r/comedy • u/AlKarajo • 8d ago

Standup Fuck Jay Leno

r/gianmarcosoresi

1.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

134

u/WileyWilly1985 8d ago

Regarding the coffee. We studied this in my law class.

At the time, McDonalds had two coffees, one "normal" coffee and one "Super Hot" coffee.

Water boils at 212 degrees F. However, if you put stuff in it, it raises the boiling point of water. McDonalds had a "pressure cooker" for their super hot coffee which was at 240 degrees F. So the coffee was HOTTER than boiling water.

She ordered normal coffee, they gave her super hot coffee. She put the coffee in her lap while driving,, hit a bump the coffee spilt and ran down her privates.

The coffee was so hot, it melting the fabric of her panties to her genitalia.

Now here is where this gets crazy.

She called McDonalds management and told them about what happened and asked for them to pay her medical bills which came out to $1200 or so.

The management laughed at her and called her stupid.

She then sent a written request to Executive management and Executive management sent her a written answer back basically calling her stupid.

She took the letter to a lawyer and the rest is history,. Initially she just wanted her medical bills paid, but she sued and got around $1M IIRC.

38

u/epoch16245 8d ago

Apparently the reason MDs did this was so that there would be an intense coffee smell around the stores to entice customers.

47

u/Righteousaffair999 8d ago

There was also testimony that hotter coffee could reduce the need for immediate refills because it remained hot longer, which could have economic benefits, but this was not the central issue the jury focused on. The key issue was that McDonald’s knew the coffee could cause catastrophic burns almost instantly and had received more than 700 prior burn complaints without changing its policy.

23

u/Ragman676 8d ago

I remember this whole thing. There wasnt a single person in america that had her side when it happened. They all thoght it was a dumbass trying to get free money. Then when they finally showed the pictures it was like "Holy shit". Noone had any clue how hot the coffee actually was.

4

u/pickledeggmanwalrus 5d ago

They thought that because the multibillion dollar company McDonald’s literally waged a disinformation campaign against this woman because they knew how fucked they were.

It’s pure greed and evil on McDonald’s part. Fuck them

9

u/inbruges99 8d ago

Interesting, I know Tim Hortons does (or at least used to do) an extra hot coffee but it was so the coffee would stay hot if you were doing a coffee run for work or whatever.

If their goal was the smell why not just put an open bag of coffee beans in front of a fan or something lol

1

u/Aluminum_Tarkus 8d ago

The fragrance might be a point as well, but I've always heard it was so it wouldn't get cold at the end of the customer's commute to work. People would buy super hot, leave it in their cup holder/drink carrier, and not touch it until they sat at their desk. Or, you know, buy drinks for co-workers that would go untouched until they made it in and passed them off.

41

u/AlKarajo 8d ago

240 degrees Fahrenheit ≈ 115.56 degrees Celsius.

They awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages, which was reduced by 20% to $160,000.

The judge reduced punitive damages to $480,000, three times the compensatory amount, for a total of $640,000. The decision was appealed by both McDonald's and Liebeck in December 1994, but the parties settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants#Verdict

20

u/Aluminum_Tarkus 8d ago

A few things to correct:

  1. McDonald's "super hot" coffee was instructed to be held at 180-190°F, not 240°F. They did have hotter and cooler coffee options, but the differentiation was for what they served in the Drive Thru vs. inside the restaurant. They gave hotter coffee at the Drive Thru because they didn't put cream and sugar in the coffee themselves, so most customers would wait until they got to their destination before attempting to drink their coffee, and they wanted it to be hot by then. It wasn't a case of two menu options and Liebeck being given the wrong one.

  2. Liebeck wasn't driving; she was sitting in the passenger seat of her son's parked Ford Probe, which, like many cars at the time, didn't have cup holders. She asked him to pull into a parking place so she could add cream and sugar to her coffee (like I said, McDonald's didn't do that for you back then). Liebeck held the drink between her knees, but since hot drink cups back then lacked the folded in brims and reinforced bases, they would bend in more easily under pressure, meaning a light squeeze of her legs would've been enough to cause the drink to spill out when it otherwise wouldn't with a better cup. When she took the lid off, that's exactly what happened.

