Jay Leno will stand up to Weill Hall

Jay Leno made his first stand-up appearance comedy on the 'Tonight' show, hosted by Johnny Carson, in 1977.

Wearing a shaggy halo of curly hair and a lime-green, three-piece suit, he opened with the line, 'I'm originally from the United States. Any United States people here tonight?'

He was answered by applause, then he added, 'Small world. No matter where you go ...'

By 1987, Leno became Carson's regular substitute host, and by 1992, Leno was host of 'The Tonight Show,' a job he kept until 2009. He returned for another stint as host in 2010, after a brief run on his own 'Jay Leno Show,' finally retiring in 2014.

And now, at 65, he's a stand-up comedian again, out on tour once more and appearing July 31 at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall.

NOTE: This show has been canceled. More details here.

Since Leno went back to full-time stand-up, reviewers have noted in his performances a style much more direct than that first 'Tonight' show appearance.

Honed by decades of opening monologues on television, Leno's delivery is rapid-fire, with one short joke after another, touching on current headlines and pop culture.

He has even dropped most of the talk show chatter.

A sample: A recent study suggested women talk three times more than men, Leno noted.

'That's because men aren't listening the first two times.' he quipped.

Some critics hoped for something more.

'Perhaps Leno needs more time to distance himself from the TV job he held for more than 4,600 episodes,' Denis Grignon wrote for thestar.com after a show in Toronto in April.

But Leno's regular fans seem satisfied.

'If you enjoyed his monologues on the 'Tonight Show' — current events, what's in the news — then you will be in for a great, nearly two-hour show,' a fan posted online after a show in South Carolina.

One might expect a sudden burst of blue humor from a comedian recently freed from network television, but 'his stand-up routine is actually very clean,' another fan posted online after Leno appeared at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

In any case, fans can expect Leno to keep firing off short and snappy one-liners, such as, 'politics is just show business for ugly people,' or 'race-car driving is a lot like sex; all men think they're good at it.'

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.