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. Johnny Carson retired from The Tonight Show on May 22, 1992, and was replaced by Jay Leno. 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. 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. Citing comments from former NBC "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno– who said in an interview Tuesday that late night talk shows have become too political – Trump decried the "one-sided hatred" of late night television comedy.
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. 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" .
Trump often rails against his portrayal in the media generally, but Wednesday's tweet was the latest example of Trump's displeasure of how he isrelentlessly mocked by television comedians in particular. In previous tweets, the president has called out late night comedies for being "always anti-Trump" and has speculated about the need for government action to ensure "equal time." 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. Which may explain, as much as anything, why NBC is comfortable replacing TV's top-rated late night host with the guy who got President Obama to slow jam the news. 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. 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.
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. The tag team effort featured Leno's signature wry humor, where he riffed on both old news and current events, showing that although he might be a late night OG, he can still keep up with the times. In the audio above, Leno talks about one of his first acting gigs, which was on the TV show Good Times , about how his comedy has evolved as he's aged, and how the daily cycle of late night television affected how he did comedy. Once the 38-year-old Fallon takes over the Tonight Show, he and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel will present a relatively youthful face for two of the three late night network talk shows. Older fans of the 62-year-old Leno – meaning age 50 and up – might head for the guy with the most seniority , especially when Fallon starts uncorking gags based on Twitter hashtags and rap songs.
"Saturday Night Live," which regularly features actor Alec Baldwin doing an unflattering impersonation of Trump, has been the focus of Trump's ire on more than one occasion. Trump once touted the show's ratings from a November 2015 episode he hosted. But since then he's tweeted at least seven times about how he can no longer watch the "not funny" and "biased" sketch comedy show.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump again called out late night television comedians for what he perceives as a bias against him in a tweet on Wednesday. Jay Leno cannot stay away from The Tonight Show, no matter how how hard the world wills him to. After Jimmy Fallon "pulled a hammie" telling a joke in his monologue last night (words so foreign in Fallon's mouth, it's hard to believe he even knows where his "hammie" is), a very tan Leno came out to save the day. Or rather, came out to tell semi-outdated monologue jokes (How about that Osama Bin Laden, folks?) as most people cheered and one guy in the back gently booed. Fallon, who is allergic to being left out, jumped back in for a good ol' Nickelback joke and the world kept turning. 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. If it's one thing Jay Leno does better than any of the late night comics I've seen it's that he is the best at recovering from a bad joke. His everyman's style is very appealing, relatable and funny. I also love the shows variety, its not uncommon for him to pull the rug out from under feet and make things funny out of weird and unusual situations. I love Jay's correspondence and both Jay and Kevin are good for bouncing off each other.
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. 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. "I am the luckiest guy in the world," he said, having been a part of what he called "this great institution." But now, he said, "it really is time to go," and hand it over to someone new.
Leno quoted the parting words uttered by Johnny Carson -- "the greatest guy to ever do this job" -- when Carson ended his final show as host. But late-night TV has changed from a place where comedy careers are made to a landscape where viral videos are born. Huge chunks of the audience for The Daily Show, Fallon's Late Night, Kimmel's ABC show and the others come from viewers who watch the show's bits the next day online. Long-time US television host Jay Leno has taped his final episode of The Tonight Show, with help from a few celebrity guests. Whatever happens, the world of late night television just got a whole lot more interesting. Once the change is made, two of the three big late night network talk shows will be based in New York City.
That could help the Hollywood-based Kimmel, who will have closer access to the showbiz universe's official capital. Much as this signals the ascension of Fallon, who has progressed from uncertain host to a confident late night voice for the Millennial generation, this transition marks another coup for Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Michaels, a longtime backer of Fallon and executive producer of his Late Night show will now executive produce the Tonight Show as well, giving him control of all NBC's most important late night programs. When you're 40, you talk to the 26-year-old supermodels and it's sexy; when you're 67, you're the creepy old guy. At some point, you need to step back and say, "I did it." I was lucky enough to live in a time when we did very well and the show was No. 1 and then say thank you and step back. That's why I came back with something totally different [CNBC's Jay Leno's Garage] — it's nothing like what I did.