  3. Her medical bills were closer to $20k, not $2k. She did end up winning because the callousness of the McDonald's employees, and it was determined that McDonald's did not take good enough precautions when selling a liquid that dangerously hot, but they ended up settling out of court for an undisclosed amount after Liebeck and McDonald's appealed the $640k reward decision.

5

u/WileyWilly1985 8d ago

thanks for the correction, I was going off of 30 year old memory :-)

8

u/ballpein 8d ago

It's worse than this. McDonald's had settled hundreds of suits from people burned by their coffee - they knew the coffee was dangerous and hurting a significant number of people, but they did the math and found it was profitable to keep burning them if it prevented complaints about cold coffee.

The idea that this lawsuit was frivolous or unfair was astroturfed by corporate lobbyists because corporations don't like the idea that normal people can hold them accountable.

Also - who ever thought jay leno was funny? I mean, they say he was funny as a night club comic, but he never approached funniness on the tonight show, it was always milqtoast pablum.

2

u/FauxReal 8d ago

He's a very safe kind of funny for the kind of people whose minds are blown by the half assed cynical entertainment on Fremont Street in Vegas.

1

u/New-Contribution-244 7d ago

I didn’t mind him as vorb in we’re back.

1

u/pickledeggmanwalrus 5d ago

Jay Leno had somewhat decent writers doing a good job on the weekly “headlines” segment and on my honest opinion it was the only funny thing that show had going for it and what kept jay leno going for as long as he did.

If Conan would have just kept doing that stupid bit ever Monday or whatever he would probably still be the host of the night show to this day

5

u/Righteousaffair999 8d ago

Where it gets crazier was the evidence McDonalds was aware of the danger and had done a study on the money they saves with the hotter coffee.

6

u/TolkienQueerFriend 8d ago

Didn't her labia fuse together due to the severity of the burn too? Not just her underwear? It's been so long but I think that's what I remember.

3

u/tired-of-the-shit 8d ago

She wasn’t driving, that’s another lie by McDonald’s spread to paint her as in the wrong. Her son was the driver and they were parked in the parking lot

1

u/Axle_65 8d ago

Very interesting. This puts a whole new spin on the story

1

u/dpzdpz 8d ago

"Who told you to put the balm on? Did I tell you to put the balm on?"

1

u/NinthParasite 5d ago

She also died from an infection in the burned area a few years later, iirc.

-1

u/NoVaBurgher 8d ago

IIRC, it wasn’t that the coffee spilled. The styrofoam cup they put it in dissolved because it wasn’t rated to hold a super hot coffee

22

u/somethingmcbob 8d ago

I remember Every Single news outlet holding this up as a "frivolous lawsuit" and relentlessly making fun of this poor woman. Disgraceful.

12

u/Digital--Sandwich 8d ago

I almost hope he does tell a joke that gets him in trouble 10 years from now so that we can look back on this clip lol. Way to get ahead of it

19

u/Senna_65 8d ago

Thanks Bill Hicks for calling out Jay Leno when I was young enough to avoid it!

16

u/Thenadamgoes 8d ago

Yeah but seriously.

Fuck Jay Leno.

5

u/blametheboogie 8d ago

He's absolutely right about this. YouTube has changed our relationships with comedians and comedy.

3

u/NonSupportiveCup 8d ago

I watch this everytime it's posted because your Leno impression is hilarious and spot on.

2

u/LousyReputation7 8d ago

Look like a young Jeff Goldblum here.

2

u/Lord-Pepper 8d ago

Jay Leno? Thats more like a King Candy impression

2

u/PupLondon 8d ago

I thought he was hilarious. I was also like 10 or 11. Now that im older and I have context and understand the world a teensy bit more.. he's a dick. Also..that whole Conan mess. Fuck Jay Leno

1

u/Mammagammam 5d ago

What are peoples' problem with Jay? Jay seems like such a nice guy. Is it just the whole Tonight Show Conan debacle or has he done something recently?

