Jay Leno comes to Canada

Jay Leno is Jay-walking his way back to Canada. The former Tonight Show host, who turns 75 in May, will join fellow late night rival Arsenio Hall as comedy headliners May 2 at Casino Rama near Orillia, Ont.

In an exclusive brioux.tv: the podcast interview, presented in partnership with latenighter.com, Leno says he was hesitant about accepting the booking given all the "51st State" and Tariff talk emanating from the White House.

"I almost wasn't going to do these dates," Leno says, "because I didn't want to be the ugly American coming in." 

Don't worry about it I tell Leno -- we can use the jokes. The comedy road warrior has had to tweak his act just to straddle divided states audiences. That is working for him so far. "Ever since I took politics out of my act, ticket sales are up 20 or 30 per cent."

Leno also talks about how, back in the war for late night days,  things  weren't always so cozy between him and Arsenio. We touch on those nasty accidents Leno suffered these past few years, including a serious car fire which forced him to seek "a face guy." There is plenty of car talk (he's still hosting Jay's Garage on MSNBC) and we find out his take on the current late night landscape.