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Leno's joke was met with virtual silence from the "Tonight Show" audience
"Is the mike off? I don't think they heard the joke," he said
Any way you hear 'em, these yuks were less a matter of "too soon" than just "not funny"
(EW.com) – If you wanted righteous satire about the dismaying Anthony verdict, you were out of luck, with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on vacation.
In fact, most of late-night was on vacation, except for Jay Leno, who bypassed satire of the media and stuck with what he knows best: “It was so hot today, people were as delirious and incoherent as a Florida jury… This [verdict] means President Obama’s economic team is only the second most clueless group of people in America.”
This groaner was met with virtual silence from the “Tonight Show” audience. Leno paused and turned to his band. “Is the mike off? I don’t think they heard the joke,” he said.
Then he repeated the joke, and, thus prompted, the crowd clapped.Watch the video and tell me whether you think it was a technical glitch or not.
“I don’t get it,” Leno went on – the show must go on! “Apparently, the OJ jury was tired and they moved to Florida. When they read the verdict, even Casey Anthony went [does spit-take], ‘What? What?’”
What, indeed. Any way you hear ‘em, these yuks were less a matter of “too soon” than just “not funny.”