Despite becoming the target of every late night joke, Jay Leno remained in good spirits when we caught up with him Sunday night in Hermosa Beach. 
Jay said he thought Conan O'Brien did a good job with his farewell episode of "The Tonight Show." When we asked him why he thought David Letterman was taking such personal shots at him, Jay laughed, "Dave's always been that way! What, you think this is new? Don't you watch the show? That's what Dave does."
Jay also told us he hasn't spoken to Conan since the mess with NBC began.
BTW -- whatever you think of him, Leno stops for a picture with every fan who wants one.
1/25/2010 11:30 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF
Leno on Letterman: He's 'Always Been That Way'
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(Page 1 of 7) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments2.
stfu tmz
he does that cause there's cameras on him you idiots
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4.
Jay cheats on his wife, When will TMZ stop being cowards and post the facts...
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5.
LOVE THAT JAY. He is a class act and I'll be watching him no matter what time he's on.
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6.
Jay was great on Dave's show all those years. Glad to see Jay's not taking an easy shot here.
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7.
Leno is a dirtbag! CoCo deserved to stay! The only way I'd watch Leno again is if he has Elvis, Jesus Christ, and Buddy Holly live on the show...so NEVER! When he fails again who are they going to make leave so he can take their show?
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8.
I've always thought Leno had class. I'll be glad to watch his show. Letterman is a creep. Screwing his assistants while he had a longtime girlfriend or was she his wife by then? He's been taking shots at Leno because he's afraid he'll be #2 in the rating again! Ha Ha I love it!!!
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9.
i think a lot of the drama was not his fault. it was nbc's. and they would have had to pay him $120 mil to leave instead of $45 mil for conan. it was a matter of money, too. i like both jay and conan.
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10.
What happened to the once powerful Leno. First NBC betrays him then Conan and now he is a joke. It is a backstabbing business, my friends.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2573205/nbc_is_making_jay_leno_the_new_coke.html?cat=2
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12.
@allofcocosbuttbuddies...
You guys crack me up. You know zero about the history how this all went down and you blame Jay. First Jay has no power at NBC and if he was such the show taker then Conan would have never got the Tonight show to start. Conan forced NBC to give him a show or he was going to walk. Pretty much what Letterman did too back in the day. But NBC caved in and kept Conan because well he is pretty funny.
NBC told Jay and right then before Conans contract was inked Jay could have fought it but he didn't. Then when his last day was coming up and Jay was ready to jump to a new network NBC freaked out and paid him a poop ton to sit at 10. Again Jay took it and rolled with it.
Then when the ratings come in and they see they made a huge mistake and thats when the pooh hit the fan. All Conan was going to lose was 30mins but yet again his Howard Stern ego went crazy with mad cow and he quit.
All Conan had to do was just set back and collect money and instead of being a ego freak and demand the tonight show in 5 years he could have had it written that it is his job when Jay retires/quits/dies of old age. Only one that hurt Conan was his giant Ego.
Hell when NBC told Leno you have to move to 11:30 Jay could have said no for a 30 min show and you need to make it a hour or you can pay me out. He didn't do that. Just like this video he sat back and let the other f up. He learned a lot from the whole deal with Letterman and it paid off.
Thing I don't get is how Conan lost so many of HIS watcher when he switched. Sure the tonight show took a 50% dive but also lost like 30% of his own viewer ship when he switched.
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14.
I love Jay! Saw him 15 years ago with my mother and he was so overwhelmingly nice to his audience....it was a great experience and one I won't forget. I'm glad he has the late night show back...Conan bores me...do adults really find masturbating bears funny? I can see a 12 year old boy giggling at that, but can't say I really found Conan funny, so very glad to see Jay back!
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15.
Man This is The first time I have heard someone call Connan an ego manic lol. Lets see Jay Leno ripped of the tonight with his ten o'clock show and sabotaged Connan;s chances. Fyi: Connan's rating where great until Leno started doing the same thing . I was a huge Jay Leno fan but lost total respect over this. I Love how people say its only 30mins no biggy. If you know your history so bad then you know jay passed the torch and broke tradition by not retiring and giving connan his chance, also the the tonight show has been in the same period for ever. ummm jay has no ego huh? Jay doesnt give a damn about the tonight show if he did he would of did like connan and refuse the deal to move the show. Good for Connan he did the right thing . FYI: For people who don't think let me put it like this think about waiting for that promotion and the guy or gal decides he wants his job back after you get it and you have no choice but to give it to him and take a back seat not cool at all. Connan had a right to walk.
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