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229-481: The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010–2014), Conan O'Brien (2009–2010), and Jimmy Fallon (2014–present). Besides the main hosts, a number of regular "guest hosts" have been used, notably Ernie Kovacs , who hosted two nights per week during 1956–1957, and

458-459: A domino effect on the local news, O'Brien, and his 12:30 am successor, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , the disastrous ratings for Leno had damaged NBC's existing primetime lineups. This cascading effect caused by the lowered 10:00 pm lead-in was so significant that local NBC affiliate news viewership fell an average of twenty-five percent nationwide, with the decline in some markets being as high as fifty percent. By November, two months after

687-658: A dynasty , stating, "You hold it, and then you hand it off to the next person. And I don't want to see all the fighting and all the 'Who's better?' and nasty things back and forth in the press. So right now, here it is—Conan, it's yours! See you in five years, buddy!" In private conversations, Leno likened his removal from The Tonight Show to the end of a relationship, noting that he was loyal and still ended up "heartbroken". From his perspective, NBC's decision made no sense, as his show had remained number one in ratings and consistently brought in money. He began frequently lamenting his confusion to producer Vickers, explaining that he

916-459: A settlement . O'Brien and his staff received US$ 45 million (equivalent to about $ 63 million in 2023) to walk away from the network, with his final Tonight Show airing January 22, 2010; Leno was reinstated as host that March, while after a contractual seven-month ban against appearing on television, O'Brien moved to TBS to host Conan . Leno returned to hosting The Tonight Show from 2010 until his retirement in 2014. The controversy surrounding

1145-517: A sex worker ("What the hell were you thinking?", Leno asked, to applause), to a previously booked appearance on Tonight . From that point on, Leno beat Letterman in the ratings, and The Tonight Show remained number one for the next fourteen years (the remainder of Leno's entire first stint as host). NBC chose to continue the Late Night franchise, and at the suggestion of Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels , hired Conan O'Brien ,

1374-449: A "10 at 10" segment (in which Leno asked ten questions to a guest appearing remotely via satellite), Kimmel agreed immediately. When he received the questions for his January 14 appearance—such as "What's your favorite snack junk food?"—he realized Leno intended to neutralize the scathing parody and paint the two as friends. Kimmel, however, was upfront with wanting to discuss the fiasco at hand, and during his appearance attempted to steer

1603-465: A $ 33 million payout – effectively a buyout of his three-year contract, which was reputed to be approximately $ 12 million a year. O'Brien's staff of almost 200 would receive $ 12 million divided in their departure, making the total of the settlement $ 45 million. O'Brien's final episode aired on Friday, January 22, ending his relationship with NBC after 22 years. Leno resumed hosting The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010, after NBC's coverage of

1832-525: A 33-year career on late-night TV, and was succeeded the following September by Stephen Colbert—who departed from Comedy Central and The Colbert Report to host the program. On August 6, 2015, Jon Stewart also retired from The Daily Show (being succeeded by fellow cast member and South African comedian Trevor Noah ), joining The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as an executive producer and occasional contributor. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert achieved critical and ratings successes for its satire of

2061-457: A Carson competitor, CBS's The Pat Sajak Show , lasted less than 16 months, debuting in 1989 and being canceled in 1990. ABC opted not to compete against Carson with a late-night talk show; in 1980, it produced a pilot of a Richard Dawson -hosted show called Bizarre (it instead went to series on Showtime with John Byner as host) and, for two years, carried the weekly sketch comedy series Fridays . ABC instead counterprogrammed Carson with

2290-469: A January 18 rally outside the Tonight Show studio, after which he gave the crowd free pizza . Andy Richter and Tonight Show drummer Max Weinberg also made an appearance during the rally to speak to the crowd from atop the studio, and Tonight Show Band trombonist Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg was driven around the crowd in a Popemobile -style vehicle. American Red Cross representatives were at

2519-597: A battle with network executives, leading to her being replaced by Arsenio Hall . Hall performed extremely well among viewers in the 18–49 demographic; however, Fox had already greenlit The Wilton North Report to replace The Late Show , leading to Hall hosting his own late-night talk show in syndication after The Late Show was canceled in 1988. The Late Show continued with several unknown hosts until its cancellation. Hall's syndicated show, The Arsenio Hall Show , began in syndication in 1988, becoming more popular among younger viewers than Carson. The last network attempt at

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2748-541: A brief stint by Milton DeLugg , beginning in 1967 the "NBC Orchestra" was then headed by trumpeter Doc Severinsen who had played in the band during the Henderson era. [See "Music and Announcers" below.] For all but a few months of its first decade on the air, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City. In 1972, the show moved to Burbank, California into Studio One of NBC Studios West Coast (although it

2977-532: A call to O'Brien's agent, Rick Rosen, inquiring on the story and demanding an immediate answer from the O'Brien camp. Gaspin spoke about the situation at a previously scheduled press conference that Sunday, noting that, "I obviously couldn't satisfy either with 100 percent of what they wanted. That's why I came up with this compromise." Zucker, upon hearing that O'Brien still did not take the proposal well, threatened Rosen, saying "I'm going to tell you right now that I can pay him or play him . I can ice you guys." On

3206-536: A career in acting later on. Interns filled empty seats in O'Brien's audience while affiliates began to inquire about replacement hosts. Things improved for Late Night slowly (mostly revolving around O'Brien's performance) and by 1996, O'Brien's audience, largely young and male (a coveted demographic), grew steadily and the show began to beat competitors in the ratings, which it would continue to do for fifteen years. A notable episode of O'Brien's tenure on Late Night came in early 1994 when Letterman asked to appear as

3435-450: A concert series, The Midnight Special , that aired Friday nights, and a low-cost talk show, The Tomorrow Show , hosted by Tom Snyder , that aired Mondays through Thursdays. Both shows aired immediately following Carson's Tonight Show at 1:00 a.m. ET . Tomorrow was different from The Tonight Show . For instance, the show originally featured no studio audience, while Snyder would conduct one-on-one interviews (Snyder's guest list

3664-414: A contract that gave him numerous weeks off every year, as well as Mondays. Frequent guest hosts (over 50 episodes each) included Joey Bishop (177 times, mostly in the 1960s), Joan Rivers (93, during the 1970s and 1980s), John Davidson (87), Bob Newhart (87), David Brenner (70), McLean Stevenson (58), Jerry Lewis (52, mostly in the 1960s), David Letterman (51, mostly between 1980 and 1981), and Jay Leno . By

3893-481: A format similar to his Tonight Show except that he was contractually prohibited from using a desk on the show. In a departure from network programming conventions of the time, the new show aired every weeknight at 10 p.m. Eastern/Pacific, competing with expensively produced narrative series on other networks and leading into affiliates' local news broadcasts and O'Brien's Tonight Show . Conan O'Brien replaced Leno as host on The Tonight Show on Monday, June 1 from

4122-420: A friendship with Kimmel, wanting to ensure that they would be on good terms if the move was made, given that under that scenario, Leno would have taken Kimmel's time slot and become his lead-in. However, after Leno made the arrangement to remain at NBC, "those conversations were gone," according to Kimmel. Realizing that Leno's relationship with him had been artificial, Kimmel felt "worked over," reasoning that Leno

4351-469: A guest and say some kind words to him. O'Brien considered this the turning point of his entire career, which he mentioned while paying tribute to Letterman in an opening monologue of his own talk show on TBS , which aired the same night as Letterman's final show; O'Brien notably asked his viewers to turn him off and watch Letterman later on in the monologue. Near the turn of the millennium, NBC's late-night lineup—Leno at 11:35, O'Brien at 12:35, and SNL on

4580-469: A half-hour later, to 12:05 a.m. ET. O'Brien and his staff were disappointed and furious; when it became clear O'Brien would not agree to the proposed changes, the situation grew heated. Though not a breach of either host's contract, the change resulted in a public outcry and public demonstrations largely in support of O'Brien. O'Brien's public statement that he would not participate in the "destruction" of The Tonight Show led to negotiations with NBC for

4809-439: A hit show." Comedian Jeff Garlin accused NBC of being "cheap", suggesting that the network tempted O'Brien with his dream job of hosting The Tonight Show because they did not want him to go to a competitor, but neither did they want to match what the competitors were offering. Garlin accused Leno of undermining O'Brien's incipient Tonight Show by taking the 10 pm slot. Garlin stated that while Leno had been nice to him over

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5038-472: A host of, a slated replacement show (see below). Many late-night talk shows went off the air in the days following the September 11 attacks of 2001, while their networks aired round-the-clock news coverage. Letterman was the first to return on September 17, addressing the situation in an opening monologue. The show was not presented in its normal jovial manner, and featured Dan Rather , Regis Philbin , and

5267-594: A later hour." Music during the show's introduction and commercial segues is supplied by The Tonight Show Band . This ensemble was a jazz big band until the end of Johnny Carson's tenure. Skitch Henderson was the bandleader during the Steve Allen and early Carson years, followed briefly by Milton DeLugg (who had previously led the band on Broadway Open House and later became the musical director of The Gong Show ). Gene Rayburn served as Allen's announcer and sidekick and also guest-hosted some episodes all

5496-583: A lavish 2-hour prime time talk show for ABC entitled The Jerry Lewis Show , which was famously unsuccessful, and continued his more successful movie career. ABC also picked up Dean as a variety show host, airing The Jimmy Dean Show for three years from 1963 to 1966. The show was broadcast under the title The Tonight Show during this interregnum, with Skitch Henderson returning as bandleader. Hugh Downs remained as announcer/sidekick until taking over hosting duties on Today in September, at which point he

5725-552: A lavish newly constructed studio inside Stage 1 of the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot, temporarily ending an era (since 1972) of recording the show in Burbank. After a strong debut week, O'Brien's total audience fell precipitously over the summer months, and the program began losing to Late Show with David Letterman in overall ratings. In contrast, O'Brien's performance in the crucial 18–49 demographic

