it just makes me laugh. Just makes me laugh.

That's awesome, yeah. That's awesome. So, you know, with your wife, you know, I admire. And again, when we get, when we get married, you know, those are, those are, those are, yeah. I mean, those are, that's the focus. but, you know, with everything going on with your wife, you know, you've been so dedicated and just you're with her and it's just, it's kind of an amazing story. That's what you're supposed to do. I know.

I mean, it's just odd now. We live in an era now. We're just doing what you're supposed to do. Right. It's unbelievable. Yeah. I mean, that's what you're supposed to do. We grew up in that era, though, you know?

It's like, it's in front of us. It's not really. It's, I enjoy it. It's not like it's hard work or anything. It's great. You know, you have to find the humor in it. You know, my wife is very much involved. in women's issues.

You've got a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. And she works with women in Afghanistan and human rights. Okay, yeah. So when the dementia started to come in, you're like, okay. So like when we watch TV, we, I tend to watch episodic shows.

If we watch something that's like five or six parts, and she gets a little confused. And I don't remember the fruit. Did we watch the first part? Oh, yeah. So we're watching Hawaii, Figo, from the 60s with McGarrarrett. And of course, McGarrick, every time he talks to him,

sweetie, honey, honey, come here, come here. Sweetie, did you see the guy run by here? Okay, thank you, honey. You know, Sam. So anyway, Stanley Holloway plays a scientist who is a genetic engineer. And he gets kidnapped by the red Chinese. Okay. So McGarrick goes to see his daughter, who's like 38 years old.

And he says to her, what kind of genetic engineering did your father do? And she says, well, I'm just a woman. I don't really understand these things. And I hear my wife, she's just getting madder. She's swearing at the TV. And I go, oh, good, the fire is still there, you know. So it just makes me less.

She's just yelling, you know. I go, no, honey. See, she didn't understand because she's a woman. Shut up. You know, I mean, it's just, you know, and you realize it's just so funny when I watch these old shows. Just how sex is. Sweetie, sweetie, honey.

Honey, can make, come, can me. Give me, give me. Every female on the show. It's just very funny. Those moments where that fire comes out in her. I mean, that's what I mean. That's what I mean. That's what you sort of live for those moments. And they're, it's okay, you know.

I enjoy her company and, okay, so, you know, as President Obama, I remember we had dinner with him. No, I didn't. That wasn't me. Honey, was you. No, yes, it was. You know, okay. So, I mean, yeah.

So you try to smile and have a good time. with it. Yeah, that's pretty awesome, though. I mean, it just sounds like you guys still have a lot of fun together, right? Well, you know, I took her to Nordstrom's, when she's still walking around a little bit there. Because she's feeling that. Come on, let's get some, I don't want to get in close. Come on, come on.

So let's go in the shoe department. She goes, oh, look at those blue sneakers, electric blue. Those are great, you know? You like those? I said, how much of these $24? Honey, you want these? Get them here. I said, honey, get another pair if you want to eat.

I can? You know. So you see these red and white ones on the table. you know. I'll take these. I said, honey, put those on. Put your shoes in the box. You wear those home.

Oh, thanks. That'll be great. Okay, so you put some on. So I got, I got two pairs of shoes. You got my credit card at $2495. Okay, that is $788. I go, no, no, no. I even bought one pair.

He goes, yeah, those are the regular. The ones you were designed by, ha, ha, ha, ha. Who's a ha? He's some guy with a bedazzler, because it looked like the same set of sneak. Same pair of sneakers, just had some little rhinestones or something on them. And now I'm stuck and it just made me laugh. I mean, I'm glad I can afford to do that.

Sure. Because I look at her and she says, I like these shoes. I go, oh, good, honey. Great, great, okay. You know, I never even said it. It just made me laugh. And you have to sort of, that's the humor. And I realize they sound like, oh, I can afford.

I mean, I'm glad I can afford to do it. It was money well spent. Well, I mean, it's just the optimism, the whole thing, right? It's just like you were in a place that you were able to do it and you're happy. Yeah. And it made her happy. And that makes it always one. That's awesome.

That's awesome. You know, you look around the world and, you know, we have a lot of, you know, young people that don't really understand things as far as, you know, certain steps to take to be successful, the back end grind. And I feel like in the audience, there's always a 20-something, whether it's a male or female that's always looking for some type of advice, right? What would you tell a 20-something right now that is looking to come up and start any type of career? Well, you know, the old Dale Carnegie stuff still works. Look, I'm in the eye, shake hands, make eye contact, write letters as opposed to emails, if you can. It shows you can write, which a lot of people can't. I mean, I remember this kid told me, oh, I want to get into show business.

And I saw, who do you like? And he mentioned Steven Spielman. I said, well, why don't show you all your letter? No, I'm not going to do that. I said, write a letter. Don't write it on crayon in a paper bag like a psycho. Write it, the right form. If you don't know how to write a letter, look it up.

