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Jay Leno has always been one to be commended for his work ethic. Even when he could have sat back on his laurels and collected his sizeable paycheck during his over two-decade tenure on TheTonight Show with little to no effort on the comedian's part, Leno did the exact opposite. And effectively, worked harder than he had during any other time in his life, not to mention lived below his means. Even though Leno had a steady paycheck coming in from NBC, he never left his standup comedy behind him. This is why weekends and the seasonal hiatus would be filled with gigs in front of a live audience. Money that Leno would live off of, not touching a cent of his larger paychecks to live a more lavish lifestyle or to buy any of his expensive cars.
That hustle and drive to always want to produce higher quality content than the previous performance was all learned from the time that Leno spent during his teenage years working at McDonald's. A place that many think only serves the purpose of collecting a paycheck until a better job can be found. Or further still, an establishment that is below standards to work at. Neither which Leno thought. Instead, seeing the restaurant as a place where a great deal could be learned.
Here is why Jay Leno never lost his work ethic, as a result of learning lessons working at McDonald's before becoming a millionaire.
Jay Leno Learned How To Operate A Business From Working At McDonald's
Operating a business is not an easy feat. Many learn by trial and error what makes a company or an organization successful. But when it came to managing and having staff on TheTonight Show not only did Leno have experience under his belt about what it was that made a team successful from his days at McDonald's, he knew how to implement it as well.
During his two years at McDonald's, Leno watched as management would promote people from within rather than looking for outside talent to fill positions. This is something that occurred at both the local and upper management levels.
The celebrity variety show host used this method of filling positions on his team by promoting from within as well. This meant that instead of automatically looking for fresh talent when a vacancy needed to be filled, Leno looked to those around him to see who was ready for promotion.
He signed both new and promoted staff to a one-year contract versus the norm of 13 weeks. And in doing so, made for loyal staff members.
Jay Says Teamwork Is The Key To Success
From 1966 to 1968, Leno saw that the key to success lay with teamwork while working at McDonald's. A lesson that the comedian took with him when he moved his act to national television for TheTonight Show.
While Leno liked to write his own jokes for the show and for his stand-up routine, being able to write quality jokes day in and day out would have been nearly impossible. That is why having a solid team of writers around him was so necessary.
When there is a team, the pressure of writing can be spread across many shoulders rather than one person bearing the brunt of it all. Something which made Leno successful as TheTonight Show host for so many years.
It continues to make him successful as he continues to work in stand-up today.
Jay Leno Always Wanted To Produce Content That Was Quality
Given that McDonald's is a fast-food restaurant, many may assume that the quality of food produced there is not high. But at least in the 1960s, that was not the case.
Ensuring that the quality of food was high at all times was something that Leno translated into his life after his days at the chain restaurant was over. The standard paid dividends when it came to his comedy career years later.
It was not uncommon for employees to change from their street clothes into their McDonald's uniforms at the restaurant decades ago. But, when this happened, there was the possibility of leaving clothing behind.
This happened when Leno was getting ready to grab a bag of potatoes to peel for making fries.
A pair of underwear was left on top of the potatoes. Instead of just using the potatoes, the manager told Leno to throw away any potatoes that the underwear had touched. This would ensure that the quality and standard of fries being made was up to par rather than serving customers potatoes that were unsavory.
The potato incident stuck with Leno. Because of this, it was important to him that every joke that was written was up to the standards the comedian set for himself.
As such, Leno would leave The Tonight Show, go home and write more jokes. He would then "meet with writers at about midnight or so and work until about 4:00 a.m." Using this time to go through all the jokes that had been compiled for the evening and choose the "best 20."
Once the 20 were chosen, Leno would "read the jokes into a recorder" so that he could hear how they sounded with a different delivery. All to be prepared for his next show to be taped in front of a live audience.
All of these lessons learned at McDonald's shaped the work ethic that Leno had telling jokes and conducting celebrity interviews not only while on The Tonight Show but continues to use today. And by how successful Leno has become, being employed at McDonald's was a worthwhile job indeed.
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