Jay Leno used the first minute of Monday’s Tonight Show opening monologue to rip NBC and Comcast for the 20 layoffs from last week:

“As you may have heard, our parent company has downsized ‘The Tonight Show.’ And we’ve consistently been number one in the ratings,” Leno continued in the monologue. “And if you know anything about our network, that kind of thing is frowned upon. I have more bad news: turns out we’ve been taken over by Bain Capital. … I knew something was going on. Friday morning I woke up and there was a peacock head in my bed.”

You think Leno will get a call from management today?

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According to Deadline’s NBC insider, the layoffs have to do more with Comcast than the ratings:

“I don’t think ad sales are off. I just think the people who bought this company, Comcast, wants to go through everything at NBC and get their money back,” an NBC insider tells me. ”It’s hard to go through those kinds of cuts. It’s more a network issue than a late-night issue. And I would say that Jay doesn’t get credit for digging out of a gigantic hole every single night. He’s a very valuable guy to NBC and someday everyone will understand that. He does a great job.”

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times reported that Leno’s salary went from $25-30 million to likely around $20 million.

In addition, the weekly show budget will be reduced from approximately $2.3 million to $1.7 million.

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