Tonight Show With Jay Leno Intro

Johnny Carson retired from The Tonight Show on May 22, 1992, and was replaced by Jay Leno. David Letterman wanted to move into the earlier time slot from his late night spot after The Tonight Show, and he was also considered by many as the natural successor (despite Leno having been Carson's permanent guest host for several years). Carson always favored Letterman; notably Carson, who had been interviewed by Letterman, made two appearances on Letterman's rival CBS show, made no mention of Leno during his final shows and regularly sent Letterman monologue jokes in his final years. With his heart set on the earlier time slot, Letterman left NBC in June 1993 and joined CBS that August.

The Late Show with David Letterman, airing in the same slot, competed against The Tonight Show for the remainder of Leno's run. Leno would outdo Letterman in ratings for the majority of the show's run. Conan O'Brien slid into the late night time slot vacated by Letterman in September 1993. On July 1, 2010, Variety reported that only six months into its second life, Leno's Tonight Show posted its lowest ratings since 1992. By September 2010, Leno's ratings in the adults demographic had fallen below those of O'Brien when he had hosted The Tonight Show. NBC ratings specialist Tom Bierbaum commented that due to the host being out of late night television for a period of time and the subsequent 2010 Tonight Show conflict, Leno's ratings fall was "not a surprise at all".

In October 2010, David Letterman beat Leno's program in the ratings, for the first time since Leno returned to hosting The Tonight Show. By May 2011, Leno's Tonight Show regained the lead and has held it since then. However, by August 2012, The Los Angeles Times was reporting that The Tonight Show was in serious trouble for a number of reasons, most notably that NBC has been losing money.

While Leno offered to take a pay cut, at least 24 members of his staff were laid off. On May 13, 2013, during its fall "upfronts" presentation, NBC confirmed Fallon would take over as host of the Tonight Show beginning on February 17, 2014; Seth Meyers, in turn, would leave Saturday Night Live and take over Fallon's time slot. Acclaimed TV late night show host, admired stand-up comedian, best-selling children's book author, TV and movie voice-over artist, pioneering car builder and mechanic, much in-demand corporate speaker and philanthropist .

It's no wonder that Jay Leno is widely characterized as "the hardest working man in show business." Leno dominated the past two decades of late-night television with The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Currently, Leno produces and hosts the CNBC series Jay Leno's Garage which explores the world of cars, never forgetting that it's the people behind the wheel who provide the real stories. In his "spare" time, he enjoys working on his collection of classic cars and motorcycles. Leno is the recipient of many honors, including Emmy, People's Choice, and TV Guide awards, Harris Poll selection as most popular star on television, the Hasty Pudding Award at Harvard University, The Mark Twain Prize and a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. On March 1, 2010, Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show, with Wally Wingert as his announcer.

On April 12, 2010, bandleader Kevin Eubanks announced his departure after 18 years on May 28. By May 2011, Leno regained the lead over Letterman and held it until leaving the show in February 2014. In August 2012, The Los Angeles Times reported that The Tonight Show was in trouble for a number of reasons, notably that NBC was losing money. The Times later elaborated, noting that advertising revenue from The Tonight Show had dropped more than 40% since 2007, from $255.9 million annually to $146.1 million. Still, despite these problems, during 2012–13, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was consistently the highest-ranking late-night show, regularly achieving audiences of over 3.5 million, according to Nielsen ratings.

Leno's audience became considerably smaller after its peak 2002–03 season, when it routinely attracted 5.8 million viewers a night. Johnny Carson retired after three decades in the long-time hosts' chair behind the familiar iconic late-night desk on May 22, 1992, and was replaced by Jay Leno amid national and media controversy. Letterman, having had his heart set on the earlier time slot in spite of Leno's ratings success as recurring substitute host, left NBC (on Carson's advice) and joined rival network CBS. Carson was host at the time of the weekday afternoon quiz show Who Do You Trust? On the newest and then lowest-rated radio and television network, the American Broadcasting Company .

Because Carson was under contract through September to ABC and producer Don Fedderson , he could not take over as host until October 1, 1962. Lewis subsequently wound up hosting a lavish 2-hour prime time talk show for ABC entitled The Jerry Lewis Show while also making movies, which was famously unsuccessful. Changes in Leno's show reflected other major changes in television since its earlier days. By the late 1980s late-night talk had become slightly less a white male domain.

Joan Rivers hosted her own talk show for a short time, and popular black comedian Arsenio Hall had his own show which enjoyed a wide following, attracting mostly a young black audience, a segment previously ignored in late night talk. The first leader of Jay Leno's late night studio band was the accomplished black jazz musician Branford Marsalis. The second band leader and Leno sidekick was Kevin Eubanks, also black. A big change for The Tonight Show during Leno's tenure was its first serious competition. During his long run, Jay leno always held on tightly to his ratings lead, which is why he has never used guest hosts; only reruns were broadcast during Leno's absence. You have to remember that being a guest host on Johnny Carson's show was how Leno was able to land his own show, so he had no intention of facilitating the rise of another host, perhaps to replace him one day.

