Is Jay Leno Stealing Jokes for 'The Tonight Show'?

By Tracey Harrington McCoy Posted May 31st 2011 10:00PM

In the world of comedy, there's nothing worse than stealing material. But late night TV host, Jay Leno, is under fire for doing just that.

The Daily Caller reports that last week Jay Leno told a joke that was eerily similar to a joke told two days earlier by Andy Levy on 'Red Eye,' an overnight show on the Fox News channel.

Here's a transcript of both:
'The Tonight Show' on May 26
Leno: Bad news for the state of California. The Supreme Court will force the state to release something like 46,000 convicts because of prison overcrowding. But the good news – it looks like the Oakland Raiders will have more season ticket holders. Yeah, so the stadium will be packed.

'Red Eye' on May 24
Levy: Supreme Court orders tens of thousands of California prisoners released. This actually might help the Raiders start selling out their home games again.

'Red Eye' host Greg Gutfeld: Oh nicely done. You can see, their fans are criminals.

Levy and Gutfeld discussed the possible hack job this past Saturday. "Wow Andy, I can't believe you traveled to the future, stole that joke from Jay, then traveled back to tell it on 'Red Eye,'" Gutfeld said.

"Look, what's the point of having a time machine if you're not going to travel to the future, steal jokes from Jay Leno then travel back to tell them on 'Red Eye?'" Levy said in reply.

The Daily Caller also points out that the show didn't fault Leno, just his writers. "Jay didn't steal anything except another Dorito," 'Red Eye' co-host Bill Schultz said. "His writer stole the joke. Let's be honest here guys."

Tags: Jay Leno

Comments

(20)

Tuesday 31 May

By Tommy

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Leno has been doing that for years! His team of writers sit back and watch fox and other shows, wait a week or two and there you go! what a Job!

Wednesday 01 June

By maxinpains

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That tell Jay & Jay's crews has no brains & any creativities to even request pays from studio for every month. FIRED.

By bill b

howard stern been accusing him that for years, report on something we dont know

By simpsonsimpmike

That's one reason why Jay Leno sucks.

Thursday 09 June

By dale

as seen from the lack of replies, no one really cares about his show... LOL

Letterman 4eva (okay, Crazy Craig, too!)

By BarbaraAnn

Screwing over Conan, stealing jokes, Leno will stoop as low as he has to, to try to stay afloat. He's a jerk! I used to watch him and like him till he did that dastardly deed to Conan, but no more!

By Suu

Barbara Not Really Sure what happened With Conan was all Jay's Fault..some of the blame can be put on NBC.For Starting it by saying Conan just wasnt working..then those 2 started going at each other...

By tammygfan

Oh please, those jokes about Raider fans write themselves. No reason to accuse someone else of stealing them.

By Shahjehan Khan

At least it's research, but Jay Leno makes it more funnier.

By Phish RULES!!!

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"more funnier" ..Good example of why you're a Leno fan.

By BTDT

Not only more funnier but repeatedly redundant.

By Mark

Jay Leno has been stealing bits from Howard Stern and David Letterman for years.

By Nicole

Jay Leno is notorious for stealing jokes. No surprise.

Thursday 02 June

JAY is SHAME OF THE ITALIAN AMERICAN.

By Yi

Leno has always been a moron. There would be no Leno without Letterman. Letterman was an innovator. He changed late night TV. Leno is an imposter. It shows that America's mindset is on idiotic when you see that Leno beats Letterman in the ratings.

Letterman's innovative edge has dulled since the birth of his son, but he is still smarter than Leno. How sad is it that the birth of a child can be a detriment to a career?

It turns out that you don't need to grow as a person, or actually be talented, to be a success in America. You just have to be a plagiarizing sycophant.

By hello kitty

I think his mom may have been into bestiality because he's a copycat.

By Brian Long from Blacksburg VA

I don't know why he steals jokes, but I do know I would like to toss Jay Leno's salad. I like to toss salads.

By aimloren

Jay Leno doesn't even have the energy to steal anymore... but his writers do and they have been stealing for years. How anyone watches that crappy show is beyond me!!

By heardit

I don't live in CA but I heard this similar joke about two weeks ago on May 20 so who stole the joke from who?

By Shannon

BOTH jokes were bad, so why even mention it?

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