5954-410: A modified version of that show's set. After leaving NBC, O'Brien began hosting his new late night talk show, Conan , on TBS on November 8, 2010, after the non-compete clause in his NBC contract had lapsed. In March 2013, news broke that NBC was expected to part ways with Leno for good after his contract expired in 2014, clearing the way for Fallon (whose tenure at Late Night had found success with

6183-473: A musical performance from Tori Amos . Politically Incorrect also resumed on September 17 and immediately drew controversy due to remarks Maher and a guest ( Dinesh D'Souza ) made concerning the "coward" label given to the terrorists by President George W. Bush . The Tonight Show returned the following night, featuring John McCain and a performance from Crosby, Stills, and Nash . After NBC's placeholding run of SCTV at 1:35 a.m. came to an end after

6412-607: A new prime time talk show on NBC, The Jay Leno Show . It aired on weeknights at 10   p.m. ET/PT before late local news and The Tonight Show , and featured sketches and elements carried over from his tenure. The program faced dismal ratings, which also led to complaints from NBC affiliates that it was impacting the viewership of their late local newscasts. On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that The Jay Leno Show would be moved to 11:35 p.m. and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien would be moved from 11:35 p.m. to 12:05 a.m. effective March 1, 2010,

6641-523: A new deal with NBC in March 2002; the contract extended him through 2005 and most significantly contained a clause that solidified the official line of succession: If anything were to happen to Leno, O'Brien would step in. O'Brien's successful hosting job at the 2002 54th Primetime Emmy Awards "sent out the most resounding message yet about his growing strength as a performer", and a year later, NBC broadcast O'Brien's tenth anniversary special in primetime. By

6870-455: A nightly variety show hosted primarily by comic Jerry Lester . It was unsuccessful because hosting five nights a week burned through all of Lester's material faster than he could create it, so he was given rotating hosting duties for a weekly prime time variety show in 1951. The network scaled back late-night programming to shorter weekly shows. A spin-off, Dagmar's Canteen , aired the following season on Saturday nights; at some other point in

7099-430: A nightly primetime show before the local news and O'Brien's Tonight Show . The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and The Jay Leno Show did not immediately receive strong ratings, and NBC affiliates complained of declining viewership. NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker , alongside NBC chairman Jeff Gaspin and executive Rick Ludwin , created a remedy: return Leno to his 11:35 p.m. ET start time and bump O'Brien

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7328-440: A number of guests used by Carson, who curtailed his own hosting duties back to three nights per week by the 1980s. Among Carson's regular guest hosts were Joey Bishop , McLean Stevenson , David Letterman , David Brenner , Joan Rivers , and Jay Leno, although the practice has been mostly abandoned since hosts currently prefer reruns to showcasing potential rivals. The Tonight Show is the world's longest-running talk show and

7557-864: A number of the rallies to collect money for the Haiti earthquake relief. Many in Hollywood , including actors, comedians, and media personalities, expressed support for O'Brien. SNL ' s Seth Meyers addressed the controversy on the program's Weekend Update segment, joking that the conflict showed that "you don't need Cinemax to see someone get screwed on TV", and then proceeding to defend O'Brien. Meyers went on to sarcastically point out that if they did end up moving The Tonight Show , it would mean Late Night would end and host Jimmy Fallon would likely end up coming back to Update (and presumably reclaim his job from Meyers). Leno faced heated criticism and increasing negative publicity for his perceived role in

7786-432: A plethora of fill-in hosts for the next four years. Even MTV entered the late-night contest when it debuted The Jon Stewart Show , hosted by Jon Stewart , which ran until 1995. Letterman initially won the late-night ratings battle but fell behind Leno in 1995; Leno generally remained in first place until first leaving Tonight in 2009. To combat NBC's Late Night , CBS gave Letterman's studio Worldwide Pants control of

8015-470: A preview of the next day's programming hosted by Mary Kay Stearns . The first late-night television talk show was The Faye Emerson Show , hosted by actress Faye Emerson . It began airing on CBS on October 24, 1949, in local East Coast markets before the network moved the 15-minute show, which regularly aired up to 11pm, nationwide in March 1950. In 1950, Emerson also hosted a similar show on NBC called Fifteen with Faye for about six months before committing

8244-562: A publicist, and entertainment lawyers. Comedian Bill Burr found that Leno's ambition to take back The Tonight Show was less objectionable than his "passive-aggressive" behavior and the "powerless" public image Leno put forth instead of "owning up" to his maneuverings. Burr argued that NBC "never gave [Conan] The Tonight Show " in terms of network support, saying, "When Jay got The Tonight Show , he didn't have to follow Johnny [Carson] bombing for an hour. [ ... ] Leno struggled for eighteen months before he got going, and he got to go on after

8473-434: A reactionary one by Zucker, concluding that he was acting in self-preservation, since network owner General Electric was in the process of negotiating the acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast . When a story ran that night on The New York Times website that Fox had an "overt interest" in O'Brien and was not going along with the plan, Zucker reasoned that Polone was to blame. The situation became heated when Zucker placed

8702-415: A relatively unknown writer for SNL and The Simpsons , to take over the time slot beginning in late 1993. Late Night with Conan O'Brien was constantly at risk for cancellation in its early years; at one low point in 1994, NBC put O'Brien on a three-month contract. Executives were anxious to replace him with Greg Kinnear , who followed O'Brien with Later at 1:30 am, but Kinnear left to pursue

8931-554: A result, unlike Broadway Open House , Tonight proved to be a resounding success. The success of the show led Allen to receive another show, entitled The Steve Allen Show , which would compete with The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights. Meanwhile, hosting duties of The Tonight Show were split between Allen and Ernie Kovacs ; Kovacs had defected to NBC from his own late-night show on the then-crumbling DuMont Television Network . Both Allen and Kovacs departed from Tonight in 1957 in order to focus on Allen's Sunday night show. After

9160-410: A return to late-night television with a new syndicated program from Sony Pictures Television , Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson ; as opposed to The Late Late Show and other late-night shows, the program was pitched as having a specific focus on television as a topic, and air in a half-hour timeslot. James Corden hosted his final episode of The Late Late Show on April 27, 2023, in a departure that

9389-462: A satire of opinion-based cable news programs, featuring Colbert portraying a narcissistic pundit reminiscent of Fox News hosts such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity , among other influences. Jake Sasseville entered the late-night arena after a self-syndication campaign got him clearance on several ABC affiliates by local general managers in 2008. The Edge with Jake Sasseville aired after Jimmy Kimmel Live! in some markets, reaching

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9618-403: A secluded spot where no one can find me: NBC primetime. As most of you know, we're not really leaving. We're coming back at 10 o'clock in September. It's a gamble. It's a gamble. I'm betting everything that NBC will still be around in 3 months! That is not a given!" The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien pulled in over nine million viewers to its June 1, 2009, premiere, doing extremely well in

9847-463: A series of guest hosts including Art Linkletter (4 weeks), Joey Bishop (2 weeks), Bob Cummings , Merv Griffin (4 weeks), Jack Carter , Jan Murray , Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy , Soupy Sales , Mort Sahl , Steve Lawrence , Jerry Lewis (2 weeks), Jimmy Dean , Arlene Francis , Jack E. Leonard , Hugh Downs , Groucho Marx , Hal March and Donald O'Connor , many of whom later noted they were being led to believe they were auditioning for

10076-446: A series of jokes) Allen refers to the fact the program is scheduled to run late into the night, his statement has come to refer to the longevity of the franchise. Rather than continuing with the same format after Allen and Kovacs 's departure from Tonight , NBC changed the show's format to a news and features show, similar to that of the network's popular morning program Today . The new show, renamed Tonight! America After Dark ,

10305-406: A settlement with NBC that allowed him to leave The Tonight Show on January 22, 2010, ending his affiliation with NBC after 22 years. Leno began his second tenure as host of The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010, after the 2010 Winter Olympics , but only after major controversy . Leno's second Tonight iteration was taped at NBC's Studio 11 in Burbank, the former home of The Jay Leno Show , with

10534-699: A springboard for Fallon's tenure. The date was later moved up a week to February 17, midway through the Olympics. Leno's last Tonight Show aired on February 6, 2014, featuring guests Billy Crystal (Leno's first guest in 1992) and Garth Brooks . Leno gave a tearful goodbye at the end of the program, calling himself "the luckiest guy in the world", and reflecting on his time as host as "the greatest 22 years of my life." Jimmy Fallon (who had hosted The Tonight Show ' s follow-up show, Late Night , since 2009) assumed The Tonight Show hosting role on February 17, 2014, with his initial guests being Will Smith and

10763-645: A statement describing his feelings on the matter, and after hearing what he would possibly say in such a statement, Glaser agreed to the idea, although Ross was initially reluctant. O'Brien went without sleep that night, crafting his statement obsessively. He returned to the studio the following morning, listening as the lawyers and Glaser read over the statement, which remained largely unchanged before publication. According to The War for Late Night , Glaser found "the statement as ideal for their purposes. It laid out Conan's point of view unequivocally, but without compromising his legal options. Nothing in there overtly said he

10992-561: A statement made by Leno in 2004, "Conan: The 11:30 slot? Yours." Jimmy Kimmel , host of the ABC late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! , donned a gray wig and fake chin to perform his entire January 12 show in character as Leno. With his bandleader Cleto Escobedo parodying Leno's bandleader Kevin Eubanks , Kimmel began his monologue with, "It's good to be here on ABC. Hey, Cleto, you know what ABC stands for? Always Bump Conan." He also referenced

11221-405: A story reporting The Jay Leno Show' s cancellation, and he and Ross reasoned that they indeed were the last to be told of the changes. By the following morning, O'Brien and Ross determined that they would have to leave NBC, and O'Brien opened that night's show with, "We've got a great show for you tonight—I have no idea when it will air, but it's gonna be a great show." Polone viewed the move as

