Jay Leno will either save or kill television. Or maybe just host a comedy show.

Jay Leno is on the cover of Time this week with a headline calling him "the future of television." It's a label that makes the veteran comedian laugh.

"That is hilarious. That shows you the trouble we are in," Leno said earlier this week in a conference call.

"I guess it's very funny. If you read the article [it's] just telling you that I think television has to change. ... The advertising dollars are not there anymore. I mean, the numbers that make you No. 1 now are numbers that would have gotten you canceled 20 years ago."

Leno could well be talking about his own show. Few people expect "The Jay Leno Show," which premieres Monday and airs every weeknight at 10 ET, to challenge the likes of "The Mentalist" or "CSI: Miami" in the ratings. What NBC hopes is that Leno's show, which is far cheaper to produce than a scripted drama, turns a nice little profit and keeps viewers around for the late local news (a big deal for affiliates).

How will Leno do that? By taking elements of his "Tonight Show" -- Headlines, Jaywalking, celebrity guests -- adding comedy pieces from a group of "correspondents" that includes D.L. Hughley, Rachael Harris, Mikey Day, Liz Feldman and the Dan Band and hoping that viewers are ready for some lighter fare before the news.

Here's a little more of what Leno had to say about the new show.

Nerves
"I'm still pretty laid back. NBC in fourth place; you can't do any worse. ... This is not as nerve-wracking as taking over from Johnny [Carson] because then you were sort of an unknown entity; at this point people kind of know what you do.

"They either like it or they don't and, you know, you kind of bring a new -- you kind of keep doing what you always did but maybe with new energy and new excitement and some new bits and you see how people like it. I mean, all you can do is give it your best shot."

Correspondents
"We've got Duane Perkins, an African-American comic, he's doing a funny [segment called] 'Great White Moments in Black History.' ... Those really made me laugh. I like those. We have Rachael Harris who has been traveling around doing bits on how to cut back and save money during the recession, which is kind of funny.

"We have Dan Finnerty and the Dan Band -- you might know them from 'The Hangover' and 'Old School.' And he does a thing that everything goes better with music. He just goes places with his band and introduces music to whatever situation he's involved in. And those are pretty funny.

"Liz Feldman is a very comedian and writer. She has kind of a nice touch. We sent her over to the senior center to teach seniors how to Twitter. And that actually turned out very cute and fun. So that's some of the ideas of things we have."

Guests
[Guests for the opening week include Jerry Seinfeld, Tom Cruise, Miley Cyrus and Halle Berry, plus music from Jay-Z with Kanye West and Rihanna.]
"The idea is you try to have a good show, you try to have them come to the show for a specific reason; they think it's funny or they like the format or they like you. And then a guest star is icing on the cake. It makes them want to watch just a little bit more.

"... If people don't watch unless [certain guests] are on, then you're in trouble. So that's really the key -- you try to have something that people like and [if you] just happen to have one of those celebrities, that's fantastic."

Trash talk
"[CBS CEO] Les Moonves was the bartender at the Improv when I worked there. And my favorite quote of Les' was 1993 -- 'Leno beating Letterman this week was an aberration; you will not see that happen again. I can guarantee that.' That one always made me laugh when I read that.

"So, you know what it is, it's trash talk. And if you like playing the game, it's great fun. And I enjoy playing the game. They all vowed none of their [stars] will be on our show. OK, but if the show does reasonably well ... look, we're all here to benefit television. Television is dying, it's not doing well.

"We either can all support one another and promote each other's shows, [or] we can all go back into our little cave and pretend like we're the only thing on. To me I think 'Lost' is the best show on television. I like the 'CSI' shows; I think they're all well-done. I have no problem promoting those shows on my show because it's -- first of all get people to network TV, just get them there. Once they're there, then you can argue about what's best."

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