Overview
- Leno, speaking to Deadline this week, said podcasts are now the central forum for talk interviews and singled out Joe Rogan as a modern counterpart to Johnny Carson.
- He blamed an increase in post‑11:30 commercial minutes and tighter show formatting for reducing actual program time from about 48 minutes to roughly 42, which he says fragments episodes and weakens viewer engagement.
- Leno pointed to YouTube and podcast episodes that run an hour or more as the alternative, saying those platforms lack FCC limits and therefore allow more candid, unfiltered conversations.
- He noted his own shift to YouTube with Jay Leno's Garage, which recently featured a drive‑around interview with Joe Biden, and said he did not intend to broadly criticize current late‑night hosts.
- The comments come as networks have pared late‑night lineups and viewers favor on‑demand platforms, a change that could further hollow broadcast talk shows and reshape where cultural conversations happen.