Jay Leno's Big BOMA Kickoff!
Oliver & Co’s John Oliver, BOMA’s chief elected officer and BOMA Fellow, has over 30 years of experience on his resume—and he never thought that opening for Jay Leno would be included, he joked as he kicked off today’s BOMA International Conference & Expo general session.
Above, John and his wife Karen pose with Jay, who riffed to a packed room on every subject imaginable, including Walmart selling caskets, accidentally dialing people from Apple Watch, the annoying trend of non-celebrities endorsing products, slimeball insurance companies, medicinal side effects worse than the disease they’re treating and every recent politician. “It’s hard to be a comedian today,” he says. “Everyone gets offended so easily.”
Perhaps the crowd's favorite part was the Q&A, as audience members shouted out questions for Jay to answer. Some highlights:
Favorite car: Whatever he’s currently fixing is his favorite.
Favorite interviews: Barack Obama, first as Senator and then as President; and astronaut-turned-Senator John Glenn, whom Jay had written about in fifth grade and received a C on his paper. He called his fifth-grade teacher and asked if she could up his grade for interviewing Sen. Glenn.
His “Jaywalking” feature: It was not staged. His favorite question was, “How was Mount Rushmore formed?” The most common answer: erosion. “Finding idiots was never a problem.”
Most embarrassing moment: Forgetting who one of “The Bachelor” winners was—only moments after interviewing her.
A sobering moment: When JFK died, Jay recalls his mother crying and him seeing a little boy waving at the casket. Years later, he interviewed John F. Kennedy Jr. on his show. When Jay went to shake his hand, he saw himself shaking the hand of the little boy he saw on television.
Favorite late-night shows: Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and he says Stephen Colbert will be good. But it would be nice to see something different than the "usual parade of white guys."
Favorite comedians: He’s friends with Jerry Seinfeld and considered Robin Williams a pal. He also enjoys Louis CK and Chris Rock.
