Leno's Oprah Interview: What Jay's Body Language Reveals

By Jo Piazza Posted Jan 29th 2010 07:18AM

Actions always speak louder than words. Which is why we asked the experts to take apart Jay Leno's Oprah sit-down with a fine tooth comb to find out what is really going on behind the chin. Yes, maybe we have seen too much Leno over the past month, but his interview with Oprah seemed different since something about Ms. O makes people tell their truth (much to their chagrin) and show off some raw emotions. We were not disappointed. But because Jay is such a consummate performer, questions remain. Was he earnest? Uncomfortable? Cocky? Why did he keep crossing and uncrossing his legs? See what our experts have to say after the jump.

Jay walked onto the Burbank set with his hands in his pockets, which according to body language expert Patti Wood, is a signal that you are preparing to hide your emotional state. When he sat opposite Oprah (the interviewee seat is an uncomfortable place for Jay) he did an "arm-leg lock", which is a male leg cross with a hand wrapped around the leg.

"That leg lock is a fascinating signal of protection," explained body language expert Patti Wood. "It was saying I am powerful but I feel the need to protect myself. He isn't used to being in the left-hand chair."

Which is totally fair since Oprah came out guns slinging. Instead of her typical celebrity soft-ball questions where everyone feels happy and at ease until she throws in a little zinger before returning to happy Oprah-land, O went at Jay with everything she had.

"Jay started gripping the arms of his chair early on in between folding them over his legs. He didn't like her taking him to that dark emotional place," Wood said. "And when Oprah asked whether the experience has changed him, his non-verbal response was to take his right hand and scratch down his cheek in sign of self-beating, demonstrating just how injured he feels."

Some of the strongest non-verbal cues that Jay was giving off came at the beginning of the interview when he told Oprah that leaving 'The Tonight Show' the first time around broke his heart. He meant it!!!

"Jay flashed what was known as a micro-expression; a facial expression that is very fleeting, but that reveals the emotion being felt at that moment. These are very hard to conceal. This micro-expression was one of sincere sadness. With this expression, the inner corners of the eyebrows are pulled up and in simultaneously, with the corners of the mouth being pulled down. If you watch closely, you can also see that his eyes became 'misty' momentarily," said body language expert Vincent Harris, author of 'The Productivity Epiphany.'

When talking about Jimmy Kimmel mocking him on his own show, Jay said "I got sucker punched. " Oprah naturally pushed and asked him how he felt about said sucker-punch.

"He extended both hands and arms as though he was pushing something away. This was indicative of being very uncomfortable with Kimmel's comments from before and wanting Oprah to move on with her questioning," Harris said.

When Oprah asked Jay if he had any hard feelings towards Conan he may have tried to sound upbeat and positive, but his body language betrayed him.

"His response was that he had no hard feelings at all. But as soon as he said that he moved an arm across his body to protect himself and rubbed his ear which is an indication of insincerity," Wood said. "It really stood out because I believe he was being honest and straightforward throughout most of the piece, but not here."

Tags: conan obrien, jay leno, oprah winfrey, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tonight Show, TheTonightShow

Comments

(293)

Friday 29 January

By bait

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Sorry, Conan is just not funny. Neither one is easy on the eyes but something about Conan makes me turn away.

Saturday 30 January

By soundslike04

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LOL!!! You are funny! You put into words exactly how I feel about having to turn away when Conan is on. So, it wasn't just me. Hmmm...

By Larry

Jay said he was going to retire many times at 62 and then he took the 10:00 slot instesd.
If he really wanted to do the right thing he would just do what he said and let Conan try his best.
If Conan floppes then maybe he could take over again, but jay has not done what he promised and is pretending it it not his fault.

By guiseppe

JAY IS THE MAN. CONAN IS THE KID. YOU COULD LOSE SLEEP OVER WATCHING JAY, BUT GET ALOT OF SLEEP WITH CONAN

By Martin Cooper

TV viewers will fall for anything. If Leno didn't want to be grilled he wouldn't had came on Oprah. I bet every question Oprah asked where already known by Leno. NBC gambled and lost big time. I thought Leno wanted to move on so bad, why is he still here?
When all is said, Conan will reap the bigger reward out of sympathy on how they believed Leno and NBC treated him. It's a rating war out their.

By tracey

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You go, JAY!! Letterman, Kimmel, Stewart, and Obrien don't hold a candle to you! You are the BEST!

By Magic

I thought Oprah was the federal prosecutor in that interview. It seemed way too intense from someone who knows network business as first hand as she does.