11450-436: A strict 11:35   pm start time (a loophole included primarily to accommodate sports pre-emptions and specials such as the network's New Year coverage ). Gaspin planned to disclose the news to Leno first, and then, if all went well, inform O'Brien the following week. When Gaspin laid out the proposal to Leno and Vickers, the response was positive, even though they questioned how such a plan would work. Gaspin reasoned that

11679-487: A studio audience of at least 200, as long as they carry a production budget of at least $ 30 million and have been shot outside New York for at least five seasons." Studio 6B is also where Jack Paar and Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show before the show moved to Burbank in 1972. Lorne Michaels (producer of Saturday Night Live , in which Fallon appeared prior to hosting Late Night ) became executive producer of The Tonight Show . Fallon's Tonight Show has gone on

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11908-530: A successful news magazine entitled Nightline , beginning in 1980. Beginning on August 22, 1988, NBC concluded its main programming for the day with a half-hour entry, Later , hosted by NBC sportscaster Bob Costas and airing at 1:35 a.m. Eastern, after Letterman, Mondays through Thursdays. It originated from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York and bore a strong resemblance to an earlier NBC late-night favorite, Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, due to its lack of

12137-599: A total of 35 million homes, despite the network's concerns. The show went off the air in 2010. Another syndicated show that earned significant clearance in the late 2000s was Comics Unleashed , which was produced by Byron Allen 's Entertainment Studios , and had still been cleared by some stations (such as WCBS-TV and other CBS owned-and-operated stations ) as late as 2013 without any new episodes having been produced. Scottish native Craig Ferguson succeeded Kilborn as host of The Late Late Show in 2005, renaming it The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson . TBS entered

12366-516: A traditional studio-based format. Politically Incorrect was canceled due to low ratings in the summer of 2002, after which Maher joined HBO and began hosting the similarly formatted weekly series Real Time . ABC then tapped Comedy Central personality Jimmy Kimmel to host a more traditional late-night program, Jimmy Kimmel Live! . From its beginning in 2003 until early 2013, the show aired following Nightline on ABC's late-night lineup. With Nightline past its prime in audience size due to

12595-414: A week in evening time slots that would come to be known as prime time . The first show to air in a late-night timeslot itself, Broadway Open House , aired on NBC in 1950 and ended a year later after host Jerry Lester left the show, a combination of frustration with being upstaged by his sidekick Virginia "Dagmar" Lewis , burnout from having to go through a large amount of material in a short time, and

12824-466: A week with guest hosts and "Best of Carson" reruns the other two nights. From 1983 to 1986, Rivers and Brenner served as Carson's permanent guest hosts. Many in 1986, including top executives at NBC, thought it was possible that Johnny Carson would retire after reaching his 25th anniversary on October 1, 1987, as it was such a logical cut-off point. In the spring of 1986, a confidential memo, between top NBC executives listing about ten possible replacements in

13053-408: A week; Leno himself was also Carson's primary guest host for the last five years of Carson's tenure, adding even more episodes to his credit. Leaving out Leno's five years as permanent guest host, Leno hosted 119 more episodes as full-time host than Carson. During Carson's first four years, the show ran for 105 minutes and then was reduced to ninety minutes in early 1967 when Carson stopped appearing for

13282-438: A year away from inheriting The Tonight Show , was indeed lengthening his monologue, but viewed suggestions from Ludwin as largely unnecessary, desiring to put his own stamp on the show's tradition. By this point, O'Brien's high popularity at the time of the contract signing had gone down slightly. He had opted not to change his act to suit a more mainstream audience as NBC imagined he would, and CBS's Craig Ferguson , who occupied

13511-504: A year, the network debuted Last Call with Carson Daly in its place in January 2002; Daly was a former MTV VJ . Four months later, it expanded to five nights a week (from Later's four), and unlike the other shows on the air at the time, only a half-year's worth of first-run programs were recorded each season. In 2009, Last Call was retooled with a travelogue -like format, using interviews and performances filmed on-location rather than

13740-528: A young, culturally savvy audience that was very desirable to advertisers) to take over The Tonight Show beginning that year, which also marked the 60th anniversary of the franchise. NBC confirmed the change on April 3, 2013. Under Fallon, the show returned to New York City, where the show originated from its 1954 debut until 1972; NBC no longer owns the former company-owned studios in Burbank where Carson and Leno's programs originated (O'Brien's Tonight Show taped at nearby Universal Studios ). On May 13, 2013, it

13969-405: A younger late night demographic. News Corporation chairman and CEO Peter Chernin pursued O'Brien personally, taking him and executive producer Jeff Ross to dinner on several occasions. Fox's plan involved making O'Brien the network's signature star: his program would begin thirty minutes before Leno's and Letterman's (the network's local news broadcasts aired earlier than other networks, allowing

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14198-440: Is its destruction. Public and media reaction to the press release was positive, with The New York Times stating O'Brien held Leno "personally responsible" for this conflict. According to The War for Late Night , "the 'People of Earth' letter—the manifesto, as NBC came to call it—changed the tone. This wasn't just Conan saying no; it was Conan saying no, and you're wrong, and, by the way, go fuck yourselves." A turning point in

14427-474: Is not the host with the most episodes. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson aired for 30 seasons between October 1962 and May 1992. Leno has the record of having hosted the greatest number of total televised episodes. Leno's record is due to the fact that, unlike Carson (who only produced new shows three days a week starting in the 1980s), Leno never used guest hosts on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (except Katie Couric , once) and produced new shows five days

14656-450: Is the future of television? This wasn't even a good rendition of television past." By the show's second week, which saw it airing directly opposite season premieres, The Jay Leno Show saw its audience size fall to five million viewers. As the weeks wore on, producer Vickers noticed that NBC's plan—to save the best segments, such as Leno's signature "Headlines", for last in order to provide a strong lead-in for local news—was possibly hurting

14885-414: Is walk, period. He's got everything to lose in terms of public popularity by going back. People will look at him differently. He'll be viewed as the bad guy." Joe Queenan from The Wall Street Journal went further in his criticism of Leno, jokingly comparing the controversy to Adolf Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia . David Letterman was one of the more adamant critics of NBC and Leno's handling of

15114-754: The Joey Bishop Show, with Regis Philbin as his sidekick, to its late-night lineup in 1967, employing a talk show format, in an attempt to compete against the Tonight Show, which lasted until 1969. CBS went without late-night TV (the closest thing it would have to a late-night show was its late-prime-time variety show The Danny Kaye Show from 1963 to 1967) until 1969, when it acquired The Merv Griffin Show from syndication; Griffin returned to syndication in 1972, and CBS would not air any further late-night talk shows until 1989, instead opting for reruns, lifestyle programs and, later, imported Canadian dramas in

15343-966: The 2010 Winter Olympics concluded. O'Brien returned to late-night television on November 8, 2010 (after his non-compete agreement expired), hosting the self-owned Conan on cable channel TBS . Conan remained partnered with TBS until 2021, although his show was truncated from an hour to thirty minutes in length in 2019 due to ratings issues. Conan's final episode on TBS aired on June 24, 2021. On March 1, 2010, Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show , with Wally Wingert as his announcer. On April 12, 2010, bandleader Kevin Eubanks announced his departure after 18 years (15 years as bandleader) on May 28. Rickey Minor replaced him as bandleader on June 7. 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 had fallen below O'Brien's when he had hosted The Tonight Show , although O'Brien's ratings had spiked during

15572-496: The 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign and the presidency of Donald Trump ; following the 2018–19 television season, it was the highest-rated late-night talk show overall for the third season in a row, and narrowly beat The Tonight Show in key demographic (18-to-49-year-old) viewership for the first time since 1994–95. On February 12, 2019, NBC announced that Last Call with Carson Daly would conclude after its 2000th and final episode. Daly had already reduced his role on

15801-476: The Hudson Theatre on Broadway. From 1973 to 2009, and from 2010 to 2014 the show was taped at one of three different studios at NBC's Burbank, California Studios . During Conan O'Brien's brief tenure, the show was taped at an opulently reworked studio on Stage 1 of Universal Studios Hollywood . Over the course of almost 70 years, The Tonight Show has undergone only minor title changes. It aired under

16030-557: The MTV Video Music Awards . The program racked up 17.7 million viewers, doing much better than O'Brien's Tonight Show debut in both overall numbers and young demographics. Some critics were harsh with Leno's program, with many viewing it as a rehash of the show he had just left. Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times said one of its sponsors' commercials was funnier than the show itself, saying, "This

16259-513: The Nielsen ratings against Leno for two years, proving that another late-night program could compete, both in ratings and advertising profits, with The Tonight Show . Leno's Tonight Show started rocky; prior to Letterman's move, NBC considered matching CBS's offer to allow Letterman to take over from Leno. Letterman beat Leno for nearly two years until August 1995, when Leno welcomed Hugh Grant , who had recently been arrested for soliciting

16488-497: The United Network that ever made it to air (because that network only had a handful of affiliates, it also syndicated the program to CBS, ABC and independent stations); it, along with the network, only lasted five weeks in summer 1967. Steve Allen himself returned to NBC late night in syndication twice in this time frame, first with a show that ran from 1962 to 1964 and then with a series that ran from 1968 to 1971. ABC added

16717-729: The Winter Olympics . Zucker preferred a plan for Leno to include an occasional guest and comedy piece, while Ebersol favored returning to the way it once was, with Leno at 11:35 and O'Brien at 12:35. Gaspin laid out his plan to Zucker one week before Christmas, but both agreed to wait it out for the new year, as to not "ruin anybody's holiday season". It struck Conan that Jay had played it well, in his passive-aggressive way, and wound up winning again. And maybe, in contrast, he himself had simply played it all wrong. —Bill Carter, The War for Late Night The plan moved forward after confirmation that O'Brien's contract did not guarantee

16946-579: The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes . CBS filled the Late Late Show timeslot with reruns and previously-unaired episodes of Comics Unleashed . The revival, titled After Midnight , premiered on January 16, 2024. Late-night talk show viewership had a brief peak in 2016 in the wake of retirements and new hosts but has been in steep decline since then. Conan O'Brien, in a 2023 interview, noted that several factors played into

