Few inside or outside NBC say they expect Leno to regularly beat his scripted competition at CBS or Walt Disney-owned ABC (News Corp-owned Fox doesn't program the 10 pm hour).
In September 2005, he was stopped by police in Brighton for wearing an "offensive" T-shirt which suggested that President Bush and UK PM Tony Blair be tried for war crimes.
Former Labour PM Gordon Brown hired an ex-BBC producer to help ensure he wasn't photographed in a bad light, but it's not always that simple and press photographers are by nature a creative bunch.