Jay Leno surprised his old Tonight Show colleague and intern Ross Matthews on Thursday's new episode of The Drew Barrymore Show . Matthews, now a famous comedian in his own right who serves as co-host for the talk show's "Drew's News" segment, first began working with Leno back in 2001 and quickly became a fan-favorite, covering movie premieres, awards ceremonies, Olympic Games, and other events.
Matthews was on field assignment at Television City Studios to speak with a group of interns about getting started within the entertainment industry when his old boss snuck up on him in a golf cart.
"Hi everybody, Jay Leno here, I'm gonna surprise Ross, I haven't seen him in quite awhile, so ... I think he's changed," the 74-year-old quipped ahead of the sweet reunion. "Is he still a kid?"
"Ross, how are you?" Leno asked the clearly shocked Matthews, who gushed, "Oh my God, Jay Leno! Can I give you a hug? I haven’t seen you in so long!"
"Ross was my favorite intern. We had a lot of them, but he was the most annoying. That was the fun part," Leno reminisced. "Can you believe, Jay, it’s been 23 years since I started on your show? And look at at us, we look great!" the 44-year-old noted. In turn, Leno responded with a wink, telling Matthews, "Well, I look great, anyway. No, no, you look good, you look terrific."
The pair then decided to take a little tour around the studio to catch up, during which Matthews noted that somehow, he had never been in a car with the noted automobile aficionado , and that he couldn't believe that 23 years had gone by. "I still think of you as a kid, but you’re like a grown adult now," Leno admitted, to which Mathews joked, "I have a mortgage, Jay."
Jokes aside, Matthews expressed to Leno how much it meant to him in getting his big break on The Tonight Show . "I've never has the chance to really tell you how much I reference what I learned from you," he said from the heart.
"Well, we enjoyed having you. I always liked you because you were kind. I think you started in the mail room. I don’t mean this in a weird way, but you had no discernible talent," Leno teased. "I mean, you didn't sing, you didn't dance ... It's like, when you're on The Tonight Show , [they'd say] 'Well do your act, let me see what you do.' Oh yeah, well that's funny or it's not funny. But you just had a funny personality, I thought, 'Well this kid's got something.'"
"Show biz is the opposite of real life. If you're annoying and you drive people crazy, well that's a good thing!" The Jay Leno's Garage host continued, remembering the time they sent Matthews to the Hollywood premiere of Ocean’s Eleven . "I said, ‘Well, how about that new, annoying guy, Ross the intern?' I think he might be funny. And you did a great job and then it kind of leap-frogged from there."
There are certainly worse ways to get your big break.
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