The Tonight Show

Did You Know?

• The Tonight Show airs on CNBC Europe, usually three nights after its U.S. broadcast.
• In Sweden, Kanal 5 has shown the show (as the Jay Leno Show) since the late 1990s with a one-week delay.
• The show is also broadcast on One in Germany with German subtitles, weekdays at 11:00 p.m., one day after its American broadcast.

Hosting history

NBC's late-night programming began with Broadway Open House (1950–1951), a nightly variety show hosted primarily by Jerry Lester. That show failed because hosting five nights a week exhausted Lester's material, leading to rotating duties for a weekly prime-time variety show in 1951. The network then scaled back to shorter weekly shows, including Dagmar's Canteen and Mary Kay's Nightcap. The Tonight Show's format originated from a local New York program, The Knickerbocker Beer Show (later The Steve Allen Show), which premiered in 1953 on WNBT-TV. In September 1954, it was renamed Tonight! and began its national NBC run. The first announcer was Gene Rayburn. Allen's version introduced talk show staples: an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, outside comedy bits, guest performers, a house vocal group (Steve and Eydie), and a house band led by Skitch Henderson. Regular audience member Lillian Miller became so integral that she was forced to join the performers union. Allen and Kovacs left in January 1957 after NBC ordered Allen to focus on his Sunday program.

Music and announcers

Music during the show's introduction and commercial segues is supplied by The Tonight Show Band, which was a jazz big band until the end of Johnny Carson's tenure. Skitch Henderson was bandleader during the Steve Allen and early Carson years, followed briefly by Milton DeLugg. Gene Rayburn served as Allen's announcer and sidekick and guest-hosted some episodes into Carson's run. Bill Wendell, who announced Kovacs's version, later served as David Letterman's announcer. The Lou Stein Trio provided music during the short run of Tonight! America After Dark, which ran six months between the Allen/Kovacs and Jack Paar eras; it was replaced by the Mort Lindsey Quartet, then the Johnny Guarnieri Quartet. José Melis led the band for Paar, and Hugh Downs was Paar's announcer. For most of Carson's run, the band (then called The NBC Orchestra) was led by Doc Severinsen, former trumpet soloist in Henderson's band. When announcer Ed McMahon was away, Severinsen substituted as announcer and Tommy Newsom led the band; when both were absent, Newsom took the announcer's chair and Shelly Cohen led the band. Severinsen's big band included saxophonist Newsom, trumpeters Snooky Young, John Audino, Conte Candoli, Clark Terry, pianist Ross Tompkins, drummer Ed Shaughnessy, and saxophonist Pete Christlieb. The band appeared in 'Stump the Band' segments, where an audience member named an obscure song and the band comically improvised; on two occasions the band answered correctly.

Broadcasting milestones

The Tonight Show originally aired at 11:15 p.m. ET, right after a 15-minute local news update from affiliates. When those stations expanded their newscasts to half an hour, the show created two separate openings—one for affiliates starting at 11:15 and another for those joining at 11:30. By early 1965, only 43 out of 190 stations carried the full program. After February 1965, Johnny Carson refused to host until 11:30, leaving Ed McMahon to handle the first 15 minutes. Carson was unhappy with this setup and pushed for a later start, which finally changed to 11:30 in December 1966, ending the dual-opening practice. The program was live at first, but on January 12, 1959, it began taping for same-day broadcast, though Thursday episodes stayed live initially. Color broadcasts started on September 19, 1960. In 1984, it became the first U.S. TV show to use MTS stereo sound, sporadically at first, then regularly from 1985. The start time shifted to 11:35 in September 1991 so affiliates could sell more ads during local late news. On April 26, 1999, it switched to 1080i HDTV, the first nightly talk show to do so. On March 19, 2009, it made history by hosting a sitting U.S. president, Barack Obama, on Jay Leno’s show. Weekend repeats were a regular part of NBC’s schedule from 1965 to 1975.

Gags, sketches, and segments

Under Steve Allen, segments included 'Answer Man,' where Allen gave an answer and then read a question that served as a punchline; man-on-the-street interviews often featuring actors Don Knotts, Louis Nye, and Tom Poston; and '... and Costello,' with Lou Costello re-enacting Abbott and Costello routines with Poston or Nye. 'Crazy Shots' (later 'Wild Pictures') involved quick visual gags while Allen played piano. Vocal duo Steve and Eydie performed interludes. Ernie Kovacs featured a pantomime character named Eugene, who received a prime-time special, Silent Show, during Kovacs's final week. Jack Paar's segments included 'Candid Camera' (hosted by Allen Funt) in 1958, 'Stump the Band' (later used by Carson), and the 'Telephone Game,' where José Melis built songs around four-digit numbers. Johnny Carson's 'Carnac the Magnificent' had Carson playing a psychic who held sealed envelopes (described by Ed McMahon as kept 'hermetically sealed inside a mayonnaise jar underneath Funk & Wagnalls' porch since noon today'), recited a punchline, then read the matching question. If a joke failed, Carnac passed a comedic curse. Carnac appeared modeled after Allen's earlier 'The Question Man' gag.