NEW YORK -- As Jay Leno approaches his final weeks in the chair at The Tonight Show, he decided to make a trip back to his hometown of Andover, Mass., to show 60 Minutes Steve Kroft and producer Ruth Streeter where his roots are.
As far as anyone knew, it was the first time Leno had agreed to bring reporters to his childhood home, his high school, and the McDonald s where he once flipped burgers.
The visit provided insight into Leno s early development and his style as a comedian, says Streeter. Jay is a difficult person to get underneath because he is a performer and because he s been interviewed so many times, Streeter told 60 Minutes Overtime. Andover is so defining for him.
Andover is the home of the Phillips Academy, one of the country s top boarding schools, but Leno was a townie, he told Kroft.
I would often get beat up by the preppies, Leno said. A rite of passage in Andover was getting punched in the face by George Bush or somebody famous.
