RESIDENTS RECALL LENO FROM 1984 VISIT TO CITY

Less than eight years after performing before 340 people at Southeast Missouri State University, comedian Jay Leno will take center stage Monday night as the new host of "The Tonight Show."

Leno performed at Academic Hall on Nov. 13, 1984. He was paid $3,400, university records show.

Among those in the audience were Kathleen Butler and her friend Laura Poole, both of Cape Girardeau. Both women worked at the university at the time. Butler still does. Poole is now a truck driver.

"He was absolutely hysterical," remembered Butler. "When I saw him as a standup comedian, I just thought of him as being hysterically funny.

"I knew who he was at the time, but not too many people did.

"I remember at the time my friend, Laura, didn't know who he was."

But Poole quickly learned that Leno was a funny man.

"He was just hilarious," said Poole. "By the end of the evening, I had tears streaming down my face. He went over really well.

"I had a great time," she recalled. "I never laughed so hard."

Butler said, "It was really cool because up in Academic, he just kind of hung out after the show and we got to meet him."

Leno signed autographs after the show. Both Butler and Poole still have Leno's autograph, signed on the bills of two of the Miller Lite "paint hats" distributed at the performance. The brewery sponsored a nationwide comedy tour, of which the performance at Southeast was one of the stops.

Also in the audience was Butler's sister, Corinne Reese, who was a student at Southeast at the time. An English major, she had Leno autograph a book.

"They just threw them (the hats) out to the audience," said Butler.

"I couldn't prove to you it's his autograph because he wrote it so sloppy," Butler laughingly observed.

"I'm glad I saved it," a smiling Poole said Saturday. "Now maybe it will be worth something."

A Nov. 14, 1984, article in the Southeast Missourian recounted Leno's performance here. "Jay Leno is funny. Not just smirk-funny, giggle-funny or chuckle-funny: He is bend-over, hold-your-sides, tears-in-your-eyes-funny," the article pointed out.

It went on to say: "With machine gun bursts of what he calls `observational humor,' Leno struck responsive funny bones in just about everyone with comical descriptions of everything from fast-food trainees to TV Guide as a reading material. ...

"The appreciative audience even shouted out for Leno's Elvis Presley imitation, which, he explained, was a joke started by NBC's `Late Night Show' host David Letterman."

During his stop here, Leno explained to a Southeast Missourian reporter why he was still performing at small colleges and universities, when he had been on the Letterman show and performed in places like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

He said that "places like this are fun, you can be a lot looser, you can joke around ... you could play all night if you want."

Both Butler and Poole said they would likely tune in to see the 42-year-old comedian debut Monday night as the new, permanent host of "The Tonight Show."

Leno replaces Johnny Carson, who hosted the show for 30 years.