By Steven

And in the end, it is all about "money". If they all stopped working today, they would all, still be rich, and have more money then they know what to do with. So for the rest of us; is it worth sitting around arguing about? Do we really need any late night TV? I think, not!

By peter

this is analysis? this is like biblical fiction, stating untruths as absolutes to prove veracity. we know aol wanted conan, and we know conan tanked big time. so leave jay the chin alone. very bad quasi analytical mumbo jumbo.

By Karen

I like both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien,but I think Oprah should be ashamed of herself. Her hostility towards Jay Leno was so thinly disguised,I am stunned by how gracious he was to her. I would have walked out. Oprah spoke as if she were an EMPLOYEE of Conan O'Brien! I used to like her. I think she should ask Jay Leno for forgiveness for the shoddy way she treated him.

By pj

What a bunch of crap !!

By Paula

Jay Leno is the obnoxious one. He took cheap shots at Letterman when everyone else left that topic alone (Letterman's affair). Oh yeah, he's a class act all right. Conan O'Brien is a sweet sincere gentleman and also happens to be hysterically funny. I wish Conan the best. I will never watch Leno, I think he's boring and his bits such as "Jay Walking" insult the people he interviews. A little self depracation might do Mr. Leno some good, he's way too full of himself.

By Glenn

anyone who thinks that "Jay Walking " is about insulting others must be just as big an idiot as some of those he does interview - yur intellegents are the insulting thing about yourself , Jay has brought to light that there are a hell of a lot of mis-informed people walking about the streets , and I'm willin' to bet YOUR ONE OF THEM !!

By Joe

Oprah
She was terible- she kept answering the same questios over and over. She looked like an amateur. If this was practice for her to have another show interviewing guests she has a lot of learning ahead. I always liked Oprah in the past and was very disappointed and surprised by her performance.

By charlie salguero

Marcus,

When Leno's show initially directly faced Letterman's, Letterman led in ratings. Two events helped Leno gain and keep the lead: A new set brought Leno closer to the audience, and Hugh Grant kept his July 10, 1995 scheduled appearance despite having been arrested for seeing a prostitute. Leno famously asked Grant "What the hell were you thinking?" My point is that Conan wasn't given the time to grow and flourish. Also, Conan had a terrible lead in show; The Jay Leno Show. Leno's version of The Tonight Show was blessed with having excellent lead in programing and it was the first talk show to air on the NBC schedule.

By Stacy

You keep mentioning that Jay had a great lead in show and Conan had a terrible one... um, Jay wasn't his lead in show, the news was and it was also Jay's so where is this wonderful difference?

Stacey,

Let me break it down for you. Jay Leno wasn't bringing enough viewers over to watch the News because his show blew and no one was watching; this single fact is what started this whole disaster. Remember the affiliates not being happy? The Affiliates never blamed The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien; they blamed The Jay Leno Show. The Jay Leno show caused a damaging domino effect for the whole late night line up. Do your research. Jay should have walked away, then America could have seen once and for all if The Tonight Show really would have failed after being given the time it needed to flourish.

By dee1224

Conan stunk,he wasn't funny,i'm glad Jay's back! Good riddance Conan!

By Liannesclan

It was very obvious or it appeared to be obvious that Jay doesn't feel like he should've been hit like he was. Too bad, though, when he in fact was involved from the VERY get in the decisions to do or NOT do his show at 10 and then to take away the 11:35 slot away from Conan. He went along with the move to Conan for the Tonight show a LONG time ago. He couldn've done what Conan respectively did, and that was to NOT back down and stand up for what he felt was right. I didn't see Jay show that at ALL with this interview, other than to show that he is a child with hurt feelings.

I don't feel bad for him. He should've done the right thing and allow Conan a chance to let viewers see his brand of the show and not shove him out like he and NBC did. He didn't show any sense of being sorry at all, it looked more like, "Look at poor me, I'm being made fun of.... wha wha wha..."

I went to a taping of the Tonight Show with Conan last September and it was very humbling to see him work and talk with the guests. He put sincere effort into talking to the guests, talking with the people he worked with and at the end of the taping, he came out and shook people's hands, it was very cool to see him up close and meet him. He is better than people say.

This has made me see Jay in a VERY negative way and I don't feel bad about that. Conan's supporters came out for him and that says something....... He is very sincere.

By LORD BLACK DANIELS

all you boobs picking on Jay can go blow it out your "dew pa" -- Polish for, you guessed it, -- your butt hole.

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