June 19, 2025 • 6 mins
In this week’s motivational podcast, legendary comedian Jay Leno opens up about the challenges he faced throughout his school years. Leno also shares his personal journey of living with dyslexia, revealing how it affected his education and influenced his life.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
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
(00:26):
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.
(00:49):
And I heard one of them say thatour 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.
(01:11):
I, I, I. So I've never been.
I've never been much of A sportsfan 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
(01:32):
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
(01:53):
with a frying pan. And your dad wouldn't hit you,
but your mom had a routine whereshe would nail you and then
she'd leave for a little bit andcome 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.
(02:14):
Oh yeah, they had that experimental that was a college
that was experimenting with giveyourself 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
(02:35):
school? Oh yeah, that was not the big
mistake. So I bought a term paper.
So I got my term paper and I gotan 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
(02:56):
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'ta good student.
(03:17):
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 wasdyslexic.
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
(03:37):
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.
(03:59):
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?
(04:20):
Mother goes far better than that.
And he said, you know, educationis 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
(04:41):
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
(05:03):
thing about dyslexic people whenthey have something they're
interested in, it's like a laserbeam.
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
(05:25):
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
(05:46):
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.
(06:07):
We'd love to hear from you with ratings and reviews.
Do you prefer the longer podcastepisodes or are shorter ones?
I'm excited to get your take. Thanks again.
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
(00:26):
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.
(00:49):
And I heard one of them say thatour 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.
(01:11):
I, I, I. So I've never been.
I've never been much of A sportsfan 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
(01:32):
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
(01:53):
with a frying pan. And your dad wouldn't hit you,
but your mom had a routine whereshe would nail you and then
she'd leave for a little bit andcome 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.
(02:14):
Oh yeah, they had that experimental that was a college
that was experimenting with giveyourself 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
(02:35):
school? Oh yeah, that was not the big
mistake. So I bought a term paper.
So I got my term paper and I gotan 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
(02:56):
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'ta good student.
(03:17):
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 wasdyslexic.
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
(03:37):
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.
(03:59):
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?
(04:20):
Mother goes far better than that.
And he said, you know, educationis 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
(04:41):
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
(05:03):
thing about dyslexic people whenthey have something they're
interested in, it's like a laserbeam.
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
(05:25):
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
(05:46):
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.
(06:07):
We'd love to hear from you with ratings and reviews.
Do you prefer the longer podcastepisodes or are shorter ones?
I'm excited to get your take. Thanks again.
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