On tonight's show, Jay Leno had one of those "Act Two correspondents" segments which I think are dragging his program down. They involve sending someone (a comedian, one of their "Jaywalking" dummies, or a gay intern) and a camera crew to cover some interesting event, often by asking people awkward, silly questions. Some of the comedians who do these are good ones, and some of the remotes are funny, but they have nothing to do with Leno or The Tonight Show. It's like the program you're watching stops and you're suddenly subjected to five minutes of something else because Jay — who'd be better than any of those correspondents — was too busy doing stand-up in Vegas to tape a spot for his own show.
For tonight's, they dispatched comedian Harland Williams to cover a wedding that took place at last week's Ventriloquist Convention in Las Vegas. The bride was Eyvonne Dee Carter and the groom was my pal Valentine Vox, a fine performer and historian of the art. Both walked down the aisle with their puppets and I assume (I wasn't there) didn't move their lips when they said, "I do." If you looked quickly at the segment on The Tonight Show, you caught a fast glimpse of Maid-of-Honor Mallory Lewis, who was carrying Lamb Chop, the wonderful character she inherited from her mother, Shari Lewis. The Best Man was another pal of mine, Ronn Lucas, but I had to still-frame my TiVo to see him standing there with his puppet, Scorch. There was also a brief interview with Nancy Wible, a name well-known to those of us who know everyone who ever did cartoon voices.
As a fan of ventriloquists, I enjoyed the segment but…come on, Jay. People tune in to see you, and you get the biggest check. Let guys like Harland Williams do their stand-up on the show, and do the remote segments yourself. And Valentine…congrats on your marriage!