Jay Leno will headline the White House Correspondents Dinner

[Bravo Zulu]

The White House Correspondents Association has picked Jay Leno -- also known as this week's most publicly unpopular stand-up comic -- to headline the White House Correspondents Dinner in May.

An NBC rep confirmed the invitation to The TV Column.

To be clear, the association asked Leno weeks ago -- when he was simply the host of a prime-time show that was failing five nights a week. But when he appears at the annual Washington bash -- which over the past few years has become a Hollywood petting zoo -- Leno will be the guy who pushed aside Conan O'Brien to become the newly returned host of NBC's "Tonight" show. He has also been the butt of pretty much every other late-night talk-show host's jokes for the past couple of weeks.

In case you've missed the story, Leno retired from NBC's late-night show last year. But instead of spending more time with his cars, he hung around to help NBC with its Program to the Margins campaign. He was given responsibility for doing the best darned 10 o'clock comedy show he could, so as to help out Conan O'Brien -- the guy who had pushed him out of the "Tonight" show gig -- by feeding Conan the biggest possible audience into the late-night time slot. That didn't go so well -- imagine!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012104677_pf.html

[annabanana]

1. jeez, Talk about a snoozefest...It's almost as if

they don't WANT us to watch it or care about it...

:think:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Is that televised at 10pm? 11:30? 12:05?

I need to put TIVO on it. Immediately.

Unless there's a rerun of Law and Order on some other channel.

:hi:

edit to add: I meant to reply to the OP, but I'm too lazy to bother moving it.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

3. Isn't Conan O'Brien available?

Why don't they call him, and leave Leno alone?

[KharmaTrain]

4. He'll Just Recycle The Same Crap He Has For Years...

A bunch of Clinton/Monica jokes, endless prattle about his good buddy Ahnuld and material that's old it could qualify for AARP. But this is the after-effects of Colbert's appearance...they don't want an edgy comedian. With Leno they know what they're getting...safe and sanitized.

[calico1]

5. I wonder if he'll get anyone fired..

:eyes:

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Yuck

No one can ever top Stephen Colbert.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Figures they would ask Jay

They had a deal going back a while. Jay is dull, without meaning and not well liked by much of America, although he thinks he's Carson, he is really disliked by many in his life and in the gen pop.
I'll just say right here that I have mocked Jay to his face since he was selling Doritos for a living, to his face. The only thing funny about him is that one car that looks like it is going backwards when going forward. That is funny, and cool, but that's one of his cars, not the man. The man is simply not there.

[Mari333]

8. one thing I know I wont watch....!!

nothing as tiresome as watching a bunch of DC insiders snickering at lush tables in their Armani suits and Givenchy gowns, wearing their Tiffany necklaces and solid gold cufflinks, eating lobster and caviar, giggling as they pat each other on the back about how wonderful it is to screw the taxpayers and citizens of the USA and get away with it.
fuck them all.

[CreekDog]

9. This is the final straw, now I'm looking for a primary opponent to support!

I mean talk about tone-deaf? What the hell?

:rofl:

[AndyA]

10. What is the big attraction to Jay Leno?

I just don't get it.

He's not attractive. He's not all that funny.

Those who know him personally in Hollywood find him to be arrogant and self centered. He's not well thought of by his peers.

I just don't get it. :shrug:

I think NBC made another mistake in a long string of mistakes by accommodating Leno. They should have gotten rid of Leno and kept O'Brien.

NBC needs to get some new blood at the top. It dumped good shows to make room for Leno, and now that decision has cost them even more money. They need some new people who know what the hell they're doing, because they sure don't have them now.

[FreeJoe]

11. And yet...

...as bad as he was, he drew a bigger audience than Conan.

[AndyA]

12. That's because he retained the viewers who were watching NBC

prior to the news, then they watched the local news and stayed for The Tonight Show.

I read that local NBC stations said their numbers were down too, due to the fact that their former viewers were watching something else, and remained on that station when the news came on.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the audience numbers when Leno returns. I'll bet he will not get the same numbers he had before.

[salguine]

13. I guess they made sure the Colbert incident won't happen again. Yawn.

[onehandle]

14. Makes sense. After Colbert, Bush's White House picked Rich Little. Leno is just as funny.

As in not funny.

They are also both dinosaurs of the same era.