They show you, you know, your return address in the corner, the whole thing. And you got a job as insistent working on Steve's fieldbook. Wow. Because this letter was so well written. I'm like, oh, because I find most people try to find people who, when they talk to young people, they see themselves in that person. I meet people, I'm a young comedian. I want to say, oh, crap, I feel excited because he's exactly where I was, you know.

And I was always thrilled at any help that anybody gave me. So I try to do that. And it's very rewarded when years later, they come and go, you know, you got me in the door or whatever it might be, you know. But that's what I would say, write a letter to someone you admire and why you admire them. And nine times that you probably won't get a response. But there's always going to be somebody who's just a kid. Well, you know, I'll give you the best example. I met a kid from my hometown.

Italian kid, funny. Okay. And he came to see me a couple of times. And I got to talk with him. I said, what are you doing? He said, well, I want to go to UMass, but it's expensive. You know, I said, oh, okay. So I'm going to go to a community college and then transfer a couple of years.

So I went home I thought about it. I said, well, let me spring for this. Let me just, I can afford it. So I called his mother to make sure as I'm not some creepy old guy hitting on his son. You know, I said, listen, I've met your son. I said, I'm going to pay for his college education.

And I'll just do it. And single mom. No, no, not a single mom. I'm saying, not single mom. And so she's filled. So I do that. The first year goes by. At the end of the first year, I call him and see how he's doing.

He said, you know, Miss Salano, thank you so much and everything. He said, I really appreciate what he did, and I worked really hard. And I got a scholarship for the next three years, so I don't need your money anymore. And it actually made me cry. Oh, my gosh. Because he was a young person. He could have had a free ride for the next three years. And I wouldn't have felt any, fine.

But he felt somebody did something for him. he went and he really applied himself, got a scholarship for the next three years. That's amazing. Yeah. Saved me about $80,000. Yeah. Yeah.

But I mean, it was like, oh, okay, that's pretty good. And that just makes you feel good. And, you know, it does make you feel as good as doing the best show he ever did in your life or whatever that might be. Just go, okay, at least you contributed something to the world. You put another, I don't have any children, so you put a good human being out there and gave him a start, you know.

I think when you tell that story, I'm thinking of just integrity, right? The integrity of that young man at that point. Yeah, that's what I mean. And that's just a gen, whatever. Yeah. You know, it always makes me laugh when people, because when I was a kid, kids today were just awful, you know. And now we move on and I hear the people who are in my generation burned it down the Bank of America complaining about, guys, don't you remember? You threw the fire bomb into the Bank of America, you know.

You know, so every generation thinks the last generations are idiots or stupid. And you realize that's just the way of the world. It's just that built-in conceit you have. You know, I had somebody say something to me. It made me laugh a younger person. And we're talking. And I said, you know, back in the 90s, whatever it was, he goes, well, you know, in the 90s, people were really stupid. I go, really?

Interesting. Tell me more. What was here? What was so stupid? the rockets, the spacecraft, the science, the medicine, really. But I just like the fact that people in the 90s were stupid. Because there is that conceit that comes with whatever generation you're in. You know, I remember when I was a kid going to the Space Museum and seeing Alan Shepherds,

he was the first guy to go into space for America. The capsule. A little thing. And I thought, that's pretty cool. I'd go on that. Because I saw it at, that was the best technology we had at the time I saw. I went to Smithsonian a couple of years ago. I wouldn't get, it's like a garbage can with a lid on it and a window.

I said, I wouldn't get in that thing. It's gutsy. Yeah, but you know what I'm saying? When you live in that era where, well, this is as good as you could be, you know, when you look at, what's that guy, Shackleford, the guy that went into Antarctica, you know, well, he had all the best equipment you could get at the time. What could possibly go wrong? And, you know, so it just makes me laugh.

It is kind of funny, you know, just thinking about that. And you talk about the conceit of the generation that you grow up in. Because, I mean, man, I'm 46. Like, I always say to my kid, when I was your age, you know, this is what we did. Right, right. You know, we come home, drop our backpacks. All right, dad, you got homework? Nope.

Really did. We go play football in the street. We go to the school and play kickball. We'd ride our bikes. We come home when the lights, you know, the street lights come on. We ate our dinner. and then we'd play video games, right? Right. But like, my kids look at me and like, well, then, you know,

why was that so great? Like, why can't we go outside and just roam around? I'm like, oh, no, no, no, you can't do that now. Right. You can't do that now because it's, you know, the neighbor drives 50 miles an hour down our street. Yeah. And it's just dangerous. But to your point, like, every generation thinks their generation was the best because that is our experience. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. And it's hard now. we don't know what this generation. I mean, this generation is growing up with AI and all these different types of tools. Like, we don't know what it's like to grow up and the pressures and the access that these kids have now.

