California Vacation, Part 2 - Jay Leno!

We were so excited to travel back into downtown LA and then up into the hills of Burbank to see Jay Leno tape his "Tonight Show" at his very own studio.  Traffic was terrible (of course) and the lines were super long when we checked in, but we managed to find a friend in the libertarian Californian couple behind us.  (Libertarians in California?  Who knew?)  The guy was a gunsmith and a professional blogger in the firearms world and had traveled all over Europe with his girlfriend, who was a "foodie."  They were so friendly and engaging and made waiting in the sunny but windy afternoon line totally bearable.  I was sad that I didn't get their information before we left.

I always want to pronounce the name of the town "Buh-bank."

I was so busy chatting and comparing notes with the fellow that I was jolted when none other than Jay Leno himself bounded out onto the stage in jeans and a button-up shirt to welcome us and get things started before his taping.  This guy didn't use a crew of hired hands to warm up the crowd - he did it himself!  Jay was so relaxed and cheerful and even had people come up and take pictures with him.  It was a very different feeling than at Conan's show, more chill and goofy and self-effacing.  That's the word I was looking for - Jay Leno is very "self-effacing."  We were sitting on the first row of the non-on-the-floor rows to stage right, just in front of where the guest band would be playing and right where the guest interviewees would be sitting.  Jay's band kicked into some seriously great music and my favorite song they played was Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead."  (I ran right home and downloaded it!)

Not to be left out on this taping, I kept alert while Jay interviewed Whitney Cummings, an adorable actress, and when she mentioned her show "Whitney," I applauded.  Everyone else was zoning out or was too shy, because she looked out into the audience toward me and said, "Oh!  One person.  Thank you!"  Heh heh.  Yeah, that was ME!

The actress who played the mom on "Silver Linings Playbook" was also interviewed and Aaron Neville and his band played.  It was all pretty interesting just to be on set. Afterwards, Jay Leno went over his lines again quite a few times, much to the delight of the audience (he kept joking with us, "My job is hard!"), so his audio guys could capture him annunciating parts of his monologue more clearly.  He also did some shorts over and over for the promos with the featured guests.  It was fascinating watching some "behind-the-scenes work" that we didn't get to see on Conan O'Brien's show, and Jay came across as so much more down-to-earth and friendly.  By the end we were ravenous and headed out into the twilight (still warm, ahhhhh) to grab some food.  We were favorably impressed with the Tonight Show!

P.S. I snagged the best parking ever since we got there so early - right outside the studio next to where we entered the lot.

Right next to where we parked!

Here's where we parked.  And no kidding - right under the huge radio tower on the other side of this mountain is the Hollywood sign!  This is as close as we ever got!