The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Did You Know?

• The show won an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series category in 1995.
• The 10th Anniversary special, broadcast on April 30, 2002, drew in 11.888 million viewers.
• The final telecast of the first incarnation had the show's highest overnight household rating for a Friday episode in Leno's 17-year run as host.

History

When Johnny Carson left The Tonight Show on May 22, 1992, Jay Leno took over as host. David Letterman, who hosted the late-night show that followed, had his sights set on the earlier slot and was widely seen as the obvious choice to replace Carson, even though Leno had been Carson’s regular guest host for years. Carson himself always preferred Letterman; he appeared on Letterman’s CBS program twice, never mentioned Leno during his final shows, and in his later years regularly sent Letterman jokes for his monologue. Determined to get the earlier time slot, Letterman left NBC in June 1993 and launched The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS that August, competing directly against Leno’s program. For most of Leno’s tenure, his show beat Letterman’s in the ratings. Conan O’Brien took over the late-night slot Letterman had vacated in September 1993. On the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show, September 27, 2004, NBC announced that O’Brien would succeed Leno in 2009. Leno said he wanted to avoid the bitterness and controversy that had surrounded his own selection over Letterman. On July 21, 2008, it was revealed that Leno’s final episode would air on Friday, May 29, 2009, with O’Brien and James Taylor as guests. O’Brien began hosting the following Monday, June 1, 2009. On December 9, 2008, NBC announced that Leno would host a new prime-time show at 10 pm ET starting in September 2009. That program, The Jay Leno Show, lasted only a short time, ending on February 9, 2010. On January 7, 2010, news outlets reported that starting March 1, 2010, The Jay Leno Show would shift from 10 pm to 11:35 pm, and O’Brien’s The Tonight Show would move to 12:05 am. On January 12, 2010, O’Brien released an open letter stating he would leave NBC if the network pushed The Tonight Show to 12:05 am due to weak ratings. After several days of talks, O’Brien reached a settlement with NBC and left The Tonight Show on January 22, 2010.

Production

From 1992 through 2009, the show was recorded at NBC Studios’ Studio 1 and 3, which later became The Burbank Studios. For the final episodes of that original run in 2009, and again during its revival from 2010 to 2014, production moved to Studio 11. On April 26, 1999, it became the first American late-night talk show to broadcast in high definition, using the 1080i digital format. The program was recorded in two-channel stereo sound and, by the year 2000, employed ten Sony HD cameras—four HDC-700A models, three HDC-750A models, and three DXC-H10 point-of-view cameras—all shooting in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The feed was sent directly to network affiliates via the SBS-4 satellite, while an NTSC version traveled to New York through AT&T fiber and was uplinked from there to its affiliates.

In its final year with Leno as host, the show cost roughly $1.7 million per week to produce. With 45 weeks of annual production, that added up to about $76.5 million, not including salaries for Leno and the top producers. During that same period, the show generated an estimated $30 to $40 million in profit each year, a drop from the $150 million the franchise once earned annually.

The program followed a fixed six-part structure. After the announcer introduced the opening credits, the first segment was a ten-minute monologue from Leno, featuring jokes about current events and occasional brief comedy sketches. The second segment was a full comedy sketch, such as a mini-documentary from a “Tonight Show correspondent” like Ross the Intern or Mikey Day, or a trademark bit like Headlines. The first guest then appeared, with the interview split into two segments. The fifth segment featured a second guest interview. The sixth and final segment typically showcased a musical act or a stand-up comedian. Right after that performance, Leno walked on camera to thank the performers, say goodbye to the audience, and encourage viewers to watch Late Night, which followed immediately. As the closing credits rolled, the closing theme, composed by bandleader Rickey Minor, played the show off the air.

Notable episodes

Jay Leno's first night as the permanent host of The Tonight Show on NBC was May 25, 1992, with guests Billy Crystal, Shanice, and Robert Krulwich. On May 20, 1993, the show went on the road for the first time, taping at Boston's Bull & Finch Pub to mark the final episode of Cheers. A year later, on May 9, 1994, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait set the guest chair on fire during his appearance; Leno responded by tossing a cup of coffee and ordering him to sit down. On August 22, 1994, Leno delivered a tribute to his recently deceased father. After his monologue, he sat at his desk and shared how his father had supported his career, including a moment when, after Johnny Carson disapproved of Leno as his successor, his father told him to "fight the good fight." Leno closed by saying, "You know, it really is lonely at the top. You have no idea. But... we'll fight the good fight, Pop." On July 10, 1995, Hugh Grant made his first public appearance since his arrest for lewd conduct the month before. Leno asked him, "What the hell were you thinking?" Grant replied, "I think you know in life what's a good thing to do and what's a bad thing, and I did a bad thing...and there you have it." That episode marked the first time Leno's show beat rival David Letterman in the ratings.

Broadcasting in other countries

In Australia, The Comedy Channel aired The Tonight Show with Jay Leno until July 2010, when it was dropped not long after Leno returned as host. Before that, the channel had been running episodes from different hosts under the name Late Night Legends. Today, The Tonight Show is one of the few American late-night programs not available on Australian TV; the country instead gets Late Show with David Letterman on Network 10, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on The Comedy Channel, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 10 Peach Comedy, and Conan on 9Gem. Between 1991 and 2000, the cable channel Superstation carried both The Tonight Show and Late Show daily, each episode airing a week after its U.S. debut. Starting in 2011, Record News in Brazil broadcast the show with Portuguese subtitles at midnight local time, two days after the U.S. airing. In Canada, viewers could watch it on CTV 2 or on NBC affiliates near the U.S. border. For many years, CNBC Asia ran back-to-back episodes from the previous week on Saturdays and Sundays across Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, but those were replaced by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in October 2011. CNBC Europe had announced it would carry The Tonight Show when Conan O'Brien took over in June 2009, and after Leno returned, it continued with The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. From April 19, 2010, until the end of Leno’s run, CNBC Europe aired the show weeknights at 12:00 am CET in a one-hour format, with double-bill reruns on weekends from 9:00 pm to 10:30 pm CET, all on a one-day delay. In Finland, MTV3 MAX broadcast the show Monday through Friday with a three-night delay. The show originally aired on CNBC. Starting in 2006, it was shown on Zee Café at 10:00 pm local time with a one-night delay, then moved to Zee Trends in 2011, which was discontinued after a short time. Currently, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs on Comedy Central at 11:00 pm on weekdays.