Ultimate Car Guy, Comedian, and Tesla Owner (!?) Jay Leno Talks About the InEVitable Future of Driving
We get down and surprisingly dirty with the car guy’s Car Guy.
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Jay Leno is a name synonymous with comedy, but also with an undeniable passion for automobiles and motorcycles. Over the course of his career, Leno has made a name for himself as a car aficionado and collector, with his vast and impressive collection of vehicles becoming the stuff of legend in the industry.
Of course, Leno is known for his early career in stand up comedy and later for his body of work as the host of late night talk shows, most notably "The Tonight Show" from 1992 to 2009 and 2010 to 2014. Since 2014, he's been hosting "Jay Leno's Garage," a popular television and now YouTube show where he showcases his impressive collection of over 200 cars and 200 motorcycles, as well as interviews other car enthusiasts and industry professionals. The show has become a go-to destination for car lovers around the world and has allowed Leno to share his passion for automobiles with a wide audience.
In addition to his eponymous garage show, Leno has been a frequent guest on other car-related shows, such as "Top Gear" and "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." Starting in 2021, Leno has been the host of the rebooted game show "You Bet Your Life."
But automobiles and the associated industry have always come first, extended to charity events, where he has partnered with car companies to raise money for various causes. For example, he has worked with General Motors and Ford to auction off unique and rare cars for charity, with the proceeds going to organizations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Leno's involvement in the automotive industry has not gone unnoticed. He has received numerous awards for his contributions, including induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2018.
This impressive career was impressively summarized by an AI chatbot called AgentGPT, and edited for length and accuracy by yours truly (human), Ed Loh. Why not? The premise of The InEVitable is the future of automotive technology, and in the broader tech space, nothing is hotter right now than artificial intelligence. But as smart and fast as AgentGPT is, it was not in the room for the recording of the Jay Leno episode, or able to access the audio or video files after the fact (as far as we know).
If it were, it would have witnessed a number of things; namely that Jay doesn't miss a beatnot even after nearly burning his face off while working on his 1907 White Steam Car in November of 2022 or after a motorcycle accident in January of 2023. His love cars and bikes remains fully intact, as does his modesty, cutting wit and surprisingly degenerate humor. In two separate moments, our chat showcases a different side of Jay that may raise the eyebrows of the fans who only know his mainstream, G-rated comedy.
If you need a laugh, this episode has it. You can watch it right here or on our YouTube channel. If audio is your thing, download it at Podcast One or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Then do us a solid, tell your friends, tag @lenosgarage and don't forget to give us a five-star review.
I used to go kick tires with my dad at local car dealerships. I was the kid quizzing the sales guys on horsepower and 0-60 times, while Dad wandered around undisturbed. When the salesmen finally cornered him, I'd grab as much of the glossy product literature as I could carry. One that still stands out to this day: the beautiful booklet on the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX that favorably compared it to the Porsches of the era. I would pore over the prose, pictures, specs, trim levels, even the fine print, never once thinking that I might someday be responsible for the asterisked figures "*as tested by Motor Trend magazine." My parents, immigrants from Hong Kong, worked their way from St. Louis, Missouri (where I was born) to sunny Camarillo, California, in the early 1970s. Along the way, Dad managed to get us into some interesting, iconic family vehicles, including a 1973 Super Beetle (first year of the curved windshield!), 1976 Volvo 240, the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic station wagon, and 1984 VW Vanagon. Dad imbued a love of sports cars and fast sedans as well. I remember sitting on the package shelf of his 1981 Mazda RX-7, listening to him explain to my Mom - for Nth time - what made the rotary engine so special. I remember bracing myself for the laggy whoosh of his turbo diesel Mercedes-Benz 300D, and later, his '87 Porsche Turbo. We were a Toyota family in my coming-of-age years. At 15 years and 6 months, I scored 100 percent on my driving license test, behind the wheel of Mom's 1991 Toyota Previa. As a reward, I was handed the keys to my brother's 1986 Celica GT-S. Six months and three speeding tickets later, I was booted off the family insurance policy and into a 1983 Toyota 4x4 (Hilux, baby). It took me through the rest of college and most of my time at USC, where I worked for the Daily Trojan newspaper and graduated with a biology degree and business minor. Cars took a back seat during my stint as a science teacher for Teach for America. I considered a third year of teaching high school science, coaching volleyball, and helping out with the newspaper and yearbook, but after two years of telling teenagers to follow their dreams, when I wasn't following mine, I decided to pursue a career in freelance photography. After starving for 6 months, I was picked up by a tiny tuning magazine in Orange County that was covering "The Fast and the Furious" subculture years before it went mainstream. I went from photographer-for-hire to editor-in-chief in three years, and rewarded myself with a clapped-out 1989 Nissan 240SX. I subsequently picked up a 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ60) to haul parts and camera gear. Both vehicles took me to a more mainstream car magazine, where I first sipped from the firehose of press cars. Soon after, the Land Cruiser was abandoned. After a short stint there, I became editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Sport Compact Car just after turning 30. My editorial director at the time was some long-haired dude with a funny accent named Angus MacKenzie. After 18 months learning from the best, Angus asked me to join Motor Trend as senior editor. That was in 2007, and I've loved every second ever since.
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