JON BON JOVI on THE TONIGHT SHOW

JL: Alright, my next guest, big-time rock star and also been in terrific movies like U-571, currently catch him Monday nights on Ally McBeal, please welcome Jon Bon Jovi! <crowd cheers>,

<Jon walks onto the stage, raises his arms to the crowd, Jay Leno walks over and they shake hands>

JBJ: (says into Jay’s ear as they’re shaking hands) You were fearless!

<Jay goes back behind his desk, Jon walks to the first chair next to thedesk and brushes it off>

JL: Hey, you want . . . (offers Jon a blue paper that apparently has somekind of animal sprinklings or something on it)

JBJ: (wrinkles nose and waves Jay off) No! (laughs)

JL: How you been, buddy?

JBJ: Good! You’re psycho . . . rubbing heads with that cat (referring to the lynx the exotic animal trainer had on in the segment before Jon)! (fingers the lapel of his leather jacket) This is one of your last guests!

JL: Really? There you go!

JBJ: I’m from Jersey, I’m not afraid of any snake. <Jay laughs> You know, that was wacked, man!

JL: You should have come out here when the animals were here!

JBJ: I took care of them afterwards! <crowd laughs> That’s the poop!

JL: Got bit in the finger . . . .

JBJ: I saw that! Bush babies bite, I’m telling you,those bupkins (???) are bad, you got to be careful!

JL: Bush babies bite, always remember that. How you been, everything good?

JBJ: I’m good, I’m really good!

JL: Still riding, still doing the bike thing?

JBJ: Well, I gotta say, I’m gonna get outed here on national television, cause my bike is in semi-retirement.

JL: Oh come on, what are you, an old married man, come on!

JBJ: Any married man . . . .

JL: What, you got a station wagon, a minivan?

JBJ: No, my bike, I loaned it to Harley, which I know you’re a big Harley aficionado, but it’s going on tour with Elvis’ bike crowd cheers>. It’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a year, so I put it in the Hall and Harley’s taking it out for their hundredth anniversary. So I’m doing without, you know.

JL: So you walk?

JBJ: No, I just walk around the house going vroom, vroom, vroom! <makes motorcycle-revving motions with his hands and laughs>

JL: Now, did you ever get tickets, were you like acrazy man on a bike or what?

JBJ: Not so much that I was getting tickets, you get stopped a lot and you take off the helmet and they go "Oh, that rock star guy." I could get away with murder pretty much in Jersey.

JL: Yeah? Hey, you could do it in LA!

JBJ: Well, LA, I don’t know, there’s a lot morecelebrities there.

JL: Did you ride as a kid?

JBJ: Yeah, I’ve been riding since I was a little kid,I mean, I got my firstbike when I was 13, I had to earn it, up at mygrandfather’s house, riding itaround the house and learned to ride then, and weused to live in Sayreville,New Jersey, it was . . . <crowd cheers>

JBJ: . . .oh yeah, all of you all are from Sayreville, right? <crowd laughs> But it was a great place to grow up. It was claypits, so we learnedmotocross back there, in the dirt. Now it’s, ofcourse, you knowneighborhoods.

JL: Right. Did you ever take any trips, like,cross-country?

JBJ: Couple times, those are my Kerouac years. Youknow, those are the bestexperience - anyone who ever rode a bike, get on itand go cross-country, gofind, in search of Route 66. It was life, you know.But whoever’s leadingthe pack decides where you pull in, my friend Obie,who you’ve met herebefore, we’re riding in and he sees the FlintstonesMuseum, and he goes,"we’re going there!" So, you know, I’ve gotpictures of me like in BarneyRubble’s car going (holds right hand up and wavesand gives a thumb-up sign).<crowd laughs> Cool!

JL: Where is that, Arizona? Because that’s the siteof the actualFlintstones excavations, you know, over 5,000 yearsago.

JBJ: Yeah, it’s hard now to get the cast out there,you know, they don’t wantto work there anymore. <laughs> But, um, goingcross country, you find allthings that I don’t get to see. You know, we’reflying to big cities,playing arenas, stadiums, whatever, but you don’tget out to the FlintstonesMuseum.

