27-year-old new act contest released

A new act competition staged 27 years ago is to be released on DVD – as producers try to cash in on the fame of its MC, Jay Leno.

The release comes despite the efforts of the chat show host to prevent the 1984 Los Angeles Comedy Competition ever seeing the light of day again.

Producer Leigh Savidge said: ‘I filmed Jay's live comedy club act in the Eighties when he was a cutting edge comedian with great material.

‘Soon after, Jay decided he didn't want his act overexposed on cable TV so I got steam-rolled over by the Leno machine. I was probably one of the first guys to get Lenoed.'

Savidge claims Leno’s manager refused to have the show aired on TV at the time, despite having agreed to it and sued Leno for breach of contract. The case was settled out of court with Leno – who would go on to host the Tonight show in 1992 – withdrawing all rights to the show.

The producer then released the VHS video in 1986, after Leno's lawyers made another unsuccessful attempt to block it, including claiming the publicity photo used on the cover was ‘scary to children’.

Savidge tried to make more money off the show by selling the rights back to Leno, but the comedian said no – so next month he will release it on DVD.

The disc, out in the States on July 13, contains 25 minutes of Leno’s club act as well as competing stand-up comics including Ray Combs, former host of CBS game show Family Feud.

Savidge has also put together a YouTube animation about his run-ins with Leno’s ‘people’:

Published: 9 Jun 2010