On 'Tonight Show,' Bush and Leno Take Jabs at NBC

Appearing on Tuesday's Tonight Show, former President George W. Bush got a laugh from the audience with this one-liner: "We've always had such great relations with NBC." Host Jay Leno added to the joke by taking his own shot at the network: "I'm glad one of us has." [Listen to the audio [1]]

The brief exchange was prompted by Leno asking the former commander-in-chief and former First Lady Laura Bush about their daughter, Jenna Bush-Hager, being a correspondent for the Today show: "And Jenna is on the Today show...Is that fun?" Laura Bush replied: "It's fun. It's fun for us. We love to watch her."

At the top of Bush's appearance on the show, he quipped of President Obama now being the target of late-night comics: "Better him than me." [2]

Here is a portion of the exchange aired early on the morning of November 20:

12:24AM ET

(...)

JAY LENO: And Jenna is on the Today show.

LAURA BUSH: Jenna's on the Today show.

LENO: Yeah. Is that fun? Do you-

LAURA BUSH: It's fun. It's fun for us. We love to watch her.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We've always had such great relations with NBC.

LENO: Yeah, there you go.

[LAUGHTER]

I'm glad one of us has.

[LAUGHTER]

(...)