Headlines III: Not the Movie, Still the Book

by Jay Leno

A collection of ridiculous yet real headlines from America's newspapers includes "Post Office Paychecks Get Lost in Mail" and "Animal Rights Group to Hold Meeting at Steakhouse".

Genres: Humor

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an Emmy Award-winning American stand-up comedian and television host who succeeded Johnny Carson as host of "The Tonight Show" on May 25, 1992. He hosted the show until May 29, 2009 when, despite his high ratings, he was replaced by Conan O'Brien. The poor ratings which Conan O'Brien received as host of "The Tonight Show" resulted in NBC bringing Leno back as host on March 1, 2010. He continued to host the show to critical and popular acclaim. In 2013, despite still having the highest late night television ratings, NBC decided to replace Leno with Jimmy Fallon as host. Leno's final show aired on February 6, 2014.

Reviews

[Samuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have memories of this particular part of Leno's act from when I was a kid -- read a stupid news headline or story, and then say something funny about it. Nowadays, it would be a series of TikToks or something, but in the early '90s, if you wanted a collection of these, it was going to come out in print. This volume showed up in a box of books that I acquired, and given that's it's short and not exactly dense reading, I decided to give it a whirl.

It's...fine? Some of the headlines/stories/etc. are funny enough, as these things go. Leno's commentary (assuming Leno actually wrote any of it) is printed at the bottom of each page, and rarely adds anything to the humor quotient of the book.

As a time capsule, it's quaint and made me smile, but as a book, it's only intermittently interesting, and Leno is the least compelling part of the whole equation.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fun continues as I am rereading this series of books. While not mind blowing, they are funny and amusing.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this stuff. More than I should. I read them over and over and still laugh

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious!