Jay Leno is the Mort Sahl of the Gilligan's Island generation. Through his monthly guest appearances on NBC-TV's Late Night with David Letterman, he has forged a reputation as Letterman's most accomplished foil. Letterman has even confessed that he borrowed Leno's wry comic stance when both were embryonic stand-ups working the California club circuit in the Seventies. In addition to having the most prominent jaw line in show business, Leno maintains a dizzying travel schedule that keeps him away from his home in Hollywood ten months a year. Appropriately enough, Bill Zehme met the comedian at O'Hare Airport, where he was stopping en route to a college gig in Dubuque, Iowa, and went along for the ride. He reports, "Jay is the kind of guy who's proud to fly coach. He travels very light and has a knack for perceiving the horrible truth. As we boarded our puny twin-engine job for the short flight, he noted that this was the kind of plane that, if it crashed, would merit coverage only on cable news."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: You began your career doing stand-up comedy in strip joints. Just how big were you with the strippers?

Jay Leno: Oh, big, big. Strip joints are strange. I worked in Boston at the Teddy Bear Lounge, the Kit Kat Club and one place called Nude--just Nude. I was a stupid college kid with long hair and glasses, and I'd stand on the stage doing whiny, awful material, like, "Hey, Nixon--what a jerk! Heh-heh-heh...." In one club, right behind me, there were two naked girls taking sponge baths in giant champagne glasses. Their names were Lili Pagan and Ineeda Mann, and they were actually ladies in their 40s who talked about making their big money right after World War Two. They were very maternal. I remember being on stage when this guy in the audience started swearing at me. One of the girls climbed out of her glass, went over and punched him in the face, knocking him out. She turned to me and said, "Go ahead, deary, do your act," I said, "Thank you. Naaaaah, Nixon, what a jerk!"

Q 2

PLAYBOY: On your list of gigs from hell, name a couple you'd like to forget.

Jay Leno: Well, they're funny in retrospect. I had a job at a college in Upstate New York where a sorority paid me $75 for doing three nights in Study Hall C--an actual study hall. There was a little index card on the door that said, TONIGHT: JAY LENO. It didn't say comedian or anything. I went in and found a bunch of kids with their heads down, studying for exams. I started doing my act, holding my mike with one hand and a speaker with the other. The kids were putting their hands over their ears, shouting, "Shut Up! Why don't you just get out of here and go home? You're not even funny--you're stupid!" I finish the show anyway--the worst--and go back the next night. The same kids are still there, studying. Same thing the third night. It was terrible. They may still be there.

Another time, I was hired by a guy who had invented a new product called Fresh'n, which he thought would revolutionize personal hygiene: moist towelettes used to combat, as the box said, "embarrassing rectal odor." They were like Wet-Naps, you know? Just the most disgusting product. He had 200,000 of them sitting in a warehouse in New Jersey, so he got together 75 Liggett Rexall representatives and had me tell them I was Bob Carlyle, his director of sales. I went out, made a little pitch, then did my act. People were going to sleep. This guy was sweating bullets. Afterward, he said, "OK, that, of course, was not my director of sales but Jay Leno--a professional comedian. Now, who wants to sign up for a free Fresh'n dispenser kit?" People began filing out of the room, and the guy was in tears, pleading, "Just take a dozen! Put 'em in your stores! No charge! Puh-leeze!"

Q 3

PLAYBOY: Have you ever let hecklers win?

Jay Leno: I'm not adversarial on stage. I actually like a good heckler who can keep pace and make the show funnier. But heckling isn't always that cerebral. I used to work a place in Revere Beach, Massachusetts, and the owner warned me to wear old clothes my first time there. I said, "But I want to look nice." He said, "Yeah, well, we get a lot of wise guys who like to put out their cigarettes on you as you walk up to the stage." I look at the guy and realize he's got burn marks on his jacket. So as I'm being introduced that night, I can feel these pangs up and down my sleeves, and I'm going, "Ow! Ow!" People would smoke the butts down to about a quarter of an inch and then flick them at me. So these lighted cigarettes are hitting me in the face, like little missiles. I'm watching my jacket burn right off my back and all I hear from all around is "Har-har-har." I don't know how this custom started, but it was like one of those Indian trial-by-fire things. Tough club.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: Seasoned viewers of Late Night know that no guest has better rapport with David Letterman. What's your secret?

Jay Leno: I always try to be prepared. I learned a long time ago that no one cares about what you have to say on a talk show. Nobody wants to see Rodney Dangerfield come out and go, "Ah, yeah, I've been getting my life together; things have been going well." If you're a comedian, all they want you to do is be funny. Because Dave and I are friends, there is that much more pressure to really have bang-bang-bang stuff all the time. People don't realize what a good stand-up comedian David is. I remember when he first went to The Comedy Store, he had a big red beard and drove up in his pickup truck. He looked like Mr. Hoosier. But he was great from the start, with very clever material; never any cheap shots or Dolly Parton jokes. David and I essentially come from the same place, comedically, so we can have a good time. It's fun watching him squirm. While I can give Dave zingers once in a while, I could never be on The Tonight Show and go, "Hey, Johnny, nice tie!" With Carson, you're in awe.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Let's get to the bottom of this, once and for all: Do you have an evil twin?

Jay Leno: Ray Peeno is his name. He's out there functioning in day-to-day society. People, I'm sure, are completely unaware. I should explain the origins of evil twinism. Every TV show suffers from it: Commonly, the star of the show has an episode with an evil twin. This is true. I was watching Simon & Simon a couple of months ago, and not only one but both of them had evil twins who had met before. I mean, what are the mathematical odds of that happening--quadruple to one? My favorite was the Knight Rider episode where Michael Knight is forced to do battle with his evil twin. I knew it was his real twin, because this guy couldn't act, either.