When the dice began rolling on the Atlantic City Boardwalk 31 years ago, Jay Leno and Joan Rivers were opening acts on the fast
track to becoming headliners. Both return to Atlantic City celebrating career milestones. Leno will play Borgata’s Event Center on Saturday, just one night after he turns over the reigns of “The Tonight Show” to Conan O’Brien, ending a 17-year run as host of television’s most celebrated and copied talk show. Rivers headlines Saturday at the Atlantic City Hilton. Other than some jokes, Leno really hadn’t given much thought to his final nights as host of the third longest-running show in television history. “Right now, I’m sort of thinking about the next show,” said Leno, who’ll return to television in the fall as host of a nightly primetime variety and talk series tentatively titled “The Jay Leno Show.” Leno, 59, doesn’t understand the fuss about his impending exit.
“It’s not really sad, because I’m not really leaving anybody,” he said during a phone call from his office at the NBC studios in Burbank, Calif. “Most of the people who work for me now will be coming with me to the next show, so it’s a happy time. Everybody feels pretty good.”