Comedy review: Leno hits many marks at Niagara Fallsview
Few escape barbs during appearance in Falls, Ont., casino
BY STEPHANIE SCHOMERNews Staff Reviewer
Updated: 07/04/08 10:01 AM
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — “The Tonight Show” host Jay Leno left no joke unexplored Thursday night during his performance in Fallsview Casino Resort and Hotel’s Avalon Theatre.
The venue was filled with laughs, with audience members invited to laugh at themselves — as well as everyone else.
REVIEW
WHO: Jay Leno
WHEN: Thursday night; another performance at 9 p. m. today
WHERE: Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort
“Hillary and Barack were in Unity, N. H., to show unity,” he said. “Bill could not be there. He was in Intercourse, Pa.”
Leno exuded energy the moment he stepped onstage, and the audience was putty in his hands as he made fun of politicians, celebrities, Canadians and Americans — but mostly Americans.
“America has a tough decision to make this year: Do you want a black man or a white woman?” he said of the primary race. “That’s a decision Michael Jackson has to make every morning when he looks in the mirror: What do you want to be today?”
Throughout the show, Leno had the audience laughing — not just chuckles but hearty, belly-shaking laughs. The man seated in front of me had tears rolling down his face.
No topic was safe, and Leno managed to make every subject comical.
“All those toys with lead in them that got sent back to China, and the man that owned the factory committed suicide? He stuck his head in an Easy Bake Oven,” he said.
Messy celebrity buzz?
Leno defended Mel Gibson.
“Mel Gibson actually had an uncle who died in the concentration camps. Did you know that?” he said. “He fell out of the guard tower.”
Addressing the swan dress worn to the Oscars by singer Bjork a few years ago, Leno took the joke in a new direction.
“Bjork donated her swan dress to Hurricane Katrina victims,” he said. “How would you like to be the lucky bastard that gets that? There you are, standing in your front yard, water up to your ass, dressed like a duck, waiting for FEMA to show up.”
While not a major focus of the evening, the Bush administration was targeted for a few cracks.
“President Bush has said he has no plans to invade Iran,” he said. “He will still invade — he just has no plans.”
Discussing America’s obesity epidemic, Leno said, “We are becoming a nation of excuse makers. Scientists now believe obesity may be caused by a virus, and not overeating. Really? Does anyone in Africa have that virus? Does this mean we can call in fat to work?”
Leno also focused on how guarded we are as a nation — pointing to the tamper-proof packaging on medicines. But he argued that we’re not quite as guarded as we think.
“I buy the tamper-proof Advil, but then I walk by the Hickory Farms lady: “Here mister, eat this.’ ”
“A woman I don’t know just gave me meat on a stick, and I ate it!” Leno will retire from “The Tonight Show” next year, handing the program over to Conan O’Brien.
Not to upset O’Brien supporters, but after Thursday night’s Leno show, I can say without a doubt that he’s got some pretty big shoes to fill.