17175-562: The old-time radio era. The Pepsodent Show , which opened each weekly episode with host Bob Hope 's rapid-fire, topical and often political observational comedy , was a particularly important predecessor to the late-night format. Early television variety shows included The Ed Sullivan Show (originally known as Toast of the Town ), which aired on CBS Sunday nights from 1948 to 1971, and Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle , which aired on NBC from 1948 to 1956. These shows aired once

17404-409: The "People of Earth" letter, noting how O'Brien declined to participate in the "destruction" of The Tonight Show , commenting as Leno that, "Fortunately, though, I will! I'll burn it down if I have to!" Leno called Kimmel the next morning to discuss the bit, and at the end of the call, Leno suggested Kimmel come over and appear on his show. When his booking department called to confirm his appearance on

17633-583: The 10 pm problem that would be satisfactory to the board. After his January 6 show, O'Brien met with manager Gavin Polone to share his anxieties regarding the ratings: "I just think [Leno] is going to hurt me in some way." News regarding Leno leaked to pop culture site FTV Live by the following morning, which was then picked up by national publications, including the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times . Gaspin scheduled an immediate meeting with Ross and O'Brien as soon as they arrived and explained

17862-499: The 11:35 period, The Late Show would largely maintain its lead over The Tonight Show in total viewers in early Fall, during which Letterman was receiving tabloid attention due to a blackmail scandal . In addition, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien was in the unusual situation of being a talk show following a talk show hosted by its predecessor on the same network, and the booking war that resulted often left The Tonight Show getting second dibs on guests. One publicist reported that

18091-667: The CBS show. Emerson's show was distinguished from her competition on NBC in that she was more openly political; Emerson, an avowed Democrat , regularly interviewed political and intellectual figures on her show (among them Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ) in addition to a smattering of vaudeville and variety acts. The first version of The Tonight Show , Tonight Starring Steve Allen , debuted in 1954 on NBC . The show created many modern talk show staples including an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, comedy bits, and musical performances; it also had some holdovers from

18320-543: The Fox deal, O'Brien's desire to possibly take over The Tonight Show after Leno made it a difficult decision (O'Brien, like many comedians, had grown up idolizing Carson's incarnation). Numerous NBC executives, including president Bob Wright , were optimistic that O'Brien would stay despite other networks being interested in signing him. Chernin warned O'Brien that waiting around for Leno to leave would be destructive to his late-night television career. Nevertheless, O'Brien signed

18549-478: The TV?" Following similar remarks to more questions, Kimmel closed the segment with this comment: "Listen, Jay. Conan and I have children. All you have to take care of is cars! We have lives to lead here! You've got eight hundred million dollars! For God's sakes, leave our shows alone!" Leno never fought back and accepted the bit as comedy (he ascribed it as Kimmel attempting to score some publicity), but producer Vickers

18778-435: The affiliates reasoned, they would instate syndicated programming or move up their news broadcasts and pre-empt The Jay Leno Show . Ludwin, Gaspin, and Zucker kicked around possible solutions for their dilemma, such as cutting Leno to a few nights per week. In an attempt to alleviate the situation, Vickers moved the most popular comedy segments to the second act of The Jay Leno Show , moving their "10 at 10" segment later in

19007-424: The aftermath of the fallout, he responded: "Well, if you look at where [Conan's Tonight Show ] ratings were, it was already destructive to the franchise". Leno was criticized for his remark, which contradicted his statement that "I think Conan is doing fine" mere months earlier, after which O’Brien's ratings were on an upward trend. Some observers considered the portrayal of O'Brien's ouster as being specifically about

19236-422: The aggression was such that The Jay Leno Show had signaled to potential guests that doing O'Brien's program before Leno's would be punished with secondary placement in the line-up. Though NBC claimed that the performance of The Jay Leno Show offered no surprises and that O'Brien was meeting expectations as well, the network had failed to anticipate the impact that Leno's weaker 10   pm lead-in would have on

19465-631: The audience erupted in applause, Paar continued: "when I walked off, I said there must be a better way of making a living. Well, I've looked—and there isn't!" However, citing that he would prefer to do one prime-time show per week rather than five late-night installments, Paar eventually left the show two years later in March 1962, at the pinnacle of his success as host. The guests on the last show were Jack E. Leonard , Alexander King , Robert Merrill and Buddy Hackett . Among those appearing in taped farewell messages were Richard Nixon , Robert F. Kennedy , Billy Graham , Bob Hope and Jack Benny . Hugh Downs

19694-475: The band for Jack Paar, and, after a short while of using comic actor Franklin Pangborn , Hugh Downs was Paar's announcer. For most of Johnny Carson's run on the show, the show's band, then called " The NBC Orchestra " was led by Doc Severinsen , former trumpet soloist in Henderson's band for Steve Allen. When McMahon was away from the show, Severinsen was the substitute announcer and Tommy Newsom would lead

19923-496: The band. (Newsom also took over when Severinsen was absent from the show.) On the rare occasions that both McMahon and Severinsen were away, Newsom would take the announcer's chair and the band would be led by assistant musical director Shelly Cohen. Late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show , originating in the United States . It is generally structured around humorous monologues about

20152-564: The best comedians of our generation… willfully has shut the switch off." Rosie O'Donnell was among O'Brien's most vocal and vehement supporters, calling Leno a "bully". Radio personality Howard Stern was a harsh critic of Leno before and after the timeslot change announcement; in a 2006 appearance on Late Night , Stern told O'Brien that he felt it was unlikely that Leno would ever willingly give up Tonight to anyone. The 67th Golden Globe Awards , which NBC aired on January 17 during O'Brien's settlement negotiations, featured numerous jokes on

20381-430: The broadcast. Gaspin again received the suggestion to put Leno back at 11:35, and soon began working on a plan to cut The Jay Leno Show to a half-hour, leading into Conan's Tonight Show around midnight. From their perspective, the biggest casualty in this scenario would be Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , which would get bumped to 1 am. The reconfigured lineup could start in March 2010, following NBC's coverage of

20610-458: The cancellation of his primetime show. O'Brien's rating surge during the controversy was also seen by some of his proponents as having the potential to be the host's "Hugh Grant moment" – an allusion to a 1995 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that aired shortly after the British actor had been caught publicly soliciting a prostitute. Leno's interview with Grant was widely watched due to

20839-466: The choice of color for O'Brien fans, referencing his light orange hair. O'Brien's overnight ratings began to shoot up (much to NBC's chagrin), and the viral support for O'Brien only increased by the week of his final shows. Rallies in support of O'Brien were organized outside NBC studios across the U.S., notably in Los Angeles, Chicago , Seattle , and New York City . O'Brien briefly appeared at

21068-474: The company was in a desperate situation, and he indicated his confidence that O'Brien would go along with the changes too. While Leno embraced the plan, Vickers was unnerved; without a guest or music act, she might have no studio audience , which could have disastrous consequences for Leno. In order to meet with O'Brien the following Monday, Gaspin was forced to cancel a meeting with the affiliate board, but promised them that by doing so, he would have an answer to

21297-400: The conflict came on January 13, as O'Brien joked in his monologue that "I'm trying very hard to stay positive here, and I want to tell you something. This is honest. Hosting The Tonight Show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. And I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Yeah, yeah—unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too." Following

21526-478: The conflict. He noted that, "We went through our own version of this seventeen, eighteen years ago", and he ridiculed Leno's recent "state of the network address", wherein Leno pleaded for viewers not to "blame Conan", with Letterman noting, "In the thousands and thousands of words that have been printed about this mess, who has blamed Conan? No one!" Jon Stewart of Comedy Central 's The Daily Show reflected on

21755-451: The controversy by Tina Fey and Tom Hanks , as well as show host Ricky Gervais who quipped, "Let's get on with it before NBC replaces me with Jay Leno." Additional criticism stemmed from the fact that the circumstances O'Brien found himself in recalled a similar dilemma that faced Leno toward the end of 1992. Only months into his hosting job on The Tonight Show , NBC considered reversing their decision to choose Leno over Letterman. Leno

21984-475: The controversy, saying, "At least we don't have to deal with Jeff Zucker. That guy's like the Cheney of television, shooting shows in the face ." Stewart also shouted "Team Conan" as his "Moment of Zen" at the end of the January 21 episode of The Daily Show . Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report asked guest Morgan Freeman to read a list of "untrustworthy things", one of which paraphrased

22213-444: The conversations, and he in turn ran the idea of waiting four more years to O'Brien, who was immediately receptive. Zucker, along with top late-night executive Rick Ludwin , met with Leno in March at his Burbank studio to discuss the contract extension, and explained NBC's stance on handing over the show to O'Brien. While Leno quietly felt both disappointed and befuddled, he noted he did not want to see himself and O'Brien go through

22442-453: The coveted young demographics. Critics were generally very favorable; Tom Shales of The Washington Post , once critical of O'Brien, wrote that, "There's every indication that O'Brien will be up to the job of his illustrious predecessors." Each night, older audiences gradually turned off the program as it aired; seven episodes later, Letterman's show had edged above O'Brien's for the first time. While Zucker called O'Brien to reiterate that

22671-505: The day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It is characterized by spontaneous conversation , and for an effect of immediacy and intimacy as if the host were speaking directly to each member of the watching audience. Late-night talk shows are also fundamentally shaped by the personality of the host. The late-night talk show format was popularized by Johnny Carson and his sidekick Ed McMahon with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on NBC . Typically

22900-454: The debut of Saturday Night Live in October 1975, NBC aired The Best of Carson on Saturday nights at 11:30 pm. Apart from the show's brief run as a news show in 1957, its shortest-serving host was Conan O'Brien, who went on to continue hosting a late-night program following his controversial departure . O'Brien hosted 146 episodes over the course of fewer than eight months before Leno

