One-Way Ticket From NBC, Please

WASHINGTON —  Saying Jay Leno’s humor is on the wrong track, Amtrak has decided to bypass NBC stations for its advertising.

Weary of being the target of Leno’s jokes on “The Tonight Show,” Amtrak, the government-supported passenger train corporation is protesting by pulling nearly $2 million in advertising from the NBC-TV network.

“I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that NBC can write Amtrak jokes faster than we can spend advertising dollars on your network. I give up,” Amtrak Chairman and President Thomas Downs said in a letter to the network.

Downs said Amtrak has been unfortunate enough to be involved in a series of accidents during the past year, “none of which was our fault,” and he is tired of hearing Leno joke about safety problems at the company.

Responding to Amtrak’s recent announcement that it would lay off 600 managers, Leno cracked that the railroad wasn’t going to fire them, just put them on a train.