The Living Room Times

This clip does a better job of absolutely burying Jay Leno than even Jimmy Kimmel could — and it’s all from Jay’s own mouth, six years ago.

You gotta watch the whole thing. The last 35 seconds are the best part. “I don’t want to see anybody ever have to go through that again.” Oh really? Maybe someone should send him this clip.

Jay’s 2004 Announcement – watch more funny videos

Despite being a long-time Letterman & Conan fan, I’ve actually felt that Jay has been getting too much blame in this whole fiasco, when Jeff “Darth” Zucker and his fellow NBC executive knuckleheads are the real villains. But watching this video makes me realize that, no, actually, everybody else is right: Jay’s a villain too. If he wanted to put up a stink about being pushed out by NBC, the time to do it was back in ’04. But he didn’t, because he knew exactly what would happen if he did: broken friendships, huge ego battles, a massive clusterf*** of controversy. We know he knew this, because he said it himself, on air! Yet five years later, when put-up-or-shut-up time arrived, Jay seemingly forgot all of that. Now, instead of heeding the better angels of his nature — on display in this clip — he continues to ignore his own sound advice. By reversing his decision to bow out gracefully, Jay has become exactly the person he promised he wouldn’t: the guy who refuses to leave until someone carries him out on a stretcher. A stretcher made of money. Lots and lots of money.

(Hat tip: Hot Clicks, via @slmandel and @DrSaturday.)