Rock Center | October 25, 2012
Rock Bottom: Jay Leno on late-night’s role in 2012 election
Following his interview with President Obama, Tonight Show host Jay Leno talks to Rock Center about late-night’s importance during a presidential election. Brian Williams reports.
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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.
>>> finally, here tonight, of all the campaign stops that went into the day, we spent with the traveling white house yesterday, the day that became an all-nighter, one stop, last night in l.a., was all about show business unabash edly, something that's become a standard stop for the president and an easy way to reach a big audience.
>> it has become so standard, it seems like some kind of requirement.
>> hi, everybody.
>> if you are running for president, you are almost expected to appear on late night comedy shows and with luck, the candidates get to appear human.
>> that is how we slow jam the news.
>> oh, yeah!
>> so it now seems perfectly normal to see the leader of the free world and those who aspire to be with jay and jimmy and dave and john and on snl.
>> oh!
>> barack obama has made a habit of appearing on tv after 11 p.m ., five times on jay leno alone.
>> the president is real. i sat next to harrison ford but he only played the president.
>> get off my plane.
>> this is the actual president. you know, it is really excited.
>> the approval of the host seems to matter to the politicians. mitt romney , a veteran of "the view" and jay leno recently made it clear he is acutely aware that somebody else is not a fan.
>> i have been on letterman a couple of times and leno more than a couple of times and now letterman hates me because i have been on leno more than him.
>> last night in l.a. after the president had gone and our cameras caught up with jay leno backstage, he told us these visits really do serve a valuable purpose for the viewers.
>> you get to ask questions and it's fun because sometimes on these kind of shows, you will get a more off the cuff answer than you might on a news show where maybe things are a little scripted, nothing personal, brian. i don't mean anything. you do a fine show.
>> all right, jay, thank you. no offense taken.
>>> our thanks to jay leno for letting our cameras hang around backstage with all that was going on in los angeles last night. speaking of news, this trip that started what, did we say, 7:59 a.m . yesterday, has just ended while we've been on the air. the president returning tonight on air force one to andrews air force base . that's a long trip.