Well, you know, I went to school when you had a gun club at school. The gun club? Yeah. Holy shit. You could luck with that. You know, you can't do that now. Those things don't exist anymore.

Wow. Yeah, it's just a different time. You know, when I, when I, even when I was in high school, we had car shop. Right. I don't know if that's a program anymore or anything like that. No, most schools have done away with that same link with Jim. Like you go to gym online.

I don't know how that works. Yeah. No, it's totally. That's all my favorite thing. You know, if we just get gambling, our schools would be the best schools in the country. The kids all have booked. So I remember Massachusetts, they introduced gambling. The schools aren't any better.

Where'd the money go? Yeah. You know, it used to be you want a million dollars. That's unbelievable. You just buy a lottery ticket. You get a million dollars. Now people go, I'm not going down to the 7-11 for a million dollars. Let me know what's $100 million, then I'll buy a ticket.

It's just so funny. I always go down the interstate. You know, we go, I-75, you know, in Southwest Florida. I look at the little billboard, and I go, it's my wife. I go, you see that? I go, $180 million. I go, we don't ever buy a lot of me ticket. Oh, for the lot of, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's wild the amount. Like, it's, it's everywhere. It's like, dang, what if I bought one and actually won, you know, but we just never do it. Yeah. You know, it's interesting to me. No, I don't fight it. To me, that's the stupidest thing you could do. Maybe I'm smart then.

It's just a poor people tax. Mm. That's what it is. I mean, interesting. You know, that's, well, that's a change I see. Mm-hmm. Like, when I was a kid, if I met a guy that had a cool car, he was either an industrialist or, Sometimes he's just a rich kid, but there's something.

I remember taking, oh, this is 30 years ago, taking my Lamborghini Kuntash to a car show. And every kid said, are you a drug dealer? Do you win the lottery? What do you do? One kid asked her, I was a pimp. I said, because that's... Were you dressed like a pimp?

No, not hardly. I don't dress that well. I was just, oh, okay, really? So that's what you're, that's success? That's how you get? Yeah. Pimp. It's a little odd.

It is a little odd. I've never been asked that. Oh, there you go. You don't really look like a pimping. No, I don't. Not pimping, huh? That's okay. I dress simple like you.

Huh? I'm simple. I just dress simple. Yeah, there you know. It's interesting because, you know, that whole conversation is just, it's just perspective, right? And what we all need to do in the era that we're growing up or whatever stage in life we are is just focus on what's important, which is our, our family first and foremost and putting in the effort every single day. You know, and you talked about your work ethic, you know, behind the scenes, you know, 12-hour days,

and it's really enriched your life. You know, you've built something amazing. You've built a brand. You've built a name to where, I mean, quite honestly, man, I don't think there's anybody. I can go to anywhere and say, Jalen, like, yeah, I know Jailen. Well, right now, in a couple of years, that'll fade pretty quickly. I remember someone said to me, I was at a college, and they said, we had Elvis here. I said, Elvis, Elvis played here?

They said, oh, yeah, yeah. When? They said, really, like eight years ago. He's been dead. What are he talking about? Oh, they were talking about Elvis Costello. And I was like, oh, and they went, and I said Elvis Presley. And they went, oh, Elvis Presley.

like the old guy like Oh look at this old guy from me as a fossil Yeah yeah It just made me laugh It's like yeah Did you ever see Elvis in on in? No I didn't actually I was it when I was a kid

I was a big fan Elvis as a young kid And I had I had done a bit about Elvis On the Merv Griffin show And Dick Clark called me To tell me Elvis saw it and thought it was funny And I went oh okay And then he died

Yeah That's pretty cool though Yeah You know, like, I almost thought you were funny. Yeah, that works for me. That's just interesting, man. So, well, look, it's been amazing. Thank you so much.

Well, thanks. Dude, I have one more question, though, right? So I'm asking us, every show. Every show. Every show. It's the determined society. That's the name of the show. And at the heartbeat of the show is determination and discipline.

And so what I always like to ask every single guess is, what does determination mean to you? Well, I've never taken a vacation. Never? No. Well, again, my job, I'm doing three nights in Hawaii. Okay. I just go to places that would be deemed a vacation for most people.

But the idea is, no, I live like I'm broke most of the time. If I don't have money coming in this week, okay, that's it. I'm a bum. I'm lazy. You know, when I was like, you know, my mother could never quite figure out if California is three hours ahead or three hours behind. So sometimes she called me at like five in the morning, thinking it was 8 o'clock. When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp.

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You know, so I would, hello. Are you sleeping? No, no. I'm up. I'm just getting started. What's that my? I could never say I was sleeping.

