Leno to host free show in Detroit.

[Sarc]

Class act that guy.

NBC'S 'THE TONIGHT SHOW' HOST JAY LENO ANNOUNCES HIS OWN COMEDY STIMULUS PLAN

BURBANK - March 10, 2009 - On the March 9 edition of NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," host Jay Leno announced his plan for "stimulating" America with what he does best -- tell jokes. The comedian -- with a big boost from the event sponsor Pepsi -- will appear in the Detroit area to perform his standup for people who have found themselves out of work due to the current economic crunch. NBA's Detroit Pistons have donated their home court, the Palace of Auburn Hills, to house the night of free entertainment.

In addition, Leno has even had the fees for parking waved.

"I'm watching our president and he's saying what we should do to help. We got this bad economy thing and well, I tell jokes...so how can I help out? So I was thinking, an awful lot of people unemployed, out of work, don't have any entertainment dollars...Well, one of my favorite places is Detroit, and there are so many out-of-work autoworkers. People work hard their whole lives, they're saving their money and so I thought, why don't I go to Detroit and do (my comedy) show?" said Leno before Monday's "Headlines" segment. "I want to do a show for the, not just the auto workers, but anyone out of work in Detroit. But it'll be free. It won't cost you a dime. Not that I'm the greatest comic in the world, but it's free. If you don't like it, you get your money back!"


But, you can't please everyone :

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090310/ENT10/903100433/1404/ENT10

[stomachmonkey]

[Shadetree930]

From the article ...

The show is part of "Jay's Comedy Stimulus Plan." Tickets will be available at the Palace box office beginning at 10 a.m. Monday.


Call me a cynic, but I believe that it is more of a marketing gimic to promote his move to prime time.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by prials

From the article ...

The show is part of "Jay's Comedy Stimulus Plan." Tickets will be available at the Palace box office beginning at 10 a.m. Monday.


Call me a cynic, but I believe that it is more of a marketing gimic to promote his move to prime time.

Maybe but who cares if it is.

Jay is pretty much a regular Joe.

I can see it being an earnest gesture on his part.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

maybe but who cares if it is.

Jay is pretty much a regular joe.

I can see it being an earnest gesture on his part.

+1

[kach22i]

I can watch him anytime on TV for free.

He is a good guy.

[fingpilot]

I don't click on links in here, so sorry if this is a repost, but I just saw that the mayor of Detroit asked Leno to not come to Detroit right at the moment, he didn't need no 'stimulus'.

[Arizona_928]

i saw that the other night. hey atleast it's free.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Seems like a solid plan to me - Detroit will leap back onto its feet with a couple of free Jay Leno Shows.

Jay stands to gain much more from the publicity than Detroit.

Marketing/Promotion 101.

We're talking about it here so apparently its working.

[FastCarFan]

Give the guy a break. Leno is a very nice guy. You know, sometimes people really do things out of the goodness of their heart, without any sort of PR agenda.

Leno is a nice guy, a funny guy & a true car enthusiast. I think what he is doing is great.

[stomachmonkey]

It's not about getting Detroit back on it's feet.

It's about doing something for the unemployed of Detroit.

Jays a car guy, Detroit is a natural choice.

[Gogar]

I wonder what happens to the concessions contracts in a "free" show like that.

[krichard]

total publicity stunt for his new prime time show. What a douche!

[mossguy]

Originally Posted by krichard

total publicity stunt for his new prime time show. What a douche!

WOW! Who pi$$ed in your cereal?

Best,
Tom

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by krichard

total publicity stunt for his new prime time show. What a douche!

Hmmmmmmm. Lemme think. No, not a douche.

Douche:




Slightly less, but not much less douche:

[krichard]

Originally Posted by Gogar

Hmmmmmmm. Lemme think. No, not a douche.

Douche:




Slightly less, but not much less douche:

That first one is a class a #1 example of douche so maybe I was a little off in my discription of Leno. I still think his soul motivation is personal gain and by "doing his part" he gets even more publicity by going on all the daytime TV shows to promote his good deeds. Oh and while he's there why not mention that he moving to prime time, "please watch my show......."

btw, how was your show at Stubb's last week? I really wanted to go but I had to go to down to SA

[gr8fl4porsche]

If you are doing something charitable to help people, you don't book yourself on a national TV show to announce it.

Now if he truly wants to help the out of work people in Detroit, there are much better ways than a free (highly publicized) comedy show. The man makes more money in one year than a large group of Detroitians combined lifetime earnings.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

If you are doing something charitable to help people, you don't book yourself on a national TV show to announce it.

Now if he truly wants to help the out of work people in Detroit, there are much better ways than a free (highly publicized) comedy show. The man makes more money in one year than a large group of Detroitians combined lifetime earnings.

uhm, how does one book oneself on ones own show?

He announced it on air the other night, on HIS show.

Leno is the current King of Late Night TV, he gets 5 million viewers a night, he has the #1 show in the time slot.

He does not need any additional publicity. His fans are already aware of the move and he has hardly mentioned it.

Considering the reach of HIS show it makes perfect sense to announce the benefit show there.

After all it's his show and it has a huge audience. Could be one of the reasons that other people come on his show, you know, the ones that are promoting their latest movie, album, etc....

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by prials

Just to pour gas on the fire

.... the show venue is in the wealthier suburb of Auburn Hills a loooong way from the actual city of Detroit. The unemployed of Detroit, the truly desperate ones will have no way of getting to the show. This could have been held in downtown Detroit, the post-Armageddon city of the USA and these people would have stood a chance of actually seeing him.

Now if he had done this in one of the true Detroit city venues, I would take a less cynical perspective.

Peace & Love brothers, Peace & Love.

And for disclosure ..... I am an exile from that area so I know where-of I speak.

So the options for venues are

Ford Field – maximum capacity 65,000
The Palace of Auburn Hills – maximum capacity 22,076
Joe Louis Arena – maximum capacity 19,988
Comerica Park – maximum capacity 41,070
Cobo Arena – maximum capacity 12,191
DTE Energy Music Theater – maximum capacity 15,274

Ford Field and Comerica are probably too large and are really sports venues.

The Palace, Joe Louis and DTE are the 3 that regularly have concerts.

DTE is even farther out than The Palace.

So if capacity and infrastructure were the deciding factors that makes Joe Louis the other obvious option.

The Red Wings will be playing the 5th and 9th, Jays show is the 7th.

The Palace donated the venue for the night.

Entirely possible that Joe Louis Arena did not want to incur the expense of covering the ice for one night.

I think the Detroit politicians that are making a stink are just pissed that they were not part of the announcement.

What they say is true, no good deed goes unpunished.

[gr8fl4porsche]

He also did an appearance on 'The View'. Funny how he mentioned it again to a national audience.

The feel good crowd really felt good that Jay was doing his part to follow the orders of the President.

It's a fine deed, that is without question, but hardly what I would call 'good'. Good for who? How does a free comedy show help anyone. How does it do any 'good'.

Now if Jay Leno donated 5 million dollars to the local soup kitchen to help all the struggling folks in one of Americas dying cities, then that would be 'good'.

Whatever it takes to help you sleep at night.