Pro-life Ending for Jay Leno's Tonight Show
As I prepare for some surgery this coming week to dig out some melanoma or pre-melanoma (docs still aren’t sure) from my back, I caught the last Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I haven’t watched late night talk shows regularly since Letterman back in the 80′s- but I like watching end of an era type programs because everyone seems to be in a more profound mood.
Jay Leno apparently caught that spirit. In his final moments in thinking of his legacy, he said his first reaction was something like- hey I tell jokes, make people laugh- what more do you say. But then he related how one of the band member’s had a child born shortly after he began as the Tonight Show host- and the child was featured briefly on the show. He then brought out the child who was now 17, and this led to his end game. He pulled back the curtain after describing how so many of his crew members met, married and had kids while being part of his show. The curtain revealed 68 kids and young adults, and Jay was beaming at how his show had a big part in bringing people together and making these children a reality.
I am quite certain that there was no political message embedded in this curtain call and speech about legacy- but it was hard to miss that what is of ultimate value is not all the temporary laughter over the years, it is the eternally significant lives of human beings, who may be mysteriously connecting in even the most insignificant of settings. If Jay Leno gets that, then God bless. I think God is always hiding in the most natural and normal of circumstances- the natural family is the greatest supernatural boost to many people’s spiritual growth. Maybe Leno missed out on that while focusing on his career, with no children of his own- or adopted- he and his wife apparently thought they were fine without children at home. But now he seemed to be finding his larger purpose in the children of his employees- which is a good development I think.
17 Responses to Pro-life Ending for Jay Leno's Tonight Show
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Best of luck with your surgery–we’ll send up some prayers.
Just found you today—great pro=life article on Jay Leno. You should feed into FACEBOOK—I would have like to have shared this article.
Some folks make great aunts and uncles, even though they don’t/can’t/didn’t have kids; Mr. Leno seems like he’d be pretty good for that role.
You call that a pro-life ending? You can’t be serious. This has absolutely nothing to do with a woman’s right to choose what do do with her body, and your hijacking Leno’s piece to suit your own political agenda is nothing short of idiotic.
I, too, was watching Leno’s last show, though I would not call myself a Tonight Show ‘regular.’ I actually happened upon it in the last few minutes and was glad I did. It was really quite poignant how he introduced the 17-yr-old young lady, then revealed all the other children of his staff. I will admit, it moved me very much, but then I thought, “What a shame he and his wife are not prolife.” (I know this from their own WORDS, not because they are a childless couple, by the way.) It’s true that Natural Law is written upon every man’s heart. Let’s continue to work to change minds and soften hearts. Maybe Leno is coming around, even if only through (literal) ‘baby steps.’
Ian-
There is more to being supportive of life than the pro-abortion side’s obsession with absolute power over the lives of those who may be an inconvenience. It’s no coincidence that those who support abortion also tend to support killing those with lives “not worth living” and eugenics. (although they usually find a nicer way to say eugenics– such as “public health” or something)
Ah, so go google George Tiller if you’ve not heard the news, will you? Now that’s how much pro-lifers respect life.
Ian-
Go check out how often Planned Parenthood covers up rapes, to see how much they respect choice.
Great article. Leno was just happy about all the families gathering together and how he was a part of their lives. It is more than the temporary laughs of the Tonight Show. Sadly Ian in Hamburg cannot see the goodness of marriage and children as Western Europe is almost extinct of Europeans and the Muslims take over. I hope Ian is ready.
I too enjoyed that Tonight Show airing. Thanks for the post. I enjoyed it.
You people think you have a lock on marriage and family just because you go to church.
For your information Fr Eric, I’ve been married for 15 years and have a child. We wanted more children, but it didn’t work out for us.
BTW, replace “Jews” in your bigoted statement and you have Germany in the 1930s.
Ian-
On what, exactly, do you base your claim on our thoughts?
From the folks whose philosophy I know who post here, they draw their definition of “marriage” and “family” from some three thousand years of history, not from their religious faith; they generally believe that the path their faith promotes is the most effective for the health of the family and marriage.
If you paid attention, I did mention “can’t” in the options for being childless– and the one person who says the Lenos are not open to children says they are going from the words of those people, not from their lack of a nice herd of children.
As for your claim about “replace Jews”– replace what with Jews? (I’m assuming that’s what you meant, since the word “Jews” doesn’t show up until your post.) Were you trying to respond to my pointing out that those who are vocal supporters of “choice” tend to also support killing off the old and those ill or physically imperfect?
Are you perhaps responding to a different post? This one is basically: “How touching! He brought out the kids of all the folks that work to make his show happen–isn’t that sweet? This kind of appreciation of children is rather open to life.”
For that matter, you do realize the Nazis were not open to children not of the Master Race, right? And that they killed off the ill, the deformed, the inconvenient, the “useless eaters”?
Shooting a doctor is pro-life, too, I guess.
Ah, a troll. Never mind my last post– just another idiot gleefully grabbing on a murder to slander those they disagree with.
I deleted Ian’s comment where he made that statement Foxfier and Ian is now banned from this site.
Ah. *bow* Feel free to delete my quote of it, then, please.
Not at all Foxfier. Your eloquent statement saved me explaining why Ian was now banned from this site.
It appears people here aren’t familiar with Jay Leno or his aesthetic Catholicism.
To put it bluntly, Jay Leno is hardly Catholic and from much of the shows I used to catch, he often ends up decrying and, indeed, mocking the Catholic Church and its beliefs (e.g., see the final show with the Governator) than anything else.
He only starts — in very rare occasions — taking a positive spin on Catholics when the crowd itself is seemingly comprised of Catholics who ends up booing him on an off-color joke that pokes fun at whatever Pope or other clergy is currently in the spotlight; it is then that he’ll act repentent and say something positive about the Church in order to redeem himself.
At any rate, both he & Conan, though both purportedly Catholics, are yet as much a Catholic as Santayana was; deplorable, really, but I guess that’s the only way one can be so popular in the world of entertainment where anti-Catholicism is often a big hit.