On March 8, a bunch of folks were inducted into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame and one of them was Jay Leno. Each inductee's induction is preceded by one of his or her peers giving a little speech about him and the one for Leno was delivered by the always-controversial Bill Maher. Maher lived up to his rep and somewhat scolded the press folks who wrote those stories that cast Leno as the Bad Guy in the Conan O'Brien affair.
There are some things I don't like about Maher as a person (some of his attitudes about women) and a few things about his comedy. He has this fake laugh he applies to his own jokes the instant he senses a line is not going to get the hoped-for response. But I also find him very funny at times and there's something refreshing about his attitude of placing honesty over being liked. He has said a lot of things on television that I think others believe but lack the courage to say out loud.
The thing about Leno and O'Brien is a trivial matter, of course, but I think he's right. I also think it speaks well of Leno that Bill Maher, who does not hesitate to criticize successful people, can't find anything bad to say about him. Here's the speech. Beware of strong language, those of you who fear strong language…
If you'd like to see Leno's acceptance speech, which includes a nice shot at fellow-inductee Rupert Murdoch, you can view it here.