Jay Leno's Free Shows for the Unemployed

In the spring of 2009, with Michigan's factories shedding jobs, Jay Leno put on two free comedy shows at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The price of admission was telling the box office you were out of work.

A Pitch Made on The Tonight Show

Leno, then hosting The Tonight Show, announced the first free show in March 2009. He called it a "Comedy Stimulus Plan," and it was aimed at the unemployed in the Detroit area.

Telling the Palace box office you were unemployed got you free tickets, with a limit of four per person while they lasted. Tickets and parking cost nothing.

The Detroit Pistons donated their home arena for the night, so the building itself cost the crowd nothing either.

Demand Added a Second Night

Demand was heavy the morning tickets went on sale, so the Palace added a second show for April 8. The first show was set for April 7.

In all, organizers handed out 30,000 tickets across the two nights. That figure counts tickets, not people through the door: the Detroit Free Press put the first night's crowd at about 15,000.

Kid Rock walked out to introduce Leno on opening night and drew a loud response from the capacity crowd. Before he left the stage, Leno told them, "It's been a privilege to come here and talk to you."

The Encore in Wilmington, Ohio

A month later, on May 10, Leno did it again, this time at the Roberts Centre in Wilmington, Ohio, a small town hit hard as DHL pulled its operation out of the Wilmington Air Park. Reports at the time put the crowd at about 4,000.

"Remember DHL was there, and the whole company just closed up," Leno said when explaining why he picked the town. Admission was free, tickets were required, and they were handed out at the venue starting April 27 with a limit of two per person. The Wilmington show was sponsored by Pepsi.

Why He Did It

From the stage, Leno called the crowd "the hardest-working people in the world." In Michigan, the ticket to the show was simply saying you were out of work. In Ohio, free tickets went to people waiting in line at the venue.