Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesThe battle between a former late-night host and current late-night host continues.
Jay Leno appeared on Today Wednesday morning to talk about his upcoming show on CNBC, Jay Leno's Garage, and mentioned that he still keeps in touch with some of his former competitors/colleagues, including Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers.
Notice anyone missing?
Leno noticeably left out Jimmy Kimmel, his former competitor with whom he famously feuds. But according to the former Tonight Show host, he doesn't have a problem with him—Kimmel is the one with the problem.
"[Kimmel] comes from radio...where you find an enemy and then you make up a phony battle," Leno explained. "I never had any problems with the guy, but he chose to go after me. And that's fine, welcome to show business."
Although he'll no longer be working in the late-night time slot, Leno has a lot to say about it. In August he opened up to TV Line where he also addressed his feud with Kimmel and suggested his own theory about why the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host's ratings are what they are.
"The most element you can have in doing a late night show is kindness. Because the show makes you arrogant," Leno explained. "I think that's Jimmy Kimmel's problem. I think he's a talented guy, I think he's funny. But he has a mean streak, and it comes across."
As for how it "comes across," Leno said some of Kimmel's segments can be mean-spirited. "He does this thing where he takes Halloween candy from kids and the kids cry. What am I missing here? It is funny I guess, but it's mean-based," the veteran stand-up comic said.
"I think that's why he's not higher in the ratings."
He also told the New York Daily News that he thought he and Kimmel would be friends when they first met, but Kimmel went in a different direction. "It's funny, I always thought Jimmy Kimmel was the (late night) guy that I was going to be close to," Leno said. "We have similar blue-collar, Italian roots—but he chose to go after me so he could get into the whole Howard Stern camp and never really understood what it was all about."
Leno brought up the "mean streak" again. "I've never said anything nasty about Jimmy Kimmel—but he's got a mean streak, he always takes things one step too far," Leno said. "He comes from that radio vibe and it's a typical radio versus standup comic situation.
"When you have to look an audience in the eye, you're not quite as brave as when you're just talking into a microphone," he added. "When an audience can react to what you're saying and you see them doing that, it's a little different."
Even though Leno looks back at his 20 years in late night fondly, he also admitted to Willie Geist that he's relieved to have them behind him. "Happiness is a privilege, not a right," he commented.
He also said that in order for late-night TV to improve it needed to see more diversity. Leno noted that the entire slot continues to be dominated by "white guys."
(E!, NBC and CNBC are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)