Leno: I'm More Of A Comedian Than Letterman

In an interview with the New York Post, Jay Leno has declared himself more of a comedian than David Letterman.

Leno told the Post's Mary Murphy that he considers Letterman "a broadcaster who's an excellent comedian" and says that Dave "wasn't quite as good in nightclubs." Meanwhile, Leno said of himself, "I consider myself a comedian first and a broadcaster second...I was always a nightclub concert guy and TV came second."

Leno's remarks came in the same interview in which he reminded Murphy that he "did 'The Tonight Show' for 17 years, kept it No. 1, handed it off No. 1" and will pretend his new primetime show never happened if it flops.

"The Jay Leno Show" premieres on Monday with first guest Jerry Seinfeld and first musical act Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Rihanna. There's a lot riding on the show's success, even if Leno jokes about it: NBC's experiment putting Leno on every weeknight in primetime was hailed on the cover of Time magazine last week as the potential future of TV.