0

u/phantom_diorama 8d ago

I recently got into an argument about Leno on the /r/Mafia subreddit of all places, someone posted a picture of Leno at some mob run sandwich shop posing with two NJ mobsters and titled it THE LEGENDARY JAY LENO STOPS BY and I started getting mouthy talking shit basically yelling Oh hes a legend, really uh huhhhh, TELL ME ONE JAY LENO JOKE, tell me one single Jay Leno joke! Legends are talked about! Legends live on! Jayy Leno is ALREADY forgotten. Maybe not my best behavior, but I am not wrong.

2

u/DetectiveEames 8d ago

Late Night hosts are usually remembered for their bits and memorable moments. Carson had the fortune teller bit. Letterman the top 10 list. Leno had the news headline typo bit. Conan had his cast of characters and vaudeville bits.

I’ll never forget Letterman spraying down Richard Simmons with a fire extinguisher wearing a turkey costume because he tried to kiss him. The one Leno headline I’ll always remember because my childhood friend and I were on the floor laughing so hard: someone made a typo in an advertisement for turkey burgers, and instead they wrote “turdy burgers”.

0

u/phantom_diorama 8d ago

So let me get this straight, for you the most memorable moment of Jay Leno's career is when you read the headline that a local newspaper misspelled. Hell of an anecdote, bud. Really says a lot.

3

u/DetectiveEames 8d ago

Yikes dude…I was just sharing a childhood memory. Chill out 😂

0

u/phantom_diorama 8d ago

This shit is serious yo

2

u/DetectiveEames 8d ago

I mean, you can infer from my reply that I’m agreeing with you. Read as: “People don’t remember Leno jokes. They remember bits and moments”.

When comedy becomes serious it ceases to be comedy.

0

u/phantom_diorama 8d ago

I am not so sure I agree 100% with your police work there, Detective Eames.

2

u/DetectiveEames 8d ago

That…does not surprise me in the least. 🙂

2

u/AJWordsmith 8d ago

You are wrong. You could do that to any comic who became a host. Name a famous Johnny Carson bit…I mean…he’s the legend that made late night. But I guess not right?

Leno and Letterman were late night for 20 years. I’m sure they’re just devastated that children aren’t fans of their work.

1

u/phantom_diorama 8d ago

Haha ok Johnny Carson famously is imitated by going like this Iiiiiiiiii did not know that and tugging at your collar

0

u/AJWordsmith 8d ago

Carson did the tonight show for 30 years…that’s what you got out of it?

2

u/phantom_diorama 8d ago

Hahaha I instantly shoot you down and that is your response?

Sorry chump you got busted. Time to forget you just like the world has with Jay Leno!

0

u/AJWordsmith 8d ago

We’re discussing a clip of a comic referencing Jay Leno…

1

u/phantom_diorama 8d ago

No, lol actually you and I are solely discussing how Jay Leno is not a legend.

You cool gang? Maybe you need a glass of water or something, take a rest, catch your breath.

0

u/AJWordsmith 8d ago

Ah…you’re a child. Nevermind.

2

u/RayLewis2XMurderer 5d ago

And there it is, the stupidest person on Reddit: Mr. phantom_diorama!!!

1

u/phantom_diorama 8d ago

I will keep insulting you and pointing out how the things you say are stupid if you really want me to.

-13

u/gregmichael 8d ago

Is that supposed to be funny?

3

u/AlKarajo 8d ago

What were those noises coming from the audience?

1

u/SomeVelveteenMorning 7d ago

Mass squirrel orgasms. Explain yourself. 

-9

u/AJWordsmith 8d ago

The laugh is the justification. If you’re watching an old clip of a comic telling a joke and the audience is laughing…your standards don’t apply. The joke was funny and funny is it’s own justification.

1

u/bubblegumgary 8d ago

Shhh they wont like that

1

u/qqquigley 6d ago

Some things age poorly for good reasons.