Hey, it's Graham. Our past in depth guests have shared so many inspirational stories about overcoming adversity and tackling the darkest and most challenging times in their lives. We're sharing one of those moments in today's Thursday podcast in the hope that it provides A blueprint for any difficulties you might be facing this week. Jay Leno, what was the situation where you got kicked off the football team as a kid?
Oh, good heavens. It's one of those deals where Andover playing North Andover and the coach is, you know, giving the kids a pep talk. You know, like how coach says, I was in North Andover, I was going down the street. Some of their guys are behind me. They didn't they didn't recognize me, realized with me. And I heard one of them say that our guys were a bunch of a holes. And I went, oh, that never
happened. I thought it was just some bull story he was telling, you know, And he goes, he goes get out, get out. I go, come on. That's a really you just don't you say that every year. I I get out, you know what he said every year. And I got thrown off the team. I want what I do. I, I, I. So I've never been. I've never been much of A sports fan after that. Did you find that funny at the time when you were getting
kicked off or was that? Well, I I was actually glad to get kicked off because I would get they give me place to take home. I I got homework, I got homework from school and I got homework from sports. I got to study these. I got to get out of it, So I was actually quite relieved. Thank you. Was this story true the the mother approved hooky that you were allowed to play once from school? Yeah, yeah. And of course, where did I go but to the school? Yeah, so stupid.
And as a burning rubber in the parking lot. Yeah, yeah, that's when my mother knocked me out with a with a frying pan. And your dad wouldn't hit you, but your mom had a routine where she would nail you and then she'd leave for a little bit and come back and do it again. Hilarious. Hilarious, yeah. Very funny was another one that I wondered if it was true the semester where you got straight A's at Emerson.
Oh yeah, they had that experimental that was a college that was experimenting with give yourself the grade you feel you deserve. Then my father, I know you can do it. Yeah, Papa, you know. Yeah. That lasted 1 semester. Then I was back to my DS and asked. What happened when you tried buying a term paper once in school? Oh yeah, that was not the big mistake. So I bought a term paper. So I got my term paper and I got an egg. Egg. How about that? Got an egg. So I'm in class and the
professor is asking his college. Jay, tell us you know, about hotel motel management. Hotel motel management of nothing, Really. No, I don't know nothing about how the. I don't have any interest in how Why would I be interested in hotel motel management? Where you wrote a paper on it? What? I got an F? Yeah. So. Yeah. That's so stupid. You think I would at least read the paper Now. Now. Ben, that was really You weren't a good student.
No, no. You know, I, I, I had dinner with Ronald Reagan one day and he told me a great story. He goes, Gee, Gee, were you, were you a good student? I said, no, Mr. President, I was dyslexic. Sorry, I was a terrible student. He goes, you know, Gee, I I wasn't a good student either. And to this day, I kicked myself thinking how much further I could have gone if I just applied myself. And I thought that was the greatest joke because he just slid it in.
You know it just because a lot of times you talk to politicians. Here's a humorous anecdote. You know, they, they, they loaded up and but he just slid it in. It was very funny. It just killed me. How do? You think dyslexia impacted you throughout life? He was a cure for dyslexia when I was a kid. Smarten up, Smarten up, Smarten up. I'm smart. I'm smart. I got it now. I'm smart.
I'm smart. And that that was sort of how you dealt with it. I remember when Mr. Neil, my guidance counselor in high school, he brought my mom into and three of us sitting there, he goes, Missus Leno, have you ever thought of taking Jay out of school? Mother goes far better than that. And he said, you know, education is not for everyone. I'm going, hey, I'm in the room. Hello.
And then he says, you know, Jay works at McDonald's and they have an excellent school where they teach you to make change and have pictures of the hamburgers and you press the button, I'm going, no, we're, we're McDonald's. So when I got to The Tonight Show, I invited him out, you know, Oh, did you? Yes, because he's just doing his job. And it was fun. They, you know, they it just made me laugh. It just made me laugh. So. And I never thought of it as a Hindu.
It's just something that you dealt with. I meet dyslexic kids all the time. And I find when I do meet dyslexic kids, they're the one thing about dyslexic people when they have something they're interested in, it's like a laser beam. They, they know, they know everything about it. You know, there's a kid I still communicate with in, in, in South Carolina. I remember he was 9, he's like
24 now. And a mom brought him to the show and I told him about because when you dyslexic, you think difference, which is good for comedy, you know, might I want to say comedy is it's a genetic flaw that makes it. We just live in a time when being funny pays dividends. You know, if this was the Crusades, it'd be why are the soldiers laughing? Oh, that man's mate, kill him, kill him. He's making the men laugh, I find. And he's wouldn't even be wouldn't it? It's of no value.
Now we live in an area, a time when being humorous actually pays ridiculous dividends. And so it worked out. Worked out pretty good. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week and every week sharing long form interviews on Mondays and shorter uplifting stories on Thursdays and then trending clips on Fridays. We'd love to hear from you with ratings and reviews. Do you prefer the longer podcast episodes or are shorter ones? I'm excited to get your take. Thanks again.