It would be tough to script a better opening line for a story from Jay Leno:
"I had a funny thing happen to me the other day at my garage," the former "Tonight Show" host told Army Times via telephone Monday afternoon, shortly before departing for a USO tour — his first since leaving the late-night game in February. "The first [USO tour] I did was back in 1991. And the other day a soldier comes into my garage, fatigues on and everything, introduces himself and says, 'I want to show you a picture.'
"I look at the picture and I go, 'Oh, man, my hair is almost black in this picture, and you look almost exactly the same!' And he looks at me and he says, 'That's my dad.' "
The comedian whose career stretches through at least a generation of soldiers — and multiple Middle East combat operations — will headline the comedy tour, one that's co-sponsored by the USO and NBC's "Today" show, as part of the program's "Shine a Light" initiative.
Also on tour: Leno's old bandleader, Kevin Eubanks; "Today" weatherman Al Roker; actor/comedian Craig Robinson ("The Office," "Hot Tub Time Machine"); and comedian Ilisa Shlesinger. The USO doesn't give out tour dates or locations in advance for security reasons, but Leno's jam-packed stand-up slate is clear until Oct. 16, three days before he receives this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Leno worked in some USO trips on off weeks during his "Tonight Show" run, including one to Aviano Air Base, Italy, in the mid-1990s, entertaining troops bound for Bosnia.
"The fun thing about doing these shows is, years later, you meet the men and women again in civilian life, you know, they come up, they say hi, they show you the picture you took with them in Bahrain, or Aviano, or one of those places ... it's great," he said. "They're great audiences."
He ended up giving one of the shows from atop a tank, without a microphone, entertaining a crowd of service members "who probably hadn't heard a fresh joke in a year," he said. The welcoming audience made up for the austere surroundings; Leno joked about telling his agent to book "more of these Kuwaiti tank shows."
"I'm never quite sure how these things come about," he said. "Whenever you hear fire, police or military shows, you just go do them. They're usually for charity or for a good cause, a guy who got wounded and can't make a house payment, whatever it might be. So I'm not quite sure how it came about. People said, 'You want to do a USO show?' 'Yeah, OK.' "
While he hasn't booked any turret-based shows lately, Leno did perform earlier this month at Eisenhower Hall on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy.
And he's got the tank part covered in the way only a gearhead could: A hot rod powered by an M47 Patton tank engine, part of the 64-year-old comedian's extensive collection.
"It was about 800 horsepower [when I got it], got about 2 miles per gallon," he said. "We took it to the shop. We didn't open the motor itself, but we put on Bosch fuel injection, two turbochargers, got it up to about 1,400 horsepower. About five or six miles per gallon. We actually doubled the miles and doubled the horsepower."
A donor page connected to the tour is offering those who contribute to the USO a chance to win prizes. About $6,000 had been raised as of Monday afternoon; the contest portion of the donation drive ends Tuesday.
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