Right. Now I'm like the laziest person ever. Yeah. That was always my thing. And, you know, I would always tell comedians, you know, you're not going to be happy with a spouse. until you're happy with your act. You know, if you get your comedy where you want,

then you look for the wife or the husband or the partner or whatever it might be. Interesting. You know, but this is what you do. And it runs your life. And the other thing will always be equal, it might pull ahead a little bit. But it's right up there, you know.

It's just for your stability. There's nothing wrong with most comedians and a new five minutes of really funny stuff would not heal. You know, when I see guys go, drinking, whatever, they could lose it all, you know. But that's the other thing, too. I find comedians either excessive drugs, alcohol, everything,

are complete abstaining. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've never had a drink in my life. I don't know if there's drugs in my life. I never smoked a joint in my life. It's awesome. It doesn't interest me. Right.

It's not awesome. It just doesn't interest me. Okay. You know, I, this is why I love about Harvard. You know, there's something, someone said to me, you know, there's something wrong with you who've never even tried cocaine. I go, I don't have any interest in it. Well, see, that shows you're not.

No, what reason what I have? It doesn't interest me. But this person just thought there's something wrong with me because I, I never even done cocaine. What's the matter with you? It just made me laugh. Well, Jay, I mean, I haven't either. So, I mean, we're kind of like twins there. It doesn't interest me.

Doesn't interest. Sounds like a Tinder hit. Swipe right or let? I don't know. I've never been on the apps. I don't know. Is right like the match? I'm not dating apps.

They're not really, but I don't know. Yeah, you never had to, right? You mean? No, I would always meet women in the pro. in the produce department. You're genius. That's the best place. Absolutely.

Okay, they're healthy, you know. Fruit, you're there? Yeah, okay, I'm not coming here. Okay. Smart guy. Yeah. Smart guy. Yeah.

But it's true. I always review people, if they're buying cigarettes and steaks, okay, this is not good. Yeah. You go to the fruit. Yeah, yeah. There go. Look in the basket, no fruit there? Boom.

TV dinners? I'm good. That's right. Yeah, you're on. One more thing because you brought it up, man. You brought it up, and now it's got my wheels turning. It reminded me of some things that I heard about, you mentioned you live like you're broke. Is it true that you banked all of the money from The Tonight Show and just lived on stand-up comedy?

Yeah, because I'm a stand-up comedy. That's what I do. I never got, you know, I have so many friends of mine as soon as the TV show ended, the table at Spago was gone. What happened? I never had a table at Spago. I just went home and made dinner. I just always tried to, you know, people always always. Abby, one of the producers that we work with, thinks it's hilarious that I've been used

the same fork since high school. You have? Yeah. You have the same force? When I came to California, I packed a knife and fork in my suitcase. And I just used that fork. And you know, it works great. It hasn't broken.

I haven't had to get any warranty work done on it. It just, it's an excellent fork. It works fine. I just use that fork. That's hysterical. It's like to me, I use the same plate over. and over and I wash it and I put it back, you know. Oh my gosh.

Like as a single guy, I only had one plate and you wash it, you eat out, and you put it back. And I still kind of do that. And my wife thinks that's like the stupidest thing. But it just sort of, it just makes me laugh. Why do I need more than one for? I have my fork. I've saved a fortune in forks over the years. It's amazing.

That just says something about gratitude. No, it's just stupid. It's just stupid. To me, I'm dyslexic. I'm not good with numbers. So I would always bank one job and spend money on the other. When I was a kid, I worked at McDonald's, and I worked at Wilmington Ford. And I put the McDonald's money in this pocket and the Wilmington Ford money in the bank or vice versa.

That's what I would do. In fact, when I was a kid, I used to carry like $20 in this pocket and like $300 in this pocket. So if I got robbed, I would just give them this pocket, you know. So I'm hitchhiking. A guy picks me and puts a knife to my throat. Like, okay, hang on. And I went to the wrong pocket and I gave him the 300. I said, oh, that's the wrong pocket.

What do you? You got something in the other pocket? Then he got my other money too. I went out of you. Oh, well. Better than dying. Yeah, but this guy was like, he was scared to death. I go, look, I'm not scared.

I hope you don't stab me. I'm giving you all my money. So I always try to carry enough money. not to annoy the robber. Right. Make him feel he... Yeah. Like he did something good by hijacking.

Yeah. That's good. That's good. It's good strategy. Thank you so much. All right. Jay, so everybody, Jay Leno. Well, thank you.

Thank you very much. Until next time, stay determined. Our French, what up? Everything I'm doing up until it's done. I meet for the entirety. I put it in overtime. I'll be working. Just know I'm a goal for mine.

Because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time. I confirmed it. A whole society determined. Next up is a little song from CarMax about selling a car your way. You want to sell those wheels. You want to get a CarMax instant offer. So fast.

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