‘The Tonight Show’ Faces Major Budget Cuts

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno had to make some very tough decisions recently. The show had to lay off about two dozen employees (sadly none of them were named ‘Jay Leno’) The Tonight Show is the top-rated late night program, but that doesn’t mean their financial situation is under control. It’s being reported that they are lucky to just break-even, which is why they had to cut their budget significantly.

The weekly budget for the show was around $2.3 million, but they plan on cutting that down to $1.7 million. Not only did the show lay off dozens of employees, but a lot of long-time employees had to agree to take pay cuts, including Leno himself. He currently makes between $25 million and $30 million, his new salary will likely be closer to $20 million. A spokesman for Jay Leno had this to say, “Jay’s foremost concern is the wonderful people who work for ‘The Tonight Show’. He did what was necessary to ensure their well-being.”

Ah, yeah…what a swell guy that Jay Leno is. Going from $25 million to $20 million must be really hard! Instead of buying 30 new cars, he’ll probably only be able to afford 15 or 20. Leno should have just agreed to take $10 million and saved all the jobs at the show. If someone offered me $10 million to not be funny on TV, I certainly wouldn’t turn it down.

But, I guess Jay is saving up for retirement, which is hopefully something he is planning on doing very soon. I hear Hawaii is really nice this time of year…just sayin’