Johnny Carson’s Head Writer Hints Leno Was Ditched Over Obama Jokes

[Ronin Truth]

Johnny Carson’s Head Writer Hints Leno Was Ditched Over Obama Jokes

Johnny Carson’s Head Writer Hints Leno Was Ditched Over Obama Jokes

Posted By yihan On February 18, 2014 @ 1:04 pm In Featured Stories,Tile,U.S. News |

Siller: Other hosts refuse criticize president due to “fear of being labeled racist”

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
February 18, 2014

Echoing a suggestion we first made earlier this month, Johnny Carson’s head writer Raymond Siller hints that NBC may have replaced Jay Leno with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show due to Leno’s increasing tendency to crack uncomfortable jokes at Barack Obama’s expense.

Writing for Breitbart.com, Siller, who was the head writer on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 12 years, argued that Leno was ditched because unlike other comics he was, “the only one willing to launch comedic drones over the current West Wing.”

“His competitors haven’t exactly hammered President Barack Obama, hardly a smidgen. The paucity of Obama jokes is the dog that didn’t bark. Like their news anchor counterparts, our hosts go gentle into that late night, despite the target-rich environment of this administration. With his pen and phone, our selfie-absorbed president is one whacked uncle away from appointing himself Supreme Leader,” writes Siller, adding that Bill Clinton was “savaged” during his term in office but Obama has been ignored due to comics’ “fear of being labeled racist.”

Siller notes the fact that Leno enjoyed ratings dominance, a factor that cannot explain him being ditched. Highlighting the declining ratings of news networks, the Emmy Award nominee points to MSNBC and CNN’s penchant to act as state media as the reason for their demise.

“The CNN and MSNBC talking heads are reliable Obama hackolytes whose ratings tank because they’re in the tank for Obama. They just can’t help themselves. Ideology trumps business acumen,” he writes.
As we previously highlighted, Leno began writing a series of anti-Obama jokes into his monologue back in 2012. While it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Leno to bash a president, the fact that his quips were largely based around conservative talking points like Benghazi and Obamacare was somewhat strange.In December 2012, Leno even remarked that a journalist who started asking real questions would be “very dangerous to the White House.”

Was it a mere coincidence that Leno was off the air within a year of Comcast Corporation’s 2013 buyout of General Electric’s 49% stake in NBC? Comcast donated over $300,000 dollars to Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Leno’s departure from the hit show, despite consistently good ratings, was surrounded by an air of mystery. The talk show host alluded to having been stabbed in the back by NBC after previously insisting that he would continue fronting the show until he keeled over, which according to the New York Times fed “the lingering suspicion that Mr. Leno remained somewhat perturbed with NBC’s latest decision to replace him.”
​

http://www.infowars.com/johnny-carsons-head-writer-hints-leno-was-ditched-over-obama-jokes/​

 

[cajuncocoa]

Considering that Jay was the only comedian who dared to go there, I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Zippyjuan]

So we have a writer who was not involved with the Tonight Show for decades claiming to have inside information. Jay made jokes about everybody. Obama even appeared on the Tonight Show and even shared a bit in his final show. All the other late night show hosts also do (and did) Obama jokes.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

It's looking more and more like Jay will have a new show on Fox.

 

[Lucille]

Is that right, Brian?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/late-night-leftists/

So Johnny Carson’s former head writer authors an article claiming that Jay Leno was canned from “The Tonight Show” despite fabulous ratings because he made jokes about BOTH political parties, including jokes about King Obama. His replacement, Jimmy Fallon, had as one of his first guests the always-cheerful-and-entertaining Michelle Obama. Meanwhile, the guy who got Fallon’s gig at the other late-night show, Seth Myers, has as one of his first guests the buffoonish Joe Biden. Gotta wonder what Jay thinks of this.

 

[Lucille]

This goes here too.

The changed politics of late-night TV
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/late-night-television-jay-leno-jimmy-fallon-comedy-103751.html

Fallon’s slimmed-down diet of politics may not be a bad thing, said Erik Smith, Obama’s senior adviser for advertising and message development during the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. As opposed to what Smith called a “sense of cynicism” toward politics that Leno and Letterman exhibit in their monologues, Fallon’s skits and stunts — like the “slow jam” — bring out a softer side of a candidate and are more likely to go viral.

“The type of stuff Fallon does, from a [political] strategist point of view, will be a lot more helpful, because you’re actually showing a side of a politician most people can’t see, which is really fun,” Smith said. “When Obama slow-jammed with Fallon, he was talking about student loans. He got his message across. That was more effective than going on a talk show.”
[...]
While the entertainment world has always had a liberal veneer, and the political leanings of the late-night hosts have been hotly debated for years, one thing seems clear: It is Republicans who will miss Leno most.
[...]
Longtime Republican strategist Mark McKinnon, who has advised the presidential campaigns of McCain and George W. Bush, said losing Leno is a loss to “bipartisan political comedy.”
[...]
“I think because Jay’s audience skewed a bit older and more Midwestern, the usual older GOP leader type felt an affinity for him, but I don’t think Jay’s material was any easier on GOP than Democrats at all,” Murphy said.

The data backs up Leno’s bipartisan comedy.
[...]
Noting Leno’s top ratings toward the end of his run, Toto said Leno understood the late-night rule of making fun of the president no matter the party. “Leno was talking truth to power, and it was resonating,” said Toto, who also oversees Breitbart’s Big Hollywood section.

Can't have that. Progs need full saturation of every f'n thing in the country.

I see a lot of ageist comments wrt Jay and his audience. Do progs hate all old people, or just conservative ones?

 

[angelatc]

This goes here too.

The changed politics of late-night TV
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/late-night-television-jay-leno-jimmy-fallon-comedy-103751.html



Can't have that. Progs need full saturation of every f'n thing in the country.

I see a lot of ageist comments wrt Jay and his audience. Do progs hate all old people, or just conservative ones?

Pretty much all of them. They drain resources from the health care pool, they don't work hard enough to pull their own weight, they tend to have a big stash of money, and they're just not pretty any more.

 

[Lucille]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/late-night-leftists/

UPDATE: Ellen F. writes to say that Fallon has been making jokes about Edward Snowden, calling him a “tattletale,” whereas Jay Leno would have made jokes about the NSA [and TSA].

SMH.

 

[thoughtomator]

Seemed pretty obvious to me. Leno was the only prominent comic who dared to joke about Obama, and he was promptly replaced by one of the purest Obama shills in the business. Adding two and two gets you political censorship here.

 

[Ronin Truth]

Pretty much all of them. They drain resources from the health care pool, they don't work hard enough to pull their own weight, they tend to have a big stash of money, and they're just not pretty any more.

Hey, I resemble that remark.