Jay Leno is a well-known American talk show host & standup comedian who is famous for hosting “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He worked as the show’s host for about 21 years, from 1992 to 2009 & from 2010 to 2014. Apart from being a standup comedian and a popular talk show host, Jay is also a car enthusiast who has a huge collection of cars.
According to a report, Jay has about 286 vehicles in his garage, out of which he has“169 cars” and “117 motorbikes”. Jay also writes about cars in a popular technology & motor vehicle-based magazine called “Popular Mechanics.” He uses this magazine to spread valuable advice about cars & tries to educate people about how to choose a vehicle.
Jay Leno was born into a normal middle-class family. His family origins from Italy, who later moved to New York as immigrants. Jay’s father was a hardworking man who used to work as an insurance salesman in order to support his family. Jay also has a brother named “Patrick,” who was a war veteran who fought against Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, Jay lost his brother to cancer.
Jay Leno Early Career
Jay had always loved standup comedy, and since childhood, he aspired to become one. And so, during the 1970s, Jay started his own comedy club, where he used his comedic talent to entertain people. After working as a standup comedian, Jay later started working for “The Tonight Show,” where he worked as a substitute host for “Jimmy Carson,” who at that time was the official host of “The Tonight Show.”
After working there for a couple of years, Jay was finally able to succeed Jimmy, and he became the host. There he used his standup comedy skills to make the audience laugh and made the show a big hit. Until 2009 when he was finally replaced by Conan O Brien.
After being replaced by Conan, Jay finally started his own talk show, which featured several popular celebrities like Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, etc. Who would often talk and discuss popular news & current affairs?
But eventually, neither Conan’s show nor Jay’s show performed well, which resulted in a decrease in their viewership. Jay’s show performed so badly that its run time was reduced from an hour to 30 minutes. In order to save the show, NBC made a very important decision. They decided to bring Jay back to the show, which was kind of surprising for Conan, as he did not expect this.
NBC gave Conan an option to shift his show to the next day, which would air by 12:05 AM. However, Conan was against this decision as he believed pushing the show time would hurt the viewership & reputation of the show. But finally, NBC and Conan came to an agreement, which resulted in Conan exiting the show. After he left, Jay took over the show and became the new host of The Tonight Show.
How Many Cars Does Jay Leno Have In His Garage?
According to a report, Jay has about 286 vehicles in his garage, out of which he has“169 cars” and “117 motorbikes”. And among this huge collection, he has two double steam cars which are of the vintage model. He also owns Howard Hughes’s Sedan Roster, a “1963 Chrysler Turbine Car”, currently. There are only nine such models in the world, and Jay owns one of them.
Jay also loves antique vehicles, so he also has “3 antique electric cars”. Through the magazine “Popular Mechanics,” Jay talks about various car topics like the restoration of unique models like “Jet powered motorcycles” & solar powered hybrids.” He also reviews high-end sports cars for The Sunday Times.
Jay Leno & His Life
We all know Jay from his appearances on “The Tonight Show,” but what many of us fans don’t know is that Jay has dyslexia,“ a kind of disorder in which a person has difficulty in reading & writing.” Jay lost his mother soon after he became the host of The Tonight Show & lost his father the following year. A very sad turn in his life, on the one hand, Jay was achieving success, and on the other hand, he lost his parents.
Along with achieving success, Jay has also involved himself in several charity works. In 2001, he donated $100K to educate people in Afghanistan to make them understand the unfortunate situation of women under Taliban rule. He also sold one of his cars from his collection to raise money to help wounded soldiers. Currently, Jay is 72 years old, and he has a net worth of $500 Million.
