at that point, helen kushnick had been fired. we brought in debbie vickers. i didn t and i have in common we are hard workers and we ll do whatever is in our power to get better. jay s strength was the monologue and joke telling. jay felt in studio 1 in burbank, the audience was too far away from him, the band was too far away. so we got a new set design. jay now is working closer to the audience. we ve extended the monologue because that s where jay s muscles are. i can t help thinking, if you re a peeping tom, right? of all the people you could go after, why pick madonna? what part of this woman haven t you seen already, you know? jay was rolling. it was like, tonight i felt like he was in a club, he was doing standup.
afraid of long-term commitment. if you ask me, i think, one out of every three tv networks is afraid of jay started with this huge pressure, a lot of nerves. behind the scenes, it was dramatic. jay s manager, helen kushnick, was the executive producer. to say helen was not collaborative is an understatement. that was war. and now, that his trial is over, suicide dr. jack kevorkian says he is going to get a brand new car. says he is sick and tired driving that old fvan of his. it is nothing but a death trap. the early years of the tonight show with jay, it was pretty scary for those of us who had kids and families in houses. i m here. okay, yes! there was a story, every day, in the trades. will in canbc dump leno? will leno be replaced? where will dave go? don t mind me. i m just a temp.
colleagues at nbc. what are we going to do about jay leno? i was really worried that the show was not going to make it. let me ask you a question here. when prisoners watch shows like cops, do you think they root for the criminal? come on, get over the fence. oh, man. on the worst day of the tonight show, and the worst, horrible conditions, you re still writing jokes and you re laughing. and i said, all right. let s see what we have to do to bring this thing out of the hole. jay has this ability to plow forward, like nobody i ve ever seen. i have to hand it to jay leno, that he is the one who said we re going to we are going to win this thing, and i m going to work harder. at that point, helen kushnick had been fired. and we promoted ebby vicars as another example of a woman behind the scenes who, really, is the formative person in a show. jay and i have, in common,
there was much discussion about who would replace johnny. will it be jay? or will it be dave? leno is a company man. letterman s the genius in the tower. between you and jay, you re my favorite. well, thank you very much. and thank you for coming. thank you very much. we ll be back right after this. and then jay leno s manager helen kushnick wanted to force a decision. she was what you want in a manager. she was aggressive. she wouldn t take no for an answer. ultimately maybe even a little machiavellian. helen kushnick, she then plants a story in the new york post. and it was that nbc wanted johnny out because he was getting old, and they wanted jay, this fresh young guy in there. and johnny knew that it came through helen, and helen lied to jay s face and said no, it didn t come from us.