Comedian Jay Leno reminisced about how he once ignored a decorated general's warning and roasted President Ronald Reagan at a White House Correspondents' Dinner in the early 1980s.
Appearing on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Leno shared an anecdote about what happened backstage before the big event. Leno was prepared to have some fun at the president's expense, but as he was getting his notes ready, a general reportedly confronted him.
"That's the president of the United States, you understand?" Leno said the general told him. "That is my commander-in-chief. You do not denigrate him. You do not make fun of him. He is the president of the United States. He is my commander. Do you understand?"
Leno recalled being a bit shaken and thinking he had to "change his act."
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But it was his next encounter that put him at ease.
Former Secretary of State George Schultz, who Leno described as having a cocktail in hand and already being "three sheets to the wind," told Leno to let his boss have it.
"Leno, come here, come here," Schultz said, according to Leno. "You get out there and you nail Ronnie's ass to the wall!"
When Leno asked about what the general had said, Schultz replied, "Screw him, he works for me!"
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Leno took him up on his advice and kept to his set, even poking fun at the president's wife, Nancy Reagan, in his opening joke.
"I want to thank Nancy Reagan for being named Humanitarian of the Year. I'm glad she beat out that conniving little tramp, Mother Teresa," he quipped.
Leno said he heard Reagan give a hearty laugh, and after that point he knew he could relax into his routine.
Both Leno and Reagan share a knack for finding humor even in scary situations. The comic suffered serious facial burns last year in a garage fire, but still joked about the scars.
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"Eight days later, I had a brand new face," Leno quipped to the Wall Street Journal. "And it’s better than what was there before."
Reagan, too, didn't lose his sense of humor following his assassination attempt on March 30, 1981. When John Hinckley, Jr., took a few shots at the president, three people on his staff, including Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy, and policeman Thomas Delahanty, were injured, and Reagan was wounded by a bullet that ricocheted off his limousine. At the hospital, he reportedly remarked to his wife Nancy before surgery, "Honey, I forgot to duck," referencing a one-liner from boxer Jack Dempsey.