23129-566: The debut of The Jay Leno Show , ratings for The Tonight Show were brought down "roughly two million viewers a night year-to-year" from when Leno hosted the program. Clearing the 10:00 pm time period for Leno also damaged relations with the producers of scripted shows that previously occupied that slot, such as Dick Wolf of Law & Order . Leno offered an October 29 interview to Broadcasting & Cable where he stated he would return to his original 11:35 time slot if offered by NBC. When O'Brien's sidekick and announcer Andy Richter called

23358-476: The decline, all of which impacted his decision to end Conan and focus on other projects, including a saturated market, the loss of the captive audience to video on demand options, and a changing culture that made it more difficult to make genuine fun of the culture (O'Brien, who tended to rely less on political humor than some of his contemporaries, cited Donald Trump as an example of a figure so polarizing that even those who do not like him would be repulsed by

23587-485: The dominance of the Sunday night ratings first by CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show then by ABC's Maverick . Unlike the first installment of Johnny Carson's tenure, which is lost except for audio recordings, a kinescope recording of most of the first Tonight Show under Allen survives. In this recording, Allen states during his opening monologue that "this show is going to go on forever"; although in context (and as part of

23816-434: The earlier time slot, forcibly changed the show's format to resemble Carson's, and added gossip reporter Rona Barrett as a co-host. The two did not get along and had an acrimonious relationship on and off the air. The agreement gave Carson's production company ownership of the timeslot following Tonight , which, a year later, Carson Productions and NBC used to create Late Night with David Letterman . When NBC offered Snyder

24045-511: The end of the year. On September 8, 2014, British actor and comedian James Corden was announced as the new host of The Late Late Show . His incarnation of the program was modelled more upon British chat shows such as The Graham Norton Show , de-emphasizing the monologue and relying on multiple guests present throughout the entire show (rather than interviewed individually). Meanwhile, in May 2015, David Letterman retired from Late Show, ending

24274-496: The event of Carson's retirement the next year, was leaked. When Rivers saw it, she was shocked to see that she was nowhere on the list despite the fact that she had been The Tonight Show' s permanent guest host since 1983. In 1986, Joan Rivers joined the brand-new Fox network, where she would host her own late-night talk show, The Late Show , which competed directly against The Tonight Show . Clint Holmes served as Rivers' announcer while Mark Hudson served as band leader. Carson

24503-417: The exception of The Daily Show, which opted to continue without an audience as a stylistic choice) had full audiences return to their studio. One of the few programs initially unaffected by COVID-19 restrictions was A Little Late , as it had already filmed the entirety of its first season in 2019. The program shifted to a home-based production for its second season in January 2021, with Singh citing both

24732-401: The first 15 minutes because most affiliates were carrying their local news during that time slot as they expanded to half an hour. During Carson's 1980 contract negotiations, the show was shortened to sixty minutes beginning that September, where it has remained since. NBC also broadcast The Best of Carson which were repeats of some of Carson's popular older albeit usually recent shows. Prior to

24961-444: The first African-American female late-night host. Unfortunately, Garrett only lasted a year before NBC canceled the 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 -year-old Later in favor of reruns of the critically acclaimed cult Canadian-produced sketch comedy series, SCTV , itself a former NBC late-night program that aired Fridays between 1981 and 1983. That action, a temporary measure, was necessitated by the prolonged development of, and negotiations with

25190-565: The first time in its history that the show would begin after midnight in the Eastern Time Zone. On January 12, 2010, O'Brien publicly announced in an open letter that he intended to leave NBC if it moved The Tonight Show to any timeslot after midnight in order to accommodate The Jay Leno Show at 11:35 p.m. ET. He felt it would damage the show's legacy, as it had always started after the late local news since it began in 1954. After several days of negotiations, O'Brien reached

25419-445: The following Monday's show, O'Brien continued jokes on the subject; responding to thunderous applause, he joked, "You keep that up, and this monologue won't start until 12:05." Rosen suggested that O'Brien's camp hire litigation lawyer Patty Glaser to help grasp the situation. Following discussions on Leno's contract during a post-show conference, Glaser turned her attention to O'Brien for his opinion. He expressed his desire to write

25648-420: The following weeks, Zucker grew weary with O'Brien's performance and what he regarded as a booking of the wrong stars. When a controversy erupted over a joke Letterman told regarding politician Sarah Palin 's family, Zucker eagerly pushed the O'Brien camp to bring her on their show, eyeing an opportunity to regain viewers and perhaps make it a turning point for a show not doing particularly well. O'Brien disliked

25877-466: The format air in other countries, but generally air weekly as opposed to the nightly airings of those in the United States. They also generally air in time slots considered to be prime time in the United States. Late-night talk shows had their genesis in early variety shows, a format that migrated to television from radio, where it had been the dominant form of light entertainment during most of

26106-492: The generational change was expected, other executives were not as pleased. O'Brien and his team were not happy with the lack of promotion in the show's early weeks. Against the wishes of several PR executives, Zucker authorized a press release proclaiming O'Brien "the New King of Late Night", a move that attracted ridicule. Zucker later regretted the decision, and many at O'Brien's Tonight Show offices were displeased. Over

26335-487: The genre competed against general variety shows for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Series . Jay Leno hosted his final episode of The Tonight Show on May 29, 2009, with his successor Conan O'Brien, and musician James Taylor as his guests. O'Brien took over hosting duties on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien the following Monday, June 1, 2009. In September 2009, Leno began hosting

26564-468: The greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show . [ ... ] So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show . But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe

26793-525: The head start) and he would receive cross-promotion via its animated programming block and on Sunday NFL games . Chernin also offered the host seven times his current pay (a jump from US$ 3 million to US$ 21 million). Ross, friends with NBC president and CEO Jeff Zucker , informed him that Fox was aggressively pursuing O'Brien; NBC returned with a more realistic offer, bumping up O'Brien's salary to US$ 8 million and renewing him through 2005. While many of O'Brien's professional advisors and managers pushed for

27022-404: The host's ratings to be spin, as it ignored O'Brien's far less expensive contract (and thus far less expensive buyout), O'Brien's improving ratings before the controversy, and O'Brien's younger demographics, all of which suggested profitability. After the decision was made to reinstate Leno, NBC executives and Leno maintained in the media that O'Brien's ratings were responsible for his removal from

27251-591: The idea as "outrageous". By this time, NBC had already broken ground on a new studio for O'Brien's Tonight Show , renovating Stage 1 at the Universal Studios Lot in Universal City , for a reported US$ 50 million. During a spring lunch meeting with Ross, NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol advised that O'Brien retire silly antics and focus more on pitching his show to middle America , which would involve stretching out his monologue. O'Brien, then

27480-460: The idea, finding it pandering to viewers that would alienate fans and the press, as well as hurt his relationship with Letterman. "This reaction drove Zucker nuts", wrote Bill Carter in The War for Late Night . "As a producer, he knew how to manipulate audiences—that was simply what you did as part of the job. [ ... ] As a boss, he couldn't believe Conan would stand in the way of what was obviously

27709-416: The job" in the wake of his (Leno's) eventual departure. Five years later, what was to have been the final episode of The Tonight Show with Leno as host aired on Friday, May 29, 2009. Not wanting Leno, who remained number one in the ratings, to move to a competing network, NBC signed the host to a new contract to host a new prime-time talk show beginning in September 2009, entitled The Jay Leno Show , with

27938-440: The job; Francis was among the first women to ever host a late-night talk show. Griffin was so well received as a guest host that NBC gave him his own daytime talk show, the first of three he would host in his broadcasting career, which debuted the same day Carson took over the late-night show, and Lewis's two-week stint was so successful that NBC seriously considered retracting their offer to Carson. Lewis subsequently wound up hosting

28167-441: The joke, Leno called Gaspin, asking, "Why the fuck am I giving up a half hour for this guy?" Conversations changed to focus on what O'Brien would require to resolve the matter, and parties began to discuss a settlement . Public reaction was overwhelmingly in favor of O'Brien during the conflict. In the days following the switch announcement, research of Twitter posts expressed support for O'Brien. Over one million people joined

28396-403: The lack of enough television sets in the United States to make television broadcasting in late nights viable. (Lester himself was a last-minute replacement host for up-and-coming 26-year-old comic Don Hornsby , whom Hope had recommended to NBC but who caught polio and died less than a week before the show began.) For the next season, the only late-night program on the networks was NBC's Nightcap ,

28625-538: The late 1980s, Leno was designated the permanent and only guest host, and consequently hosted several dozen episodes each year, totalling 333 "guest host" appearances during Carson's tenure. On May 22, 1992, Johnny Carson retired after three decades behind the iconic late-night desk, and was replaced by Jay Leno amid national and media controversy. David Letterman not only wanted to move into that earlier time slot from his Late Night spot (which had been broadcast following Carson's program) after The Tonight Show , and

28854-403: The late-night TV race was hosted by Les Crane , which pioneered the controversial tabloid talk show format that would not become popular until two decades later. With most viewers not accustomed to the visceral conflict it entailed, Crane's show lasted only six months. Shorter still was The Las Vegas Show , a Las Vegas -based late-night show hosted by Bill Dana that was the only offering of

29083-486: The late-night broadcast himself. An English lady is visiting Switzerland. She asks about the location of the "W.C."  The Swiss, thinking she is referring to the Wayside Chapel, leaves her a note that said (in part) "the W.C. is situated nine miles from the room that you will occupy. It is capable of holding about 229 people and it is only open on Sunday and Thursday. It may interest you to know that my daughter

29312-495: The late-night scene in 2009 when it debuted Lopez Tonight , hosted by comedian George Lopez . On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show ' s debut, NBC announced that Jay Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien , in 2009. Leno explained that he did not want to cause a repeat of the hard feelings and controversy that occurred when he was picked for the show over David Letterman following Carson's retirement in 1992. O'Brien's final Late Night episode