JL: Yeah, how often though, you know, the caverns,the big guy with the bigbowling ball, I mean, all that.

JBJ: Right, right, right, right, right. I’ve beenthere, I’ve been there,see, you’ve been there, too.

JL: So now you’re doing the acting thing, now. Isit more fun than rock androll? It doesn’t seem like it would be.

JBJ: Well, first of all, it’s like this game of golf,which I also am notreally fond of. You go there, and people play golfwhen it’s still dark out.Why do they do that? You know, like they show upand they want to be thereat dawn to hit the ball off the tee and chase it. Idon’t need any morestress in my life! Same thing with acting - theywake me up at 5 o’clock inthe morning! If this was the band, we’d be going tobed, now I got to get upat 5!

JL: Right, right, yeah, yeah!

JBJ: You show up, you shoot a scene, before I’m, thefirst scene is alreadydone already and then the sun comes up, I’m likewhat the hell, it’s like abunch of vampires, you know? <crowd laughs> AndCalista, like, I think shelives there, I think it’s just the Truman Show forher because she just goesto work every day all day, twelve hours a day andshe keeps saying "bye" and"hi" and she’s always there! I show up, I get toleave, and this poor kid .. .

JL: But it’s a lot of work, it’s not like, withmusic you play for a couplehours and then, whee! trash the hotel.
><crowd laughs>

JL: You can’trash your trailer, you have to comeback to it tomorrow.

JBJ: That’s true, you know, it’s a lot of work. Theywork very, very hardthere on this TV stuff. But, I’ve been prettyfearless, you know, you gofrom music to movies, movies to television, I mean,I had no desire to do TVwhatsoever - when David Kelley gives you a call,it’s like the Godfathercalling, you know, so you jump at the chance...

JL: Right.

JBJ: ... I walk into the set the first day afterbeing asked to do this rolefor a while, and I’m thinking, you know, this is allright, David Kelley’s apretty hot, cool guy, he’s got three TV shows, Ihear he’s married toMichelle Pfeiffer, I’m expecting I’m going to walkon the set, there’s DavidKelley, big hug, kiss, you know, come on over, meetmy wife, kind of thing,I’m like all excited, I want to talk about Grease 2.No. I get on the set,you hear this voice from above, this <pulls his fistto his mouth to simulatea loudspeaker> "This is David Kelley, I createdyou." And you go, yeah,you’re God. And so you start doing your schtick,but these people are wacky.All these people have been together for five years,they’re eight episodesin before I even show up, it was a littleintimidating.

JL: You’re the new guy.

JBJ: Yeah, you know, that dancing baby thing, it’sreal, he’s got his owndressing room, he’s a midget! <crowd laughs>

JL: Now the character you play, you play what, is ita contractor?

JBJ: Yeah, but, you know what I’m turning into? Youknow that, you rememberthat character Schneider, with Bonnie . . .

JL: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

JBJ: . . . I’m just always there but I don’t doanything, you know! Theyhanded me a wrench, I didn’t know if it was a wrenchor a plier, I’m underthe sink fixing the sink, the other day I saidthere’s no chance in hell I’dbe ever fixing the sink!

JL: Now, are you a mechanical guy at all?

JBJ: No . . . if the light bulb’s . . .

JL: You’re from Jersey, you’re a Jersey guy, comeon, Jersey guys can fixstuff!

JBJ: I’m a rock and roll star, you know! <Jon laughs>If the lightbulb goesdead, I throw out the light! You know!

JL: Really?

JBJ: Completely useless! I have more people thatwork at my house than AT&T.

JL: Really?

JBJ: Oh, people here all the time!

JL: Now, I would have guessed Jersey guy, roll upthe sleeves, yo, put somenew . . .

JBJ: I play a great one on TV, but . . .

JL: Yeah, but no, don’t fix anything at all?

JBJ: No! I wouldn’t know how to work, you know,anything. I could makecoffee in the morning and . . .

JL: Was your dad handy?

