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). 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. With his heart set on the earlier time slot, Letterman left NBC and joined CBS. Late Show with David Letterman, airing in the same slot, competed against The Tonight Show for the remainder of Leno's run. Conan O'Brien slid into the late night time slot vacated by Letterman. 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. 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. He talks of playing several instruments, outlines his time at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and recalls the first time he went on tour. He speaks of moving to New York and forming The Kevin Eubanks Quartet, and describes how he got his first record deal. Eubanks then details how he became first a band member and subsequently the bandleader on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He describes his friendship with Leno, interactions with musical guests, and comedy bits that he wrote for the program.
He also comments on Leno's move to 10pm with The Jay Leno Show, and the controversy surrounding Leno's return to The Tonight Show. Eubanks also explains his decision to leave The Tonight Show, and talks about then-current projects and what lies ahead for him in his post-late night era. Amy Harrington conducted the interview in North Hollywood, CA on September 23, 2011. 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.
In February, Jimmy Fallon will take over NBC's venerated Tonight Show and for the first time ever, a rap group, Philadelphia's The Roots, will be the house band for the network's 59-year-old late night institution. Already, Fallon has had President Obama himself on the program "slow jamming the news," creating a viral video to rival Clinton and his saxophone playing from 1992. Leno himself broke the news at the NBC Critics Association panel yesterday when discussing his new show, which jumps from late night to a daily prime-time slot at 10 p.m. When Leno left the airwaves and The Tonight Show in May, James Taylor served as his last musical guest; Pearl Jam performed on the debut episode of The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien.
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. In the old days, prime time and family hour and late night, these were all easily defined terms. I talk to young people today and they dont even know Channel 4 or Channel 7. 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, whose 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.
Former late night talk show host Jay Leno has apologized for making jokes about Asians, according to an Asian American advocacy group. 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 Washington Post in 2008 said the days of the television theme song were fading into nostalgia, though they "used to abound", with or without lyrics.
For example, "Anka's Tonight Show theme was inseparable from late night and Johnny Carson." 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. His Tonight Show was a cultural phenomenon, influencing comedians to this day. Joan Rivers was a regular guest host on Carson's show, and Carson loved her to pieces.
The band punctuates jokes during the monologue, and Leno banters a bit with Eubanks. After a commercial break, during which Leno stays onstage and the band plays the Sheryl Crow tune they ran through earlier, it's time for the first guest. Comedian Mo Rocca comes out to air a video segment of his wacky man-on-the-street-type interviews with revelers at the annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. The band brings him on with a few bars from the Superman movie theme. On January 21, 2010, NBC announced Leno would return to The Tonight Show.
Jay Leno began his second tenure on March 1, 2010, after the 2010 Winter Olympics. The show moved to Stage 11 in Burbank, the former home of The Jay Leno Show, with a similar set and theme song of The Jay Leno Show. Tonight Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks announced on April 12 he would be leaving The Tonight Show on May 28 after 18 years with Leno.
Eubanks' replacement is former American Idol musical director Rickey Minor. And midnight, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno, Chelsea Handler, Andy Cohen, W. Kamau Bell and Keith Olbermann all host late night talk shows aimed at specific pieces of the potential audience. After 28 years as a late night talk show host, spanning three different shows on two networks, he leaves the nightly grind tonight. He'll sign off from his TBS show Conan, presumably for good. 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. 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.
Eubanks' replacement was former American Idol musical director Rickey Minor. On the very first Saturday Night Live episode, influential postmodern comedian Andy Kaufman performed an iconic bit where he lip synced to the Mighty Mouse theme song. From that point on, Kaufman appeared several times to crush on SNL. As the nightly broadcast approaches midnight, the first guest appears. The interview is divided into two segments, then followed by the fifth segment, which is the interview of the second guest. The sixth and final segment is almost always a musical performance, but occasionally, a stand-up comedian will perform instead.
This was a TV home for musicians and actors who seemed the voice f a new, multcultural generation. My current all-time favorite Conan O'Brien moment—spanning a nearly 30-year career as a late-night superstar that now encompasses three networks/platforms, a dazzling array of time slots, and six distinct phases—is "Ginger, No! I watch the monologues, and I don't watch interviews too much, because I talked to that guy . But I really how hard it is to do a different version of the same joke every night.
