Jay Leno recently appeared on “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” and looked back at his since-resolved feud with Jimmy Kimmel, which started in 2010 when Kimmel guested on “The Tonight Show” after Leno was reinstated as host following Conan O’Brien’s tumultuous exit.
“When Kimmel came on my show and humiliated me on my own show, I let it happen. I didn’t edit it,” Leno said. “It was my mistake, I trusted somebody. I went, ‘Ah, I made a mistake. Ok, I should pay the price.’ And it’s fine, it’s fine. I mean, we could have edited it out of the show.”
Kimmel repeatedly fired off jokes at Leno’s expense during the 2010 interview. Leno stepped down from hosting “The Tonight Show” a year prior after a 17-year stint from from 1992 to 2009, with O’Brien replacing him as host. Leno exited to launch his own NBC primetime show (“The Jay Leno Show”), but ratings suffered for both programs. NBC proposed bringing Leno back to “The Tonight Show,” which prompted O’Brien’s exit and Leno’s return. Both Leno and the network received widespread backlash from the industry, including from Kimmel.
When Leno asked Kimmel in 2010 to talk about his best prank, Kimmel answered: “I told a guy that five years from now I’m going to give you my show, and then when the five years came, I gave it to him, and then I took it back almost instantly.”
Speaking now to Graham Besinger, Leno said he didn’t stop Kimmel from making anti-Leno jokes that night “because it happened,” referring to the infamous “Tonight Show” host switch.
“It’s real — it happened. It’s my mistake. That’s how you learn,” Leno added. “It’s not good TV for me because it started a whole thing that continues to this day, really. But it’s okay, it’s alright. He’s a comic — you do what you gotta do. I mean, I wouldn’t have done it, but that’s okay. That’s alright. It is what it is.”
Leno and Kimmel have since settled their feud, starting with Leno’s decision to call Kimmel after the latter’s son had heart surgery in 2017. Kimmel has said he “made peace” with Leno due to the kind gesture.
Watch Leno’s full interview on “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” in the video below.