The Nice Guy Gets an Edge : Jay Leno Begins His Fourth Year Behind ‘The Tonight Show’ Desk . . . and He’s Gaining on Letterman

Gene Hackman was sharing an embarrassing story last week on “The Tonight Show,” involving a film reviewer who suggested he was too old to play the nuclear submarine captain in “Crimson Tide.” Hackman was just getting over the stinging comment, he said, when a young retail clerk waiting on the dignified actor offered him a 20% senior citizen discount with his purchase.

Hackman got a big laugh from the studio audience.

In his old eager-to-please days, host Jay Leno might have lobbed a softball back at Hackman from a list of pre-written questions. But this time Leno went for the kill.

“Did you take it or not?” Leno asked Hackman.

Introducing the new, improved and slightly more daring Leno.

Exactly three years have passed since Leno took over “The Tonight Show” from Johnny Carson. But by Leno’s own admission, he didn’t really get it right until about six months ago. That’s when Hollywood’s nicest guy developed an edge.

Since then, he has taken hold of the “Tonight Show,” moved it into a new studio and flipped it upside down, transforming NBC’s timeworn institution into a wacky late-night comedy club--perhaps best exemplified by the Dancing Itos, a recurring troupe of bearded Asian American dancers in black flowing robes.

“We were trying do the same show that Johnny was doing, because it was obviously tremendously successful,” Leno said of his first couple years. “That’s why they wanted me to copy it. But you can’t copy someone else’s style. I mean, especially Johnny Carson. People would say, ‘Do you enjoy doing the show?’ Yes. ‘What are you doing that’s better than what Johnny did?’ Well, nothing. I mean, nothing . Johnny is the best at this.”

Meanwhile, the cool distance between Leno and his former band leader, Branford Marsalis, has been replaced by a warm familiarity with Marsalis’ replacement, Kevin Eubanks.

Viewers have taken notice. After being bashed in the ratings ever since David Letterman premiered his “Late Show” on CBS nearly two years ago, Leno has finished just .1 of a ratings point behind Letterman for three weeks running, while routinely dominating such large markets as Los Angeles and Chicago.

“It is extremely frustrating to be .1 of a ratings point behind,” Leno said. “I mean, West Palm Beach could make the difference.”

When the latest ratings are released today, the gap will likely increase because Letterman traveled to London last week for the May ratings sweeps. But Leno believes late-night parity is almost at hand. He takes pride in his high ratings in large urban markets, particularly Los Angeles.

“I’d like to attribute it to the fact that our show has a good ethnic mix,” he said. “You know, when we do man-on-the-street interviews, or when we go door-to-door with our cameras, we don’t always achieve it but we try to visit Asians, blacks, Latinos. There’s always somebody that looks like the people who are watching the program.”

Despite all of Leno’s work, the competition’s effort to undercut his accomplishments never ends. CBS has put its own spin on Leno’s ratings--which are up 5% over last year, while Letterman’s are down 10%--claiming that Letterman has lost his viewers to ABC’s “Nightline,” not to Leno.

Leno doesn’t care how they slice it.

“People stop me on the street. They say, ‘Hey, you’re closing in on Dave,’ ” Leno said. “I mean, they don’t say to me, ‘Hey, are “Nightline’s” affluent viewers sifting away Dave’s viewers?’ Put whatever spin you want on it. That’s fine.”

Although Leno still plays it close to the vest, he speaks much more freely today than he used to, when he routinely kowtowed to personal handlers and network executives. When asked about the inspiration for the many changes on the “Tonight Show,” Leno simply points to his comedy instinct. He has always had that instinct, he maintains, but he was listening to too many opinions before to let his instinct take over.

“I’d never been a boss before,” Leno said. “You know, I always worked for myself. So when I came into this situation, I was using that Bill Clinton approach: Let’s discuss everything. Now I say, you know, I don’t want to discuss it. Let’s just do it. Here’s what I want to do, let’s shoot it.”

Leno first got the idea to rethink the “Tonight Show” last May, when he took the program to New York and worked from a set that put him close to the audience, where he received tremendous feedback.

At the end of September, Leno fled Carson’s old cavernous Studio 1 on the NBC lot in Burbank--along with the ghost that haunted it. He permanently took over the smaller Studio 3, which was revamped according to his specifications at a cost of $2 million or more.

“Before, I was doing it in another studio, on a huge set,” Leno said, “and I’d stand on the mark and the audience would be far away. When I would talk to Branford I had to yell across that huge chasm, ‘Hey Branford!’ Then they’d turn these huge crank-driven cameras around to get his reaction, and the show seemed labored and slow.”

Leno patterned his new set after the cozy comedy clubs he used to play. A small roll-out section of the stage extends into the audience on the floor, so Leno can play off people around him. Overhead, a camera swoops and soars to give the show movement. Another camera lurks on the floor, shooting between audience members’ heads.

Studio 3 has become Jay Leno’s sandbox, where the guests take a back seat to the comedy. Leno’s monologues sometimes last 15 minutes, punctuated by video clips for an extra laugh. Afterward, Leno might run a pre-taped video bit and then go into one of his characters--Mr. Brain, Iron Jay or Larry the Lawyer. The guests often don’t come on until after midnight.

“Now I can say the show is mine,” Leno said. “I first felt that after New York, and it really settled in once we took over the new studio.”

Not long after the switch, Marsalis wanted to take a leave and tour with his band, Buckshot LeFonque. There was always an on-air perception that Leno and Marsalis didn’t get along well.

“Sometimes it looked as if we were bumping heads,” Leno said. “A lot of times on the show I’d say, ‘Branford, is this funny?’ He’d go, ‘Oh no, man. That’s not funny at all.’ Which would make me laugh. I mean, I enjoy Branford’s sarcasm. But on the air it came across as something else.

“After a while, I said, ‘You know, Branford, maybe you should, like, fake laugh or something.’ He’d go, ‘Well, I don’t like to fake laugh.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know, we got to come up with something .’ ”

Eubanks, a temporary replacement for Marsalis, became permanent when he and Leno immediately hit it off on air. For one thing, Eubanks can talk with Leno while he plays guitar, unlike Marsalis, a saxophone player.

More than anything, Leno feels he has finally proven himself--to network executives, critics, celebrities--which frees him up to be himself. He said Hollywood works best when you compare it to high school.

“When I was a kid, if I went to a new high school, I couldn’t be a wise guy,” Leno said. “I couldn’t be a smart ass because they didn’t know me in that high school. Show business is really like a big high school. You know, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman and the Academy Award winners, they’re the seniors. And you’re the freshman class, but they’ve seen you around school. If you’re the new guy in school, you can’t go around kickin’ ass and actin’ like a tough guy. You’ve got to earn the respect of the crowd.”