The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

History

Succession from Carson

First end of Leno on ''Tonight''

Second incarnation

Production

Finances

Format

Bandleader

Announcer

Recurring segments

Notable episodes

• On May 25, 1992, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno debuted on NBC. The first show featured Leno's guests; Billy Crystal, Shanice, and Robert Krulwich.
• On May 20, 1993, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno traveled to the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston, Massachusetts, to celebrate the final episode of Cheers. This is the first time that The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is taped on the road.
• On May 9, 1994, Bobcat Goldthwait appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he briefly set the guest chair on fire. As a result, he was fined $2,700 plus the cost of the chair ; he was also required to tape several public service announcements about fire safety. Despite banishment rumors Jay Leno invited Goldthwait to appear seven days later for a bit with Goldthwait buried up to his neck in dirt.
• On August 22, 1994, Leno eulogized his father, who had recently died. After his monologue, Leno sat behind his desk and told the audience about his father's life and how his father had supported him in his career. Leno noted a moment when, upon Carson's disapproval at Leno being his successor, his father had encouraged him and told him to "fight the good fight". Leno ended the tribute 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 appeared in public for the first time after his arrest on lewd conduct charges the previous month. Leno famously asked him "What the hell were you thinking?" In response, Grant told Leno, "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." The appearance was the first episode in which Leno beat CBS rival David Letterman.
• On November 30, 1995, Howard Stern, who had made two highly rated appearances in 1992 and 1993, appeared with bikini-clad porn stars Nikki Tyler and Janine Lindemulder, attempting to show "the Tonight Show's first lesbian kiss" and encouraging Leno to spank one of them. Stern and the women remained during Siskel and Ebert's segment, where he began to suck one of their toes, to raucous applause and behavior from the crowd. Leno was visibly uncomfortable during both segments, repeatedly telling Stern "it will all be edited out", and hastily trying to interview Siskel & Ebert while the crowd went wild at Stern's antics. Leno ended the show early by walking off the air, which was edited out when it aired a few hours later, as revealed by Stern when he went on the air the following morning. Despite the situation, Leno called into the show that morning claiming Stern had "gone beyond the acceptable standards". Stern said Leno should not have "been so uptight" and he had a "real" reaction to the situation which was great. Stern recounted Leno had yelled at his producer Gary Dell'Abate saying Stern had "'s-d' in his house" and supposedly "grabbed his crotch" and yelled "Pussy, Pussy, Pussy! That's all it is with Howard" which Leno denied but agreed he had been angered by Stern.
• In September 2000, with California in an energy crisis that forced blackouts, Leno did an episode in the dark using only candles and flashlights known as "The Tonight Show Unplugged".
• 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. Leno had questioned whether a show that regularly poked fun at the government could continue after the attacks, but in his monologue he explained that he also saw the show as a respite from the grim news of the world, akin to a cookie or glass of lemonade handed to a firefighter. 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, 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.
• On May 12, 2003, Leno and Katie Couric took turns for a publicity stunt. The guests were Mike Myers and Simon Cowell that day.
• On August 6, 2003, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on The Tonight Show and confirmed he would be running against California governor Gray Davis for the California recall election. Schwarzenegger won the election on October 7.
• On January 24, 2005, Leno had a special episode that paid tribute to Tonight Show predecessor Johnny Carson, who had died the day before. During the opening credits, the guests of that show were simply announced using pictures from when they were on Carson's Tonight Show, and the monologue simply gave condolence to Carson. There were no segments used; however, Leno played clips from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson before commercials. All the guests were people who had worked with Carson, and had been on his show, including Ed McMahon, Drew Carey, Don Rickles, and Bob Newhart.
• On July 20, 2006, as Colin Farrell was being interviewed by Leno, Farrell's stalker, Dessarae Bradford, evaded security, walked on stage as cameras were rolling, confronted Farrell, and threw her book on Leno's desk. In front of a silent, stunned audience, Farrell escorted her off the stage himself, told the camera crew to stop filming, and handed her over to security. As Bradford was led out of the studio, she shouted "I'll see you in court!" Farrell's response was simply, "Darling, you're insane!" Outside the studio, NBC security handed her to Burbank police, who eventually released her. While waiting to begin filming again, a shocked Leno sarcastically called for "a round of applause for NBC security" from the audience. After Farrell apologized to the audience, describing Bradford as "my first stalker," the show then continued filming and the incident was edited out of the broadcast aired that night. Farrell later requested a restraining order in court against Bradford.
• On July 24, 2007, the monologue was animated by Homer Simpson. Simpson gave a short monologue to the audience, and was "kicked out" by Leno. This sketch was to promote The Simpsons Movie.
• On January 2, 2008, The Tonight Show returned to air without writers, with the WGA still on strike. This was in response to the deal by David Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants and CBS Paramount Television with the WGA to allow Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to return with writers. Leno's guest that night, Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, was criticized for crossing the WGA picket line to appear on the show. Huckabee would go on to win the Iowa caucuses the very next day.
• On June 13, 2008, Leno delivered the news of Tim Russert's death to his audience during his monologue, and set aside some time in it to remember his old colleague. Leno then stated that he would continue the show as normal afterwards.
• On March 19, 2009, Barack Obama appeared on the show. 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.
• On March 1, 2010, Leno made his return to The Tonight Show with a re-written version of The Jay Leno Show theme song and a renovated Stage 11. Leno's guests were Jamie Foxx, Olympic Gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, and musical guest Brad Paisley. Leno also did a segment searching for a new desk, an element which was not implemented into his primetime show.
• On November 18, 2010, former President George W. Bush made his first appearance on a late night talk show since leaving office.
• On November 23, 2010, former bandleader Kevin Eubanks returned to promote his new album Zen Food.
• On March 2, 2011, the 4,000th episode aired aired on this date.
• On February 21, 2013, Eubanks made a second guest appearance to promote his new album The Messenger and had a sit-down interview with Leno following the performance.
• On December 11, 2013, Eubanks made a third guest appearance as a Meal or No Meal judge.
• On February 6, 2014, Leno hosted his final show, which featured several pre-taped well-wishes from a variety of celebrities ranging from Steve Carell to President Barack Obama, who offered Leno an ambassadorship to Antarctica. Appearing as Leno's final guests were Billy Crystal and Garth Brooks. Crystal surprised Leno by leading an on-stage sing-along of "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music, with lyrics for the occasion performed by special guests Jack Black, Kim Kardashian, Chris Paul, Sheryl Crow, Jim Parsons, Carol Burnett, and Oprah Winfrey; Brooks performed his touching song "The Dance" before closing out the show with the rousing "Friends in Low Places." In closing "the greatest 22 years of my life," Leno turned emotional in his final remarks, calling himself "the luckiest guy in the world... I got to meet presidents, astronauts, and movie stars." Leno also thanked the audience as well as his staff, who "became my family" after the deaths of his parents and his brother early in his Tonight tenure.

  Reception

Ratings

• 22.4 million
• 16.1 million
• 14.96 million
• 14.64 million
• 11.9 million

• May 17, 1993: 9.08 million viewers
• Finale Week|2014: 8.289 million viewers

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