You wouldn’t be able to tell from the constant rants that Howard Stern has gone on over the years, trashing Jay Leno, but the two of them were actually on good terms at one point. Their ongoing feud evidently stems from Leno hiring former Howard Stern Show correspondent “Stuttering John” Melendez behind Stern’s back in 2004. However, Stern and Leno had a bit of an issue years earlier during one of several appearances Stern made on The Tonight Show. Leno had been very welcoming to Stern in those days, but the radio host’s over-the-top antics proved too much for Leno when they sat down for an interview on November 30, 1995.
To begin with, Stern took the stage that night with two pornographic actresses wearing nothing but bikinis. Within minutes, Stern vowed to help boost Leno’s ratings by getting the women to perform the first lesbian kiss in Tonight Show history. Though a close-up shot of the steamy embrace has made its way out there, the version that ended up being broadcast had the kiss completely obscured by the cameraman. Leno appeared to be OK with that segment of the show, but Stern decided to up the ante from there, much to Leno’s frustration.
That Time Howard Stern Nearly Made Jay Leno Walk Off ‘The Tonight Show’
Stern then asked Leno if anyone had ever been spanked on The Tonight Show, and that’s when Leno started to grow more and more uncomfortable. He repeatedly told Stern that any spanking would be edited out and that it wasn’t in his control. Stern defiantly took one of the porn stars over his knee and proceeded to spank her, though the shot that they used was from far enough away that you could barely make out what was happening. When Stern offered to let Leno do a little spanking of his own, Leno quickly called for a commercial break.
Leno was said to have been furious about the whole thing, and according to some sources, he was ready to walk off the set. The show continued with Leno attempting to interview film critics Siskel and Ebert as Stern frequently interrupted; most of what he did at that stage was strategically avoided by the cameras. There was reportedly even a bit of toe-sucking that went on that was completely removed from the broadcast. Leno called into Stern’s show the next day to express his disappointment with his behavior, and NBC released a statement saying that Stern had crossed the lines of acceptability.
You can watch the entire edited broadcast of that night’s show right here:
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