Starting in the mid- to late-1980s, television talk shows, both daytime and late-night, multiplied in number. The in-studio talk program was inexpensive to produce and audiences were increasingly drawn to the sensationalism and celebrity showcased each day and night on television. Some late-night talk shows--including those hosted by Joan Rivers, Chevy Chase and Pat Sajak on the FOX network--came and went quickly. Arsenio Hall's show was on the air for several years before cancellation.

Especially successful in late night was the up-and-coming David Letterman. Late Night with David Letterman started out on NBC, airing immediately after The Tonight Show from 1982 until 1993. Passed over for the host position on The Tonight Show when Leno was chosen for the post, Letterman moved to CBS where his new show ran in direct competition with Leno.

Neither O'Brien's version of the program, which premiered June 1, 2009, nor The Jay Leno Show generated the ratings NBC had expected. The network decided to move a condensed 30-minute version of Leno's show to O'Brien's time slot, and O'Brien's Tonight Show a half-hour later. This decision met with opposition from O'Brien, and his stint on The Tonight Show ended January 22, 2010, after which he began his own talk show on TBS. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno then began its second incarnation, the sixth of the franchise, on March 1, 2010. Leno left The Tonight Show for good on February 6, 2014 and on February 17, was succeeded by Late Night host Jimmy Fallon, at which time the series returned to New York for the first time since 1972. Hoping to avoid another contentious transition like that of 1992, NBC in 2004 announced that Leno would be replaced in 2009 by O'Brien, host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the program that aired on the network following The Tonight Show.

After O'Brien became host, however, The Tonight Show lost viewers. In an effort to improve ratings and return Leno to late night , NBC suggested that The Tonight Show be pushed back by 30 minutes to accommodate a new program for Leno. O'Brien, however, rejected the proposal, and speculation soon began that Leno would rejoin The Tonight Show. After several weeks of heated negotiations, O'Brien left the show in late January, and Leno returned as host in March.

The program's ratings soon rebounded, but in 2013 Leno announced that he would be stepping down as host the following year. O'Brien returned to late-night television on November 8, 2010, (after his non-compete agreement expired) hosting the self-owned Conan on cable channel TBS. Conan remained partnered with TBS, until 2021, although his show was truncated from an hour to thirty minutes in length due to ratings issues.

Leno would step down from The Tonight Show a second time in 2014, almost four years into his second stewardship. Hosting duties were taken over by Jimmy Fallon, who like O'Brien before him was seen as being able to attract a younger audience than Leno. From 1950 to 1951 NBC aired Broadway Open House, a nightly variety show hosted primarily by comic Jerry Lester.

A spin-off, Dagmar's Canteen, aired the following season on Saturday nights; at some other point in the week, Mary Kay's Nightcap (which mostly consisted of previews of the next day's programming) also aired that season. Following the September 11 attacks, The Tonight Show was off the air for about a week, as were most similar programs. The first post-9/11 episode began with a still image of an American flag and a subdued opening without the usual opening credits. Leno's monologue paid tribute to those who lost their lives and to firefighters, police and rescue workers across the US.

He also told a story about himself as a 12-year old Boy Scout, which Leno said he was not a very good one because of his dyslexia. His scoutmaster gave him the task of being the "cheermaster" of the troop, in which Leno told jokes to the troop to keep their spirits up. Senator John McCain and the musical group Crosby, Stills, and Nash were featured guests. Leno also organized an auction for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle signed by celebrities (he signed his name on-stage), with the proceeds going to 9/11 support organizations. For an extended period after the attack, a short clip of a large American flag waving was shown in between the announcement of the musical guest and Leno's introduction during the opening montage. This decision met with opposition from O'Brien, whose stint on The Tonight Show ended January 22, 2010, after which he began his own talk show, Conan, on TBS.

Former late night talk show host Jay Leno has apologized for making jokes about Asians, according to an Asian American advocacy group. Talk show host Conan O'Brien said goodbye to late night last night , wrapping his final episode ofConanon TBS. On his final episode, the ginger icon welcomed final guest Jack Black, who sent him off with a heavy metal version of Sinatra's "My Way" .

On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere, NBC announced that Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien in 2009. The network shocked Leno, who had been consistently number one in the time period, when he was told that he would be fired in five years, with O'Brien taking over the slot at that time. Five years later, what was to have been the final episode of The Tonight Show with Leno as host aired on Friday, May 29, 2009.

In July 1957, NBC returned the program to a talk/variety show format once again, with Jack Paar becoming the new solo host of the show. Under Paar, most of the NBC affiliates that had dropped the show during the ill-fated run of Tonight! Paar's era began the practice of branding the series after the host, and as such the program, though officially still called Tonight, was also marketed as The Jack Paar Show.

A combo band conducted by Paar's Army buddy pianist Jose Melis filled commercial breaks and backed musical entertainers. Paar also introduced the idea of having guest hosts; one of these early hosts coincidentally was Johnny Carson. It was also one of the first regularly scheduled network shows to be telecast in color beginning sporadically in September 1957, with regular color broadcasts beginning in September 1960. Leno's last Tonight Show aired on February 6, 2014, featuring guests Billy Crystal (Leno's first guest in 1992) and Garth Brooks.

