Weekly Writing Assignment #2

Jay Leno had great talent as a stand-up comedian, but he is now a comic that is viewed by his peers as greedy, and successful only because he did anything he could do to get where he is at, even if it was at the expense of other comics, such as Conan O’Brien or David Letterman, or dumbing down his material to appear to a broader audience. The reputation that Jay Leno once had as a brilliant comic has now plummeted and is something he will never have again amongst his peers.

The author believes that Jay Leno has selfishly gained the stature that he has, and that he has deservingly lost respect amongst other comic writers and undeservingly gained the competitive spot on “The Tonight Show.” The author makes the point that Leno used to be a brilliant comic who did everything right, and that it is now apparent that he “dumbs down” his material only to reach a broader audience and not necessarily to be entertaining. He makes the argument that Leno is not being his true comedic self, where more clever, smart, devoted, and deserving comics are and are being left in the dark.

Halfway through the essay the author makes the argument that Jay Leno has “dumbed down” his material in order to reach the largest audience possible. Yet later, he goes on to say that Leno’s “Jaywalking” bit is condescending to average people walking the streets. I find these arguments interesting in the sense that, throughout the entire essay, the author seems to talk about all comic writers besides Jay Leno as brilliant and as attaining far beyond the level of humor as “normal” people. I feel that this notion in itself is condescending and that the author is being contradicting in his arguments.

All I know about the author, Nathan Rabin, is that he is the head writer of the A.V Club, the entertainment section of the Onion, and the author of “The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture.” While I agree with the idea that Leno is not what he used to be and that Conan O’brien is hilariously talented, I think the bias in this article is extremely evident. He almost seems like the condescending person that he himself is describing.