Hard-Working Guy Jay Leno Says The Daily Grind And Fast Pace Of The Past Five Years Have Been Well Worth It

Jay Leno arrives at NBC’s Burbank studio around 8:30 every weekday morning. He builds up to the taping of “The Tonight Show” at 5 p.m., then he stays to tape a few bits for future shows.

That puts his day in the office at about 14 hours. But, wait, there’s more. At 11 p.m., Leno is at his Beverly Hills home with writer Jimmy Brogan working on the next day’s monologue.

And, to relax on the weekends, Leno hits the road to continue honing the stand-up act that made him famous.

Work. Work. Work. It’s an incredible pace that Leno has kept up for almost five years. Yes, it’s been almost five years (man, you’re getting old) since Leno took over “The Tonight Show” from the king of late night, Johnny Carson.

These days, the days are even longer for Leno, who is promoting a new book titled “Leading With My Chin” (Harper Collins; $22), for which he reportedly got a $4 million advance.

But if he has not found much leisure in his life, Leno is getting a payoff. He won an Emmy in 1994, and he has won the weekly ratings war with CBS rival David Letterman since Aug. 21, 1995.

And if, as he approaches his five-year anniversary, he hasn’t achieved the dominance of Johnny, he professes to have found a level of comfort in his late-night role.

“I like doing this better and better every year,” Leno said. “It’s like in high school, in your senior year, you finally figure everything out.”

The new book, written with Bill Zehme, a senior writer at Esquire, is not to be confused with an autobiography. It is a collection of amusing tales and mishaps on the road from a man who, in the heart of his stand-up days, logged a million air miles one year.

The hardcover does not mention any of the battles Leno went through to get “The Tonight Show” job or his struggles to keep it in the early days of the rivalry, when Letterman’s “Late Show” dominated. Leno’s ex-manager, the late Helen Kushnick, whom he fired shortly after she got him the NBC job in ‘92, also didn’t get a mention.

“She wasn’t mentioned, and neither was my agent,” Leno said. “I was traveling so much I would call in and find out where I was going next. There were not many funny stories with them. The book was originally going to be called ‘Road Stories,’ everything up to ‘The Tonight Show.”’ Those were the days when Leno had a listed phone number, which he kept until he became “The Tonight Show’s” permanent host.

He is known as a “nice guy,” one whose apartment in Boston turned into a flophouse for traveling comedians early in his career. He said guys would come to his pad (hey, it was the ‘70s) and introduce themselves as joke tellers just to have a place to stay.

Comic Larry Miller, a friend and fellow comic who is on the ABC sitcom “Life’s Work” and who used to work the clubs with Leno, said his friend Jerry Seinfeld may be the hardest-working man in Hollywood - executive producer, head writer and star of his own series - but he has no doubt about who’s second.

“No one ever worked harder than Jay. What he does is monumental - nine new minutes every night. It’s staggering,” Miller said. “He was always, always a great comedian. Anyone who invests affection in Jay will never, ever be disappointed or hurt by it and receive a great deal in return for it. He’s the funniest, finest, hardest-working guy I ever knew.”

Without much fanfare, Leno donates tons of money to charities. For instance, all of the proceeds from his four wacky “Headlines” books and one called “Police Blotter” went to children’s charities, including one that provides pediatric AIDS services.

His reputation as the best stand-up comic out of a stellar class including Letterman, Seinfeld, Paul Reiser, Billy Crystal, Freddie Prinze, Steve Martin, Andy Kaufman and Miller is nearly universal.

“He’s a great stand-up comedian,” said “Arli$$” star Robert Wuhl, who then repeated himself to make sure - “a great stand-up comedian.”

Leno said that when things were going poorly in the early “Tonight Show” days, he kept his stand-up comedy to fall back on if Letterman replaced him - and it’s the reason he continues to work the road.

“I do it every weekend,” Leno said. “I work out my material. I’ve got to keep the act going. That’s who I am - a comedian. That’s how I work out. Some people go to the gym.”

It appears as if stand-up will be only a weekend job for a while longer. Leno is signed until the year 2000. With 35 cars and 40 motorcycles, it seems Leno’s toughest daily decision is what to drive.

Leno says the grind is worth it.

“If you don’t want the job, you can quit,” he said. “I don’t mind doing this. I’d hate to do a sitcom or three specials a year. I wouldn’t like that pace. This is the most fun I’ve ever had.”