29541-524: The late-night television universe, Late Show with David Letterman , airing in the same slot, competed head to head against The Tonight Show with Leno in the host's chair and behind that iconic desk, for the better part of two decades, although Leno consistently enjoyed higher ratings after the first two years. On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere, NBC announced that Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien in 2009. The network shocked Leno, who had been consistently number one in

29770-686: The later Steve Allen years, regular audience member Lillian Miller (usually referred to as "Miss Miller") became such an integral part that she was forced to join American Federation of Television and Radio Artists , the television/radio performers union. She would continue to perform the same service for most of the major talk shows for decades, including those hosted by Paar, Carson, Merv Griffin (until 1986), and Mike Douglas , among others. Allen and Kovacs departed Tonight in January 1957 after NBC ordered Allen to concentrate all his efforts on his Sunday-night variety program, hoping to combat

29999-452: The local 11   pm news, which suffered a drastic drop in ratings (between 25%–50% nationwide) as a demonstrable result. As the affiliates rely on the revenue generated during the news, this generated a furor from the local stations and placed pressure on NBC to quickly fix the 10   pm situation, which was contributing to a cascading effect on the ratings of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , although

30228-491: The local network affiliate station in New York City . Beginning in September 1954, it was renamed Tonight! and began its historic run on the full NBC network. Notes for hosting history The first Tonight announcer was Gene Rayburn . Allen's version of the show originated talk show staples such as an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, and comedy bits in which cameras were taken outside

30457-561: The longest-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States. It is the third-longest-running show on NBC, after the news-and-talk shows Today and Meet the Press . The current incarnation is taped from Studio 6B at NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center in New York, the same studio used during the later Jack Paar era and the first 10 years of Carson. During its initial run under Steve Allen, it originated from

30686-417: The mention of him, even in a satirical context, while those who are his fans would be offended). In a 2024 podcast, Jimmy Kimmel admitted that he only agreed to continue Jimmy Kimmel Live! because he feared he had no career options if the show were to end, also noting that he anticipated that within the next ten years, the networks would decide that the format was no longer cost-effective and cancel all of

30915-403: The monologue, Leno's most popular segment, the essence of the program. This would move The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m., a post-midnight start for the first time in its sixty-year history, while Late Night with Jimmy Fallon would be pushed to 1:05   am, and Last Call with Carson Daly would likely be cancelled. Under NBC's (later contested) interpretation of O’Brien's contract, the host

31144-465: The move less than "classy" in a chat with TV Squad , Leno called Ludwin to complain. As most programs went into repeats in December, Leno's staff, notably Vickers, had focused on grabbing big-name guests for that month in an effort to save The Jay Leno Show ; these efforts were cut short when she was informed they had "until the end of November". Affiliates began calling the network to inquire about

31373-425: The name Tonight for several of its early years, as well as Tonight Starring Jack Paar and The Jack Paar Show due to the runaway popularity of its host, eventually settling permanently on The Tonight Show after Carson began his tenure in 1962, albeit with the host's name always included in the title. Beginning with Carson's debut episode, network programmers, advertisers, and the show's announcers would refer to

31602-451: The network. Skip Brittenham, an entertainment attorney and partner at the law firm that had negotiated Leno's contract, was later asked about this claim in an interview. Though Brittenham refused to comment on the veracity of the publicly reported penalty figure, he allowed that "I think the facts speak for themselves." On January 21, it was announced that NBC had struck a deal with O'Brien in which he would leave The Tonight Show and receive

31831-449: The network—producing a nightly 10:00 pm variety show titled The Jay Leno Show —and phoned ABC and Fox to inform them. Zucker and Ludwin planned to meet with O'Brien later to explain the deal, but as word leaked out to The New York Times , they decided to meet with him directly following that night's show. Following the meeting, Ross and O'Brien met with writers and mulled over the decision. O'Brien instantly felt uneasy, but as he

32060-429: The new Tonight Show incarnation. Meanwhile, senior-level executives at NBC predicted that Leno's show would be roundly beaten by hour-long dramas on competing networks and cable, dooming the network's experiment. In announcing his 10 pm show on The Tonight Show, Leno said, "People are asking me, 'What are you going to do after the last show? Are you going to go on vacation?' This kind of stuff. Actually, I'm going to

32289-586: The newest and then lowest-rated radio and television network, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC, as the Blue Network , had been separated from NBC in 1943 owing to government pressure). Because Carson was under contract through September to ABC and producer Don Fedderson (who held him to his contract until the day it expired), he could not take over as host until October 1, 1962. The months between Paar and Carson were filled by

32518-555: The option to leave the network. On January 12, O'Brien issued a press release that stated he would not continue with Tonight if it was moved to a 12:05 a.m. time slot, saying, "I believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't The Tonight Show. " When Oprah Winfrey later quoted this statement to Leno during an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in

32747-435: The pandemic and a creative preference against a traditional studio-based format. Singh opted not to continue A Little Late beyond 2021, and NBC returned the time slot to its affiliates. Conan concluded its run on June 24, 2021, with O'Brien having announced plans to produce a weekly "variety" show for HBO Max and focus on other digital media projects. On January 17, 2023, it was announced that Craig Ferguson would make

32976-491: The panic ended. Carson's ratings usually substantially led his timeslot, in spite of the fact that he intermittently faced many other late-night competitors including Les Crane , Bill Dana , David Frost , Regis Philbin , Alan Thicke , Jerry Lewis , Joan Rivers , David Brenner , Pat Sajak , Ron Reagan , Dennis Miller , and most notably Steve Allen , Arsenio Hall , Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, and Dick Cavett (Carson saw his friend Cavett as his real competition but Cavett

33205-493: The position in 1967 and served as bandleader with the NBC Orchestra . The show originated from NBC Studios in New York City but, as part of Carson's shifting the show toward a more entertainment-oriented program, moved to Burbank, California , in 1972. NBC's two other rivals during the early television era, CBS and ABC , did not attempt any major forays into late-night television until the 1960s. ABC's first effort at

33434-501: The post- Late Show time slot, and would premiere The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder in 1995—serving as a spiritual successor to Snyder's Tomorrow . They had originally attempted to lure Bob Costas away from NBC and Later (offering to have him host The Late Late Show and become a correspondent for CBS's newsmagazine 60 Minutes ) , but were unsuccessful due to his desire to stay with NBC Sports , as well as his relationship with NBC chief Dick Ebersol . Snyder departed in 1999 and

33663-441: The post-Letterman slot as host of The Late Late Show , had begun to occasionally beat O'Brien in overall ratings. Though internal anxiety increased among executives, most tended to still support O'Brien. Zucker's last resort for Leno was a nightly 10:00 pm program. He imagined a nightly Leno show in that timeslot could perhaps turn around NBC's primetime ratings decline. On December 8, 2008, Leno verbally agreed to stay at

33892-1029: The program in 2013 due to his commitments to the Today Show and other projects. On September 16, 2019, NBC premiered A Little Late with Lilly Singh —a new talk show hosted by Indian-Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh . She became the first openly bisexual person and the first person of Indian descent to host a U.S. late-night talk show. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , nearly all U.S. late-night talk shows were forced to impose major changes to their formats in March 2020 due to public health orders and restrictions on gatherings. They initially adopted formats produced remotely from their hosts' homes, with all guests appearing via videoconferencing . By July 2020, late-night shows began to migrate back to studio-based productions, but with reconfigured or different studios than normal with no audience, and continued use of remote interviews. By October 2021, all late night TV shows (with

34121-539: The program. One month in, Leno often only made third place, and executives became more uneasy. Ratings for NBC affiliates' local news broadcasts at 11:00 pm began to slip by mid-October, especially on NBC owned-and-operated stations in the largest markets, creating high anxiety for the network. The Tonight Show still retained a slightly higher share of the coveted 18–34 demographic against Letterman, but saw those numbers slip even more when The Jay Leno Show began. Affiliates began to complain, and in addition to

34350-414: The proliferation of cable news, and ABC believing in stronger ratings potential in the timeslot, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was moved to 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on January 8, 2013—placing it in line with its competitors, Letterman and Leno. On October 17, 2005, Comedy Central premiered The Colbert Report , a spin-off of The Daily Show hosted by regular cast member Stephen Colbert . The show was structured as

34579-554: The proposed changes. "I know how hard I worked for this", responded O'Brien. "It was promised to me. I had a shitty lead-in." Following the tense fifteen-minute meeting, O'Brien and Ross returned to the Tonight studio. TMZ reported on the story with a headline reading, "NBC Shakeup; Jay Leno Comes Out on Top." O'Brien called an emergency staff meeting and assured all that they had not been canceled and all would be fine. The TMZ story deeply bothered O'Brien owing to its timing soon after

34808-408: The questions that way; when asked about his favorite prank, he responded, "I think the best prank I ever pulled was, I told a guy once, 'Five years from now I'm going to give you my show.' And then when the five years came, I gave it to him and I took it back, almost instantly." Later in the segment, when Leno asked, "Ever order anything off the TV?" Kimmel replied, "Like when NBC ordered your show off

35037-494: The radio era, including a vocal group ( Steve and Eydie , who went on to decades of success after Tonight ) in addition to the house band, something that later late-night shows would abandon. By this point, the Federal Communications Commission had lifted a freeze on new television stations, which allowed new stations to appear across the country, and television set sales soon grew exponentially. As

35266-484: The ratings for eighteen months before eventually cementing his number one status. The Jay Leno Show debuted in September 2009, three months into O'Brien's Tonight Show tenure, performing to significantly lower ratings than the primetime dramas it had replaced on NBC and trailing the competition. NBC had expected the drop, having calculated that lower ratings would be balanced by a talk show's correspondingly lower expense compared to more popular scripted programming. In

35495-408: The ratings of O'Brien's Tonight Show had already nosedived months before Leno's prime time show went on the air. On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that beginning March 1, 2010, Leno would move from his 10 p.m. weeknight time slot back to the traditional Tonight Show slot at 11:35. Under this proposal, Leno's show would be shortened from an hour to 30 minutes, which would make

