TV Comedy Stalwart Sets To Shift Through the Gears

摘要

When Joan Rivers launched her ill-fated late-night talker on Fox in 1986, her old job-permanent guest host of NBC's The Tonight Show-became a must-get gig. By the following year, the field of contenders had narrowed to roughly a half-dozen. Among them was Jay Leno. Best known then for his appearances on Late Night With David Letterman, Leno received a phone call one day from a manager who represented some of his competitors. The manager said that if all the potential guest hosts negotiated together, they could secure $25,000 per episode to fill in. Leno responded that he would go it alone and ask for scale-$512. A few weeks later he received a phone call telling him the job was his. "That was an important lesson to me," Leno says. "I never wanted to be the highest-paid guy You tell me what it pays, and that's what I'll do it for. You know, has it cost me a few bucks over the years? Probably Has it worked out for the best? Yes."