Nice and fitting goodbye to Jay Leno

[merrily]

65. Not the link that I asked you for, but thanks for verifying

something else that I posted upthread to you, namely that lawyer jokes were very prevalent at the time that Leno told the one I posted about.

Now, think about it. If Jay Leno had actually cracked his most tasteless, worst-timed ever, lawyer joke, on the day of the mass shooting, don't you think the writer of this article might have mentioned it?

No, YOU think about it. My link AND yours prove that every material thing that I said about event from memory TWENTY ONE years later was true. California. Law firm. Lawyers and support staff. Gunman. Lawyer jokes prevalent at the time. LENO. monologue. Not just that he made a joke, but that he made it during his monologue.


It would be very odd if the one and only thing that I got wrong in all that was the shock from Leno that caused the shooting to embed in my memory in the first instance.

Of all the comedians in California who were telling lawyer jokes, why, the day after the shooting, do two reporters go to LENO, the guy I mentioned, and no other comedian?

If you truly think my memory or integrity is bad, that should have stricken you as some coincidence--that Leno was the comedian and the only comedian reporters wanted to interview about lawyer jokes the day after the shooting, no?

Why did the reporters not mention the wording of the joke in the story? LA Times. LA shooting of lawyers. Story about lawyers pleading for an end to lawyer jokes because their lives are in danger. Also the survivors are in LA. They don't to read it. Maybe the reporters never actually heard the joke

Why not mention specifically that Leno told a tasteless joke that same night?


For one thing, for all the reasons mentioned above, it's pretty much implied to anyone who is awake.

Beyond that, there could be a hundred explanations.

One very possible scenario. The head of the LA bar mentioned in the story had told the reporters about the Leno joke and they called Leno for an interview. Not mentioning the fact he told a bad joke on the very night of the killings may have been his condition for being interviewed at all about the subject of lawyer jokes. Very like Leno, IMO, not to want to take heat for something he did. He never took any responsibility about Conan O'Brien.

Finally, look at his callous, defensive response, and his incredibly tone deaf continued bashing of lawyers the day after the shooting:

Comedian Jay Leno, who spices his "Tonight Show" monologues with lawyer jokes, had some advice for Saferstein and other lawyers in an interview Wednesday: "Not being an attorney, I will have to consult with my attorney, but I was under the impression that one did have the right to free speech."



Jokes do not change people's minds, Leno said. They only reinforce beliefs. "I don't see attorneys coming to the defense of Al Gore, Dan Quayle and Zsa Zsa Gabor," Leno said. "Are they serious? C'mon man, lighten up."

As you yourself noted, the belief in most of those lawyer jokes at the time was that the death of several lawyers was "a good start," or some form of "lawyers deserve to die." As a comedian, Leno would know very well what the jokes of the time were about. And he's saying that jokes "only" reinforce that belief--so he should keep telling them? The day after the shootings! Christ!

LA reporters, asking seriously about lawyer jokes the day after a mass LA shooting in a law firm? " "C'mon man, lighten up!" Yeah, because Leno is the victim.

I rest my case. Thanks for proving I was dead right, no pun intended.