April 28
James Douglas Muir
Leno's Birthday
When Jay Leno was in 5th grade, his teacher wrote on his report card "If Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he'd be a big star." Teachers are always right, so following her advice, several years later Jay began his career in night clubs. It was a grueling career choice and he worked 300 nights a year before hitting it big in 1992 when he took over the Tonight Show in 1992 from Johnny Carson when Johnny retired. Behind the scenes, Jay and David Letterman were both competing for the job which led to a turbulent transition and significant resentment by Letterman which is effectively retold in the HBO Emmy Award-nominated film The Late Shift (1996). Ironically, Jay initially earned his television popularity when he made a record number of visits to Late Night with David Letterman after which he served as Johnny Carson's permanent guest host on The Tonight Show.
When Jay's Tonight Show contact ended, in 2009, he was offered a new hour-long show at 10 pm Eastern Time five nights a week and Conan O'Brien was his successor on The Tonight Show. When his new time slot failed to produce the audience demographics necessary to sustain the show and pressure from local affiliates complained because newscasts were suffering, NBC bought out Conan's contract and Jay went back to his old time slot. The NBC machinations caused significant criticism of Jay and support for Conan. However, his old audience gradually returned and Conan moved to TBS.
What type of food does Jay like? He is
essentially a meat and potatoes man. In November 2006, Jay
claimed that ate a vegetable for the first time in 37 years, He once
mentioned some of his favorite foods while on the road with his stand-up
act. "I' ll probably stop at Market Bar-B-Que when I'm in Minneapolis. I've
been going there for 30 years. I make it a thing to stop by certain places
when I'm on the road, like this place in Kansas that makes chocolate-chip
cookies or White House Subs in Atlantic City." Jay Confessed to guest
Scarlett Johansson on his May 4, 2010 show and that he kept a Soupy Sub
Sandwich at the studio sent to him by a lady from Rhode Island in 1993.
Johansson was astounded when Leno produced the antique sandwich along with a
bottle of 'brown' tomato ketchup.
Most of his fans know what item that he doesn't like, When Los Angeles
restaurateur, cookbook author, and Food Network star Guy Fieri showed Kim Kardashian
how to make fried Oreos on the January 4, 2011 Tonight Show, Jay
called Guy’s creation the “most disgusting thing” he’s ever eaten. Jay had
learned to be a little more discriminating about what he put into his mouth
since his April 2009 hospitalization for food poisoning.
So to celebrate Jay's birthday we suggest renting a copy of The Late
Shift with a memorable performance by Daniel Roebuck as Jay and
enjoying Jay Leno's
Uncle Louie's Chicken Wings Marinara which is allegedly one of his favorite
dishes.
Jay Leno's Uncle Louie's Chicken Wings Marinara
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Ingredients
2 TB olive oil
1 TB garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 TB hot sauce, to taste
4 garlic cloves, chopped
chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
1 Preheat oven to 400° F.
2 If using whole wings, disjoint wings and remove tips; you should have 24
drumettes.
3 In a large bowl, toss the chicken with the olive oil, garlic powder, salt
and pepper. Place on a rack in a baking pan.
4 Roast the chicken wings or drumettes in preheated oven until done, about
30 minutes.
5 Meanwhile, to make sauce, place the marinara sauce, hot sauce and garlic
in a blender or food processor and
blend to puree garlic.
6 When the wings are done, remove from the oven, and toss with half the
sauce. Leave the oven on. Return wings
to oven for 10 more minutes .
7 Sprinkle the wings with parsley.
8 Serve with the remaining sauce on the side to dip the wings