The former The Tonight Show host went from working at McDonald’s on minimum pay to being one of the most well-known comedians of his time.
After college in Boston, Jay settled in Hollywood and moved up the ranks to soon host The Tonight Show. During his time as host, he lived off smaller paychecks to save money, stopped using credit cards, and worked hard writing his own jokes. As of 2019, his car collection has an estimated value of over $50 million.
Having hosted over 4,600 episodes of The Tonight Show, and with an approximate net worth of $400 million as of 2019, Leno’s rise to fame is a story of modest beginnings.
Minimum Wage and Moving to LA
James Douglas Muir Leno arrived into the world on the 28th of April in 1950. He lived in New Rochelle in New York for a number of years, before moving to Andover, Massachusetts, with his parents Angelo and Cathryn Leno.
He spent most of his childhood in Andover, and attended Andover High School.
Making jokes came early for him, especially at school with one of his teacher’s writing, “if Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he’d be a big star,” on his report card.
During his teenage years in Andover, he began working at a McDonald’s.
After high school, Jay went to Emerson College in Boston, keeping up with his passion for comedy by starting a comedy club as well as doing his own stand-up shows in local clubs.
Eventually he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in speech therapy in 1973.
In due course, Leno decided to move to Hollywood, Los Angeles to take a shot at furthering his comedic talents.
Soon enough, he began writing for a TV series called Good Times with his friend David Letterman, who would later become a fellow late-night host.
Taking Comedy Seriously
As a promising comedian on the LA scene, Leno first performed his stand-up comedy on The Tonight Show in 1977.
He played a role on One Day at a Time in 1979, appeared in two episodes of Laverne & Shirley in 1979 and ‘83, and also scored several roles on the big screen. Some included Almost Heaven (1978) and Americathon (1979).
By 1986, Leno had his own stand-up special called Jay Leno and the American Dream, which led to his contract with NBC to be a permanent guest host for Tonight Show.
Even as host of one of the biggest series on TV, Leno states that “I pretended as if I didn’t even have the Tonight Show job.”
“You know, when you start making money, you get lazy. I wanted to make sure I always had that hunger, so I never looked at [the Tonight Show money]. It would go directly into a bank.”
He would invest his larger paycheck from the show into is savings, stayed away from credit cards or mortgages to avoid potential debt, and put high demands on himself.
“I own everything. I own my buildings. I own my cars. That way, if it ends tomorrow, I know what I’ve got,” he says. “It’s a little old fashioned, I suppose, but it seems to work pretty well for me.”
The Tonight Show and Cars
Johnny Carson soon retired from hosting Tonight Show in ‘92, sparking interest for Leno as the replacement. NBC went for Leno, and he hosted the show from 1992-09, and again in 2010.
Since leaving Tonight Show in 2014, his series Jay Leno’s Garage began in 2006, where Leno critiques all kinds of vintage, classic, restored cars, and more. CNBC began airing some new episodes on April in 2020.
His passion for cars stems from growing up in Massachusetts and learning how to fix vehicles. Creating a car collection wasn’t always his intention, as he simply bought cars that he liked.