[Source: The Associated Press]
Howie Mandel has a bone to pick with his longtime friend Jay Leno.
On the podcast “Howie Mandel Does Stuff,” he tells Leno he should have publicly defended himself in the “Tonight Show” rivalries of decades past, when Leno and David Letterman and then Leno and Conan O’Brien tussled over the plum job of host.
Leno, who hosted “Tonight” for a combined 22 years after Johnny Carson retired, insisted that the public has zero interest in hearing celebrities gripe.
An admitted workaholic, Leno performs stand-up and hosts the game show “You Bet Your Life,” with Kevin Eubanks, and the car-buff series “Jay Leno’s Garage.” On Mandel’s podcast, he offered his take on winning “Tonight,” losing it briefly and regaining it.
He and Letterman were among Carson’s guest hosts before Letterman launched NBC’s “Late Night’” in 1982 in the post-“Tonight” time slot. Letterman seemed positioned to succeed Carson when the enduring “King of Late Night” retired in 1992, but he and Leno fought for the throne.
Mandel raised the competition between Leno and O’Brien for “Tonight.” O’Brien, who had taken over the slot opened by Letterman’s exit from NBC (starting “Late Show” at CBS), was tapped to replace Leno in a bid to draw a younger audience.