JBJ: No. <crowd laughs>

JL: No? So, this is, so the whole family is just pretty much useless, I guess.

JBJ: Pretty much.

JL: Yeah, yeah, thank God you can sing.

JBJ: I was telling, here’s a good story. I was going out, I went last week end to, you know the Cub Scouts? The Cub Scout . . . do you have any sons? You have any sons?

JL: No, I don’t have any sons, but I know the Cub Scouts.

JBJ: They have a Pinewood Derby. It’s a six-inchblock of wood.

JL: Sure, I know that.

JBJ: A big deal.

JL: I was a Cub Scout.

JBJ: So was I. Thirty-five years ago, thirty-fouryears ago, I was a Cub Scout, and they give a block of wood and they say "make a car out of this piece of wood." Well, I am haunting my father tothis day because he didn’thelp me make this car, so now it’s my son’s turn.Well, I’ll be damned ifI’m not going to go and you know, fly my plane allthe way back to Jersey,make this car, I’m there, you know, I’m hanging withmy son, we built thecoolest car ever. But I actually helped. My sondid more than I did andhe’s six, but, you know . . . <crowd laughs> . . .we had a hell of a timeand I got to say I did something handy and we’retaking a picture togetherand you know, he’s got his arm around his dad, andI’ve got my two hands upshowing my wife I didn’t cut myself, look, you know,it’s like I still got all my fingers. So that’s about as handy as I’mable to get.

JL: Do you still have your car?

JBJ: Oh, yeah, because of you I bought a Viper.

JL: No, no, but I mean, your small one, the one that you made?

JBJ: Mine? No, no, no, no, mine’s still, I showed up at the race, the paint was wet, my hands were blue, I’m giving my father hell over this Christmas about it.

JL: See, my brother was a carpenter, he could makehis car look like a realcar that was actually, you know, if you put it on atable, you’d think, oh,that was a real car. Mine, three of the wheels wereon the same side, youknow, you know what I’m saying, it’s not good, Iwasn’t very handy.

JBJ: That was as handy as I’ve ever been.

JL: So you bought the Viper? I told you you’d like it.

JBJ: I did, I love that car, lookit, we sound like acommercial - can we get free Vipers, anyone? <Jon, Jay, crowd laughs>

JL: But you gotta get tickets in that. Have youbeen stopped out here with that one?

JBJ: No, but I do like driving around LA with like the plates from home and driving into the lot and all, I really dig that car. It’s got a great stereo, it’s all about the stereo, air conditioningand heating and it hasn’t broken down out here.

JL: A rock star with out-of-state plates! You won’t get in trouble!

JBJ: No, no! <laughs>

JL: Well, thanks, you did some great stuff therewith 9/11, I know you didn’twant to admit it, but it was great because I knowwhere you live in Jersey,there were an awful lot of people there that wereaffected, firemen and all.

JBJ: I was there, I was home that morning, Richie andI were about to startwriting and he was sleeping and you really didn’tknow how to react whenyou’re caught up in it and 163 families in my countywere affected, you knowkids in my kids’ school and firemen that worked inthe city, you know that goto school with my kids, um, and as the smoke waswafting over my home and theother two planes were in the air, I mean, youreally, it went through yourmind, do you run to the school, is this Armageddon,you start thinking theworst . . .

JL: Yeah.

JBJ: But fortunately, you know, it wasn’t, as tragicas it was. I delayed thestart of Ally by a month and David Kelley, ofcourse, understood, because Isaid I have to stay home to do whatever, whatever Icould, so we did thetelethon, which happened to be next door to a placewhere I was a gofer in arecording studio 20 years ago. You dreamt aboutwriting the songs and 20years later, you’re performing those songs for suchan important night, youknow, and you walked out and saw that sameplayground, it really had adifferent meaning, you know. But God bless allthose firemen and policemenand the folks who lost...

JL: Yup. Well, you too, good work, you’re a goodman. Thank you, Jon! It’sgood knowing you, a pleasure to have you! <crowdcheers> Be right back with Pete Yorn after this!