I'm not a sports guy, so whenever I'd have athletes on the show, I'd have to fake it. "You were great in that third inning" [whispers to someone, "What did they do? I'm a joke guy; I don't really watch the celebrity interviews because I've interviewed all those people already. That's the hardest thing to do — write a joke — and it's really hard when you have to write basically the same joke every night. It's not the lazy kind of version of a joke you've heard before.
Beginning his stand-up career while in college, comedian Jay Leno moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s and wrote for television. He became a guest host of The Tonight Show in 1987 and took over as permanent host after Johnny Carson retired in 1992. Leno stepped down to launch a prime-time show in 2009 but soon returned to The Tonight Show for another four years. On November 18, 2010, former President George W. Bush made his first appearance on a late night talk show since leaving office. But until the end of his last show as host on Thursday, Leno's departure has been a fairly tears-free transition. We already said goodbye to Leno once, so this second farewell lacks the impact it would have had otherwise.
Sixteen years later, Leno got NBC to let him essentially export all his best Tonight segments to a 10 p.m. Time slot before Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show and there was a sense the Old Jay had struck again. When ratings cratered for both shows and Leno had his old job back after the dust settled, few people in show business were surprised, other than O'Brien.
While longtime late night mainstay Jay Leno retired as host of the Tonight Show a few years back, he continues to tour extensively, including a show here in Houston Friday night at Jones Hall. "It's going to be difficult to not come in and do a show every day for our audience who has been so great to Jay," lamented Debbie Vickers, Leno's executive producer. "And also hard for this group of people who have all been together for 22 years," said Vickers, who worked on Johnny Carson's Tonightbefore taking the top job with Leno.
For Jay Leno, Bill Clinton was the comic gift who kept giving. By one exhaustive count, the outgoing Tonight show host made 4,607 jokes at the former president's expense during his time on the program. As details began to leak in the press about NBC's plans to elevate Fallon and move the show east, the two late night hosts released a jokey video poking fun at the speculation to ease any suggestion of animosity between the two camps.
Leno compares the new show to the JayWalking segments from The Tonight Show. He also plans to bring back some other favorites, like Headlines, along with a short monologue of jokes. Leno also hosts and produces the CNBC series Jay Leno's Garage, which is in its' fifth season exploring the world of automobiles, and hearing stories of the guests behind the wheel.
This new opportunity is proof he plans to continue entertaining audiences for years to come. Jay Leno and Kevin Eubanks are back together on television. The former host of "The Tonight Show" and his longtime bandleader will co-host a reboot of the classic comedy show "You Bet Your Life". They are guests on the "1on1 with Jon Evans" podcast talking about what viewers can expect to see when the show debuts in September.
Stephen Battaglio writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times out of New York. His coverage of the television industry has appeared in TV Guide, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, Fortune, the Hollywood Reporter, Inside.com and Adweek. He is also the author of three books about television, including a biography of pioneer talk show host and producer David Susskind. Unfortunately, Leno's new show, which aired at 10 p.m., failed to attract much of an audience. The ratings for The Tonight Show also declined after O'Brien took over as host. NBC planned to move Leno's program to late-night, subsequently pushing O'Brien's Tonight Showto after midnight.
When O'Brien refused to accept the scheduling change, the network eventually decided to put Leno back behind the desk at The Tonight Show. Leno made his first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1977 and became a regular on the variety show The Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. In the mid-1980s, Leno hosted his first comedy special on TV,Jay Leno and the American Dream. Around this same period, he made numerous successful appearances on late-night TV, particularly onLate Night with David Letterman. In 1987, he signed a deal with NBC that made him one of two permanent guest hosts of The Tonight Show, a position he soon claimed solely for himself.