35724-400: The ratings, as well as jokes regarding the future transition, began to appear. While NBC executives tended to not worry in the immediate years following the decision, by 2007 Zucker began to ponder what losing Leno might mean for the network. Around this time, Fox and ABC began conveying interest and holding discreet conversations with Leno. Among the offers made to Leno by NBC's competitors

35953-653: The ratings, for the first time since Leno returned to hosting The Tonight Show. By May 2011, Leno regained the lead over Letterman and held it until leaving the show in February 2014. In August 2012, The Los Angeles Times reported that The Tonight Show was in trouble for a number of reasons, notably that NBC was losing money. The Times later elaborated, noting that advertising revenue from The Tonight Show had dropped more than 40% since 2007, from $ 255.9 million annually to $ 146.1 million. Still, despite these problems, during 2012–13, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

36182-509: The remaining shows: "maybe there'll be one." - DRC (Congo) Le #ChezfrancisKakondeshow on Antenne A Monday/Wednesday and Friday at 23h30 (20th season) since 2003–2023 Host: Francis Kakonde 2010 Tonight Show conflict The 2010 Tonight Show conflict was a media and public relations conflict involving the American television network NBC and two of its late-night talk show hosts, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno , over

36411-432: The renewal inevitably led to press speculation on O'Brien's fate; to that end, O'Brien and his team went with the charade, peppering interviews with unclear, vague statements on his future. On September 27, 2004, O'Brien officially signed on to become the next host of The Tonight Show ; NBC allowed the first comment aside from the press release to come from Leno on that night's show. Leno compared The Tonight Show to

36640-672: The road to produce episodes remotely in its first year, spending four days at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida in June 2014 to promote new attractions at NBCUniversal 's theme parks there. In February 2015, Fallon presented a special Sunday night show from Phoenix, Arizona airing after NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIX , followed by four days of shows in Stage 1 at Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles (where Conan O'Brien's version

36869-403: The rock band U2 , plus an assortment of celebrity cameos, including an appearance by one of Fallon's direct broadcast competitors, Stephen Colbert (who would later replace David Letterman on the competing The Late Show in 2015), and another by former permanent guest host Joan Rivers , making her first appearance on Tonight since cutting ties with Carson in 1986. The show's opening sequence

37098-513: The sales division with a suggestion to cancel O'Brien and reinstate Leno as host of The Tonight Show . Upon Gaspin's legal interpretation of Leno's contract, the option to simply move Leno back to The Tonight Show became relevant. When very poor ratings came in for the November sweeps period, affiliates became alarmed, and NBC board members demanded something be done regarding the 10:00 pm lead-in. If something were not done by January,

37327-435: The same dilemma he and Letterman faced twelve years earlier and agreed to the plans. His only request was that NBC wait to announce O'Brien as host until well after the extension was signed, to which the executives agreed. While Leno handled the news professionally to the relief of Zucker, he soon headed to Tonight Show producer Debbie Vickers' office to let her know he felt as if he had just been fired. NBC's announcement of

37556-471: The scandal, and Leno's fortunes in his rivalry with Letterman permanently turned around in its wake. The New York Post advanced a theory that O'Brien being the cheaper host to lose was the cardinal factor in NBC's decision to negotiate his departure. The Post claimed that Leno had an "ironclad" guarantee for $ 150 million if he had been taken off the air, far higher than what it would cost for O'Brien to depart

37785-442: The scheduling move and the reinstatement of Leno was described by media outlets as "embarrassing" and a "public relations disaster" for NBC. On May 25, 1991, Johnny Carson , host of NBC 's The Tonight Show for nearly thirty years, announced his retirement and exited the program a year later. NBC signed Jay Leno , Carson's "exclusive guest host", to become the program's fourth host upon Carson's departure. Carson clearly held

38014-606: The series after the host, and as such the program, though officially still called Tonight , was also marketed as The Jack Paar Show . A combo band conducted by Paar's Army buddy pianist Jose Melis filled commercial breaks and backed musical entertainers. Paar also introduced the idea of having guest hosts; one of these early hosts was Johnny Carson . It was also one of the first regularly scheduled network shows to be telecast in color beginning sporadically in September 1957, with regular color broadcasts beginning in September 1960. On February 11, 1960, Jack Paar unexpectedly walked off

38243-400: The show according to his preferences, the show was canceled the following month. On NBC's Later, Bob Costas gave way to the host of the cable show Talk Soup , Greg Kinnear , whose tenure was accompanied by a move to Burbank and toward a more conventional, audience-and-celebrity-driven format. Kinnear parlayed that experience into a movie career and stayed only two years; he was succeeded by

38472-437: The show by including the name of the host: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien , and, currently, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . In 1957, the show briefly tried a more news-style format. It has otherwise adhered to the talk show format introduced by Allen and honed further by Paar. Carson is the longest-serving host to date, although he

38701-419: The show during Paar's hosting resulted in many NBC affiliates deciding to clear the show. He was noted for his conversational style, relatively high-brow interview guests, feuds with other media personalities (his animosity toward print journalists Ed Sullivan and Walter Winchell marked a power shift from print to television; Winchell's career never recovered from the damage), and mercurial personality. Paar quit

38930-505: The show in 1960 in a dispute over a censored joke, but was allowed to come back a month later. He permanently left the show in 1962, saying that he could not handle the workload of The Tonight Show (at the time, the show ran 105 minutes a day, five nights a week), and he moved to his own weekly prime-time show, which ran until 1965. After Paar's departure, hosting duties were filled by Groucho Marx , Mort Sahl , and many others. Johnny Carson took over as host of The Tonight Show in 1962 and

39159-454: The show in the midst of the program – an absence that lasted almost a month – after NBC censors edited out a segment taped the night before about a joke involving a "WC" ("water closet", a polite term for a flush toilet) being confused for a "wayside chapel". As he left his desk, he said, "I am leaving The Tonight Show . There must be a better way of making a living than this". Paar's abrupt departure left his startled announcer to finish

39388-450: The show was renamed The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . Carson streamlined the format of the show, focusing more on entertainment personalities, tweaking the monologue to feature shorter jokes, and emphasizing sketch comedy. Ed McMahon served as Carson's announcer, while from 1962 to 1966, the band was led by Skitch Henderson , who hired, among others, Doc Severinsen . When Henderson left, Milton DeLugg took over. Severinsen assumed

39617-513: The show's fate, and research analysis revealed O'Brien's drastically reduced median age for The Tonight Show —age 56 to 46—could possibly reflect that he was too "niche" for the earlier time. Any effort to take Leno off the air was halted by his contract, which had a highly unusual "pay-and-play" provision, in contrast to the typical "pay-or-play" agreement , which guaranteed NBC would both air his program and pay him for up to two years. On November 6, NBC chairman Jeff Gaspin received an email from

39846-410: The show's final days during the media publicity onslaught, and this tally pivots upon that anomalous spike in O'Brien's ratings. 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

40075-432: The show's host conducts interviews from behind a desk, while the guest is seated on a couch. Many late night talk shows feature a house band which generally performs cover songs for the studio audience during commercial breaks and occasionally will back up a guest artist. Late-night talk shows are a widely-viewed format in the United States, but are not as prominent in other parts of the world. Shows that loosely resemble

40304-465: The show. In July 1957, NBC returned the program to a talk/variety show format once again, with Jack Paar (who left his role as morning show host on CBS to join NBC) becoming the new solo host of the show. Under Paar, most of the NBC affiliates that had dropped the show during the ill-fated run of Tonight! America After Dark began airing the show once again. Paar's era began the practice of branding

40533-401: The smart business move—for him and his network." Meanwhile, Letterman continued to score higher ratings than O'Brien with regularity; his fall interview with U.S. President Barack Obama topped The Tonight Show by almost 5 million viewers, and the next week, a scandal involving attempted extortion and personal affairs made Letterman the talk of the country. By August, The Tonight Show

40762-551: The studio, as well as music including guest performers, a house vocal group (duo Steve and Eydie , who would marry each other in 1957) and a house band under Lyle "Skitch" Henderson . When the show became a success, Allen got a primetime Sunday comedy/variety show in June 1956, leading him to share Tonight hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs during the 1956–57 season . To give Allen time to work on his Sunday evening show, Kovacs hosted Tonight on Monday and Tuesday nights with his own announcer ( Bill Wendell ) and bandleader. During

40991-468: The time Leno's contract again came up for renewal, a discussion would be needed regarding the future of The Tonight Show . Facing the prospect of attempting to keep both Leno and O'Brien, Zucker made the final call on Leno's deal, deciding that this contract extension would be Leno's final. The plan would extend Leno four additional years, after which he would give The Tonight Show to O'Brien. In February 2004, NBC executive Marc Graboff informed Ross of

41220-410: The time period, when he was told that he would be fired in five years, with O'Brien taking over the slot at that time. Leno told his audience about this unique network decision at the beginning of his next show, mentioning that he had accepted it, noting that he wanted to avoid repeating the hard feelings that had somehow developed with Letterman, and called O'Brien "certainly the most deserving person for

41449-441: The time slot after Letterman, he refused it, having always been resentful of the forced change in format, and NBC News Overnight , a newscast, took the slot instead, some months after Tomorrow's final broadcast in 1982. During his tenure as host of The Tonight Show , Carson became known as The King of Late Night . While numerous hosts ( Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett being the best-known) attempted to compete with Carson, none

41678-405: The time slot. On April 3, 2013, after a dispute with the network over Leno's joking about the network's poor prime time performance in his monologues, NBC announced that Leno would retire in 2014, with Late Night host Jimmy Fallon taking over The Tonight Show after the conclusion of NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics . It was Leno's suggestion to use NBC's coverage of the Olympics as

41907-623: The time slot. By the 1960s, NBC had already cornered the market for late-night television viewing and would dominate the ratings for several decades in the future. A number of restrictions on television networks that took effect in 1971, among them a nationwide prohibition on tobacco advertising , the requirement that a portion of prime time be set aside for local stations , and rules prohibiting networks from also acting as syndicators , prompted NBC to extend its broadcast day by an additional hour with programming it hoped would recuperate some of its lost revenue. In 1973, NBC launched two new programs:

