Hanging out with Jay Leno

[Charles]

I was standing around on Magnolia Blvd in Burbank talking with a friend earlier today and I see this bitchin 1965 Ford Galaxy 500 come rumbling down the road. When it passed by I saw that it was Jay Leno driving. He turned a block away and parked. That's when I realized he heading to the corner auto book store. So we walked down and as we got there, he comes out to his car and a small group of people were there as he opened the hood and showed the engine. Sweet ride man. We were talking with him about the car for about 5 minutes. It was great. He's really friendly and down to earth. I would've taken a cel phone photo but I didn't want to play the fan too much and just took in the experience. That's been the highlight of my day so far. Burbank is a unique town.

[EAllen]

I've never met Jay Leno, but numerous reports are that he's a cool guy, and he had his Mr. Nice Guy status for a long time until his fiasco with Conan O'Brien.

I opine that he is still a Nice Guy--just avoid going head-to-head against him on the stage!

[SteveK]

Nice bit of luck Charles! I, too, have heard great things about Jay and his friendly nature.

I'm also a huge fan of that bookstore. They just moved and I can't wait to go in and see their new digs. Its the only place I've been able to find any extensive collection of Formula One paraphernalia.

[Charles]

I've seen him driving around town a before, mostly in old Model Ts or some other really vintage auto, but this is the first time I was at the same place he was. What struck me about Jay is the color of his eyes. A really very light bluish gray color. Also, he's not as tall as I imagined him to be from the way he appears on TV. He's very personable and it's cool that a celebrity as high profile as him gets out in public and mingles like every day people.

[Jose Saenz]

That's way cool. I got invited to a ritzy car show fundraiser a couple of years back where he performed a one hour stand-up routine. I was surprised that he still did that, being the host of one of the most successful shows on T.V. I guess money can get you anything...even an hour with America's most famous T.V. personalities. I think the fact that the fundraiser was part of a car show might have had something to do with it too. It was a small banquet hall type room, so it felt very intimate and I was sitting just a few feet away from him...pretty great experience. One thing about Leno that I walked away with that night -The man is a pro. He had complete control of that crowd. You could tell he just had so much material and really knew what he was doing up there.