Jay Leno entertains servicemembers, families

  • Published
  • By Luke Waack
  • Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Public Affairs
Thousands of servicemembers, their families and friends attended part of Jay Leno's Tour for the Troops here, sponsored by the Air Force Reserve Command.

Mr. Leno hosted the grand opening a new recruiting station for AFRC in Wasilla, Alaska, and spoke to a crowd of hundreds of fans after 13 local residents swore the oath of enlistment.

Mr. Leno's final stop on the tour was Fort Buckner, Alaska, where he performed standup comedy for more than 1.5 hours for nearly 2,500 of his military fans.

The comedy show was only for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson servicemembers, their families and friends. Free tickets were distributed through each unit's chain of command.

"It was awesome," said Senior Master Sgt. Timothy Layton, the 962nd Aircraft Maintenance Unit superintendent.

Mr. Leno's first show for servicemembers was in 1991, which he mentioned during his standup routine.

"We fly out in Desert Storm, and we land in Bahrain. We're going out by the Kuwaiti border and we're gonna do a show out there," Mr. Leno said. "We got on these helicopters for two hours, it was like 115 degrees, and we land in a big pile of sand.

"I said, 'Where's the audience?' and there's about 60 guys sitting in the sand," Mr. Leno continued. "I go, 'Where's the stage?' The guy says, 'Just stand on the tank.' I said, 'Where's the mic?' They said, 'We don't have a mic, just shout.' I said, 'I can't shout.' I thought, this is going to be awful.

"I got up there, I told one joke, these guys were like (gasping laughs)," Mr. Leno said. "They hadn't heard a joke in two years. They were the best audience I ever had. I thought, I want to do more of these Kuwaiti tank shows."

Audience members enjoyed Mr. Leno's performance and applauded him for his service to them.

"I think it's great," Sergeant Layton said. He comes out and supports troops and helps the Reserve."