I saw a live performance by Jay Leno several years before he got the Tonight Show. The routine was funny, very funny, but his demeanor was exceptionally peculiar. He simply was not a human in the same room with the rest of us. He was an automaton, a point hammered home when I saw him pretend to respond to audience input, of which there was none. I'm sure this bears no relation to Jay the person, but Jay the performer was very funny, but just not "there."

So, certainly, his willingness to repeat the punch lines of lame assed jokes is a business decision. He KNOWS funny stuff, and used to perform it. The blame does lie with us as a collective audience, and the "lowest common denominator," as noted above.

The amount of money at stake far exceeds anyone's capacity to stand up for the principles of "good comedy."

Dan