Leno gave a tearful goodbye at the end of the program, calling himself "the luckiest guy in the world", and reflecting on his time as host as "the greatest 22 years of my life." On January 21, it was announced that NBC had struck a deal with O'Brien in which he would leave The Tonight Show and receive a $33 million payout – effectively a buyout of his three-year contract, which was reputed to be approximately $12 million a year. NBC's earlier position that O'Brien did not have time slot protection was seemingly abandoned by implication, as in that scenario O'Brien would have been in breach of contract by refusing to move the show and presumably entitled to no such compensation. O'Brien's staff of almost 200 would receive $12 million divided in their departure, making the total of the settlement $45 million. O'Brien's final episode aired on Friday, January 22, ending his relationship with NBC after 22 years.

Leno resumed hosting The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010, after NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics concluded. In a departure from network programming conventions of the time, the new show aired every weeknight at 10 p.m. Eastern/Pacific, competing with expensively produced narrative series on other networks and leading into affiliates' local news broadcasts and O'Brien's Tonight Show. Citing that he would prefer to do one prime-time show per week rather than five late-night installments, Paar left the show in March 1962.

The guests on the last show were Jack E. Leonard, Alexander King, Robert Merrill and Buddy Hackett. Among those appearing in taped farewell messages were Richard Nixon, Robert F. Kennedy, Billy Graham, Bob Hope and Jack Benny. The Jack Paar Show was moved to the evening's prime time and aired weekly on Friday nights through the 1965 season. In the heartfelt open letter, Fallon pays tribute to the masters. He thanks the previous hosts of The Tonight Show - Johnny Carson, Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno – not forgetting stars of late night television from other shows – like David Letterman, Ernie Kovacs and SNL's Lorne Michaels.

And he does have a lot to be thankful for – after all, Fallon's career found its roots in his early days at SNL. We knew Jay Leno couldn't stay away from our screens for too long. After bowing out from the 'Tonight Show 'in February, the former late night host has just announced his next project, a series on CNBC which has been tentatively titled 'Jay Leno's Garage'. Leno, who presented the late night talk show for seventeen years, helped out his successor with the opening monologue last night, and was pulling out all the best of his political material that he has undoubtedly been sitting on for months. Despite the controversy, Leno soon earned a reputation for his cordial, easygoing manner, strong work ethic, and knack for connecting with his audience.

Under Leno's leadership, the program garnered four Emmy Awards (1995–97; 1999), and Leno was awarded numerous accolades, including a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 2000. By 2008 the show was attracting more than five million nightly viewers, nearly one and a half times as many as its nearest rival, the Late Show. In the May 2011 sweeps period, all of NBCs late night programming had increased viewership. The Tonight Show received a 15% increase in viewership compared with the first 36 weeks of last season.

In that process, it outlasted rival late night talk shows Jimmy Kimmel Live! Both of Leno's lead-in, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Last Call with Carson Daly, also received increased viewership. For the season, in the 18–49 demographic, The Tonight Show had 4 million viewers, compared with Late Show, which had 3.5 million, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Nightline, though, still beat Leno in the May 2011 sweeps, with 4.4 million viewers. For at least six weeks following his return to The Tonight Show, Leno's program beat Letterman in the overall ratings each night, though with a reduced lead in comparison to his first tenure. By mid-2010, The Tonight Show was receiving its lowest ratings since 1992, an average of 4 million total viewers, though he remained ahead of Letterman, who experienced a coinciding decline in ratings.

In September 2010, The Tonight Show posted its lowest numbers on record, with Leno averaging 3.8 million viewers. This was a 12% increase in total viewers over O'Brien at the same time the previous year, but still 23% below O'Brien in the coveted 18–49 demographic. For the first time in almost 15 years, the show slipped to second place in its time slot being consistently beaten by Nightline. In October 2010, Letterman beat Leno's program in the ratings, for the first time since Leno returned to hosting The Tonight Show.

On November 18, 2010, former President George W. Bush made his first appearance on a late night talk show since leaving office. This marked the first time that a sitting President of the United States appeared on a late night talk show. President Obama came under fire for a remark made about the Special Olympics, which he made in reference to Leno's congratulations to Obama's low bowling score. It was announced on July 21, 2008 that Leno would host his final episode of The Tonight Show on Friday, May 29, 2009 with O'Brien and James Taylor as his guests. O'Brien took over hosting duties commencing the following Monday, on June 1, 2009. Soon after his return, Fallon will be hosting SNL — the show where he first got his start — for a third time on April 15th, the first of four episodes that will air live in all four time zones before the show's season finale in May.

During Monday's episode, Leno aired footage from Fallon's first appearance on the program – Sept. 5, 2002. He was there promoting his comedy album "The Bathroom Wall." Other guests included Penn Badgley, Kelly Clarkson and the Dixie Chicks. In the final episode, Crystal surprised Leno by performing another musical spoof, this time to the tune of "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music. He was joined by special guests Jack Black, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, Carol Burnett, Jim Parsons, Sheryl Crow, and Chris Paul. May 29, 2009, was supposed to be Leno's last show, so he had O'Brien on to introduce him to his audience.