Tori On Tonight Show With Jay Leno
September 17, 1998


On Thursday night, September 17, 1998, Tori appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She performed Jackie's Strength with her band and was the third guest, after Paul Reiser and Lucy Lawless. Tori sounded a little hoarse but the performance was excellent! In addition to singing, Tori got to talk for a few minutes with Jay, and she was really funny. She talked about how she used to live in L.A. and play weddings to help pay the rent. She even mentioned that there is a bootleg out there with her singing at a wedding, which caused some people in the crowd to applaud. She also said she tried for a part in Howard The Duck but did not get it. She also talked about actors who suddenly think they are musicians. She was really funny. Thanks to Toriphile Michael Piane, I have a closed captioned transcript of the interview. It does not match what Tori said exactly, but it gives you an idea of what happened. You can read that below after the photos. I also have reports from people who were at the taping.

You can find photos from this appearance below.



Click on thumbnail to see a larger image.


Closed Captioned Transcript Of Tori's Interview

This transcript is rough and not very accurate, but it gives you a good idea of what was said. If anyone has an exact transcript, feel free to send it! Thanks to Michael Piane for sending me the Closed Captioned one below.


[Tori performed Jackie's Strength.]

Jay: good to see you. Have a seat. Here you go. Great as always. How are you, buddy?

Tori: i'm great.

Jay: now, you used to live here, right?

Tori: yeah. [ laughter ]

Jay: what jobs did you have here? Working in l.a.?

Tori: well, i was playing piano bars.

Jay: right.

T: i do weddings.

Jay: oh really?

T: i could have done your wedding. I've done "we've only just begun" and those fantastic, favorite songs. I mean, they're good, but yeah, "you played in my wedding," yeah. It scared the bootleg out of me, playing at someone's wedding.

[note from mikewhy: The line above is really quite wrong. Tori was saying something like she still runs into people that remember her playing at their weddings. She then said that there is a bootleg out there with her playing at a wedding many years ago. The toriphiles in the audience clapped and then Tori pointed at them and said something like, "see, they know about it."]

Jay: were you ever fired from a gig?

T: i got fired all the time because they didn't like my dresses, because i was into leather. [ laughter ] so that didn't work out too well.

[tori also said something about her being a lita ford]

Jay: yeah.

T: but i was trying to pay my rent by doing -- i mean, this is funny because they are actors. They are like the real [tori points to the other two guests to her right] they do it. And i would try and make a little extra money doing commercials and stuff. And i tried to get the part in "howard the duck."

Jay: oh, the movie, "howard the duck?"

T: yeah. But it was a band. So i thought i could audition as one of the band members. And, you know, why not? I can do better than some stupid actress. [applause ] I don't mean you [motioning to lucy lawless], but [ laughter ] i just have to say one thing. I know musicians being actors, it is horrible. I think it's actors trying to be musicians and they learn three chords and think they are it. Think they are like, "strum, strum, strum, i know a song. Strum, strum, strum." [ laughter ] but i didn't get the part.

Jay: oh, well, you are lucky you didn't get it. See, it would have ruined you. You would have been out of show business. Well, no you wouldn't. You were great.

T: Well --

Jay: well, congratulations. This is "from the choirgirl hotel."

T: yeah.

Jay: good to see you, pal. Please come back.


Toriphile Kim H. was at the taping and sends this report:


Toriphile Brian Michael Weidemann was at the taping and sends this report:


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