Because let's be honest, the news doesn't change a whole lot from day to day. And then you have to watch all the other shows, make sure you don't have the same joke as Conan or Samantha Bee or whoever it might be. I remember that O'Brien also didn't seem to quite fit in when first entered the late night talk arena way back in 1993, taking over NBC's Late Night show after David Letterman left for CBS. But it never developed Nielsen ratings to match what O'Brien could access on a broadcast network (The Wrap website reported this week Conan's ratings have declined 29 percent during the current TV season, averaging about 282,000 viewers a night).
Instead, the show has leaned into creating online content for fans to consume on YouTube and through his website, mirroring how many viewers now seem to connect with talk show content. All three of the late-night franchise's smaller TV audiences came last year. The all-time low came on Sept. 25, when "The Tonight Show" fell below 1 million viewers for the first and only time ever in Nielsen's final ratings, posting just 992,000 total viewers. The start to that particular episode was a bit delayed due to an NHL Stanley Cup Finals game. When Johnny Carson, a fan of jazz music, was preparing to take over as the permanent host of The Tonight Show starting in October 1962, he recognized that he would need a theme song. Carson and Anka had worked together in England on the television special An Evening with Paul Anka in 1961; when they happened to meet up again in New York City the following year, Carson manager Al Bruno mentioned needing a theme.
Deadpan actor extraordinaire, Charles Grodin was used to making Midnight Runs. So why his run into late night sketch comedy skid out so severely? Grodin should've crushed his 1977 Saturday Night Live episode. In 1986, Fox gave Rivers her own late night show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. He banned her and refused to speak to her for the rest of his life.
Jay Leno continued the ban when he took over the Tonight Show. Originating from NBC Studios in Burbank, California, the "Tonight Show" aired Monday through Fridays. The series followed the same familiar format, opening with a host monologue. Then, comedy routines, interviews with Hollywood's biggest stars, and musical performances.
Former late-night talk show host Jay Leno made his debut on May 25, 1992. A fourth incarnation of the "Tonight Show", he started three days after Johnny Carson retired. Unlike his predecessors, Leno always looked to host in-person and had a guest host only one time. Long-time US television host Jay Leno has taped his final episode of The Tonight Show, with help from a few celebrity guests.
A. When people were in the news, you did jokes about the news. When Amy Winehouse, who was on 'The Tonight Show,' was singing that song about 'I won't go to rehab,' there were a lot of jokes about that. Then she died and then people were, 'Jay Leno did a joke.' But I did it with her blessing, she was there (on 'Tonight') when I did it. Despite stints as a writer on both The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live, O'Brien seemed an untested talent back then who hadn't built his persona in public, like the former standup comics who hosted all the other late night talk shows. Even as new voices like Amber Ruffin, Desus and Mero and Ziwe try to reinvent late night talk for a new generation, O'Brien is headed for the exit, seemingly eager to redefine himself before the industry does it for him. Still, this transition feels like an odd combination of O'Brien leaving late night TV as the genre leaves him.
His smartly silly comedy — disconnected from politics, celebrity worship or anything resembling showbiz cool – is now beloved by a sliver of the TV audience too small to sustain a regular gig, even on standard cable. In the demo it was Fallon's best week ever, and the late night franchise's best since the week of January 24, 2005, during which NBC broadcast Late Night With Conan O'Brien repeats that followed a highly rated Tonight Show tribute to Carson. Last night, Colbert interviewed Chris Rock and aired a performance by singer Joss Stone. Over on "Kimmel," the guests were "This Is Us Star" Milo Ventimiglia and CNN's Jake Tapper, with Queen Naija as musical guest. On November 18, 2010, former President George W. Bush made his first appearance on a late night talk show since leaving office. 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. 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.
On a 1994 episode of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait set the couch on fire. Typically, talk show guests sit on couches, not set them on fire. But the distinctively-voiced Goldthwait was anything but a typical guest.