42136-668: The timeslot and hosting duties of the long-running franchise The Tonight Show . Leno, the host of The Tonight Show since 1992, and O'Brien, host of Late Night since 1993, were strong ratings leaders for NBC for much of the decade. In 2001, when O'Brien's contract neared its end and he was courted by other networks, NBC agreed to extend his contract and eventually make him the fifth host of The Tonight Show . The network neglected to tell Leno about this arrangement until 2004, when they informed him that O'Brien would take over as host in five years. When that time arrived, in 2009, NBC tried to keep both of its late-night stars by offering Leno

42365-546: The timeslot conflict, with some critics predicting that his reputation—along with those of Zucker and NBC—had been permanently damaged by the incident. Critics pointed to the 2004 Tonight Show clip wherein Leno claimed he would allow O'Brien to take over without incident. Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt was among the first celebrities to openly voice disappointment with Leno, saying, "Comedians who don't like Jay Leno now, and I'm one of them, we're not like, 'Jay Leno sucks;' it's that we're so hurt and disappointed that one of

42594-447: The traditional Tonight Show time slot, while O'Brien's supporters argued that the incumbent host had been denied the unambiguous transition, network support and time to grow that his predecessor had received. In addition, it was pointed out that Leno's 10   pm program, rather than O'Brien's performance, had forced the need for line-up changes, while Leno's penalty clause all but guaranteed his continued presence on NBC late night after

42823-470: The two left, the format changed to something similar to Today and was renamed Tonight! America After Dark, hosted first by Jack Lescoulie , and later by Al Collins, with interviews conducted by Hy Gardner , and a house band led by Lou Stein performing. The show was not popular, leading to many NBC affiliates dropping the show. The show returned to the original format that year and was renamed Tonight Starring Jack Paar . The even greater success of

43052-545: The two most prominent Facebook groups supporting O'Brien: "Team Conan" and "I'm With Coco", referring to an on-air nickname applied to O'Brien by actor Tom Hanks during his Tonight Show reign. Artist Mike Mitchell designed a poster similar to the Obama "Hope" poster , showing O'Brien superimposed with an American flag in the background and the caption "I'm With Coco". The poster was widely circulated and displayed online and at various rallies. The color orange also became

43281-475: The typical late-night trappings in favor of a low-key but intense concentration upon Costas interviewing a single guest. Costas hosted the program until 1994. Carson retired as host of The Tonight Show in 1992 following his 30th anniversary as host. This garnered major media attention and speculation on who would replace Carson. The two candidates were David Letterman (host of Late Night since 1982) and Jay Leno (Carson's regular guest host since 1987). Leno

43510-438: The very successful Late Night with David Letterman on NBC expanded from four to five nights per week, displacing the four-year-old Friday Night Videos to the timeslot following it. FNV, which had several subsequent format changes, ran until 2002. Carson did not retire in 1987, instead continuing as host until 1992 with Leno as sole permanent guest host. Rivers was fired from The Late Show in 1987 after abysmal ratings and

43739-484: The view that the position should be given to David Letterman , host of his own program, Late Night , which had directly followed Carson's Tonight Show for ten years. NBC tried to appease both stars, but Letterman left the network in a very public conflict that resulted in the creation of his own competing show, the Late Show with David Letterman , which debuted on CBS in 1993. Letterman's show regularly won in

43968-540: The way he carried himself throughout the controversy. During the episode of The Jay Leno Show that aired after it was made public that Leno had been offered the 11:35 time slot back, Leno portrayed himself as an ingenuous employee merely following NBC's instructions, making a point of stating, "I don't have a manager, I don't have an agent" and referring to his preference of making direct, "handshake" deals. Despite his claim of having no representation, Leno retained an agent (Steve Levine of International Creative Management ),

44197-677: The way through the early part of Carson's run. The Lou Stein Trio originally provided musical accompaniment during the short run of Tonight! America After Dark , which ran for six months between the Steve Allen/Ernie Kovacs and Jack Paar eras of The Tonight Show , and was later replaced by the Mort Lindsey Quartet, which in turn, was replaced by the Johnny Guarnieri Quartet. José Melis led

44426-427: The week, Mary Kay's Nightcap (which mostly consisted of previews of the next day's programming) also aired that season. The format of The Tonight Show can be traced to a nightly 40-minute local program in New York, hosted by Allen and originally titled The Knickerbocker Beer Show (after the sponsor). It was quickly retitled The Steve Allen Show . This premiered in 1953 on WNBT-TV (now broadcasting as WNBC-TV),

44655-400: The weekend—remained a leader in the ratings. By 2001, O'Brien's contract at NBC had less than a year left to run, and despite arguably "coming into his own" in the preceding years, the network was reluctant to pay him on the same scale as other late-night hosts. That year, competing network Fox mounted an "extended, comprehensive campaign" to lure O'Brien away from NBC, citing his appeal from

44884-479: The years, the host displayed "no character" by taking the timeslot back. Garlin vowed never to appear on Leno's Tonight Show thereafter. In an essay for The Wall Street Journal , Nathan Rabin wrote that the response to Leno's role was "quick, vitriolic and widespread." Bill Zehme, the co-author of Leno's autobiography Leading with My Chin , told the Los Angeles Times , "The thing Leno should do

45113-419: Was "sick of lying" when people inquired on his retirement. Eventually, Leno began mulling over his options after Tonight , telling his staff that after the transition, they could move to another network like ABC (whose Disney lot was not far from their then-current Burbank studio). His frustration with the situation came across in his nightly monologues, as more jokes regarding NBC's fourth-place position in

45342-417: Was a half hour in length and (following a brief host monologue) featured a panel of four guests debating topical issues while Maher moderated in a comedic fashion. With the new millennium in 2000, NBC's Later finally got another permanent host after various figures had taken the chair for several years, in the form of a VH1 personality, Cynthia Garrett, who broke the proverbial " glass ceiling " by becoming

45571-401: Was aghast and angry that NBC refused to exhibit clear commitment to him as the franchise's new host, and expressed this disappointment publicly. He also made explicit that he would leave the network if he was asked to move back an hour to accommodate Letterman. Commentators also faulted Leno for what they perceived as a disingenuous attempt on the host's part to forge an " everyman " persona in

45800-408: Was announced as coming from nearby Hollywood ) for the remainder of his tenure. Carson lacked the mercurial, electric personality of Paar, and his version of The Tonight Show never riveted the country's attention the way that Paar's had, but his more predictable approach eventually became part of the cultural landscape by virtue of the fact that the viewership, in a basically three-network paradigm,

46029-588: Was announced that Fallon's former SNL castmate Seth Meyers would assume the duties of Late Night once Fallon moved to The Tonight Show . The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon debuted during NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics in Russia on February 17, 2014, while Late Night with Seth Meyers debuted one week later. 2014 and 2015 saw a realignment to CBS's late night lineup: in April 2014, Craig Ferguson announced that he would leave The Late Late Show at

46258-546: Was basketball player and later entrepreneur Magic Johnson , whose syndicated The Magic Hour was a major flop and effectively ended any future efforts from anyone else at a syndicated late-night talk show at that point in time. ABC finally re-entered the late-night first-run comedy fray, after an absence of 15 years, in 1997 by placing Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher (which had aired on Comedy Central from 1993 to 1996) into its lineup after Nightline . Unlike traditional late-night talk shows, Politically Incorrect

46487-421: Was brought back as host, where he served for almost four additional years. Current host Fallon debuted on February 17, 2014. Fallon had previously hosted Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , and before Late Night he was a popular member of the cast of Saturday Night Live , co-hosting the " Weekend Update " segment with Tina Fey as well as performing sketches. From 1950 to 1951 NBC aired Broadway Open House ,

46716-414: Was considered personally by Carson (whose opinion was not revealed until several years later) as his natural successor despite Leno having been Carson's permanent guest host for several years. Letterman, having had his heart set on the earlier time slot in spite of Leno's ratings success as recurring substitute host, left NBC (on Carson's advice) and joined rival network CBS . Their new program and entry into

46945-640: Was consistently the highest-ranking late-night show, regularly achieving audiences of over 3.5 million, according to Nielsen ratings . Leno's audience became considerably smaller after its peak 2002–03 season, when it routinely attracted 5.8 million viewers a night. This was partly due to the continuing fragmentation of the TV audience, with an increasing number of cable shows, such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart , The Colbert Report and Conan O'Brien's new show on TBS , in addition to competition with Letterman on CBS and since January 8, 2013, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC , although Leno continued to lead

47174-479: Was directed by filmmaker Spike Lee . As part of the transition to Fallon, The Tonight Show would be brought back to New York City after 42 years in Southern California. Approximately $ 5 million was budgeted to renovate Studio 6B , where Fallon recorded Late Night . The move also enabled NBC to take advantage of a newly enacted New York state tax credit for talk shows that are "filmed before

47403-600: Was eventually chosen, leading to Letterman leaving the network to launch a direct competitor late-night talk show, the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS in 1993. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno debuted in 1992. Letterman was replaced by newcomer Conan O'Brien as host of Late Night . Arsenio Hall's show lost numerous affiliates after Letterman's debut and his show was canceled one year later. Fox returned to late-night television in September 1993 with The Chevy Chase Show . However, due to sagging ratings, disastrous reviews and Chase's embitterment at not being allowed to do

47632-405: Was ever successful in drawing more viewers than Carson did on Tonight , not even ABC's short-lived revival of Paar's show in 1973 using the name Jack Paar Tonite (though Paar blamed erratic scheduling and his own unwillingness to succeed at the expense of Cavett, his friend and former writer). Much like Paar, Carson became tired of fulfilling the workload of 525 minutes a week, so The Tonight Show

47861-521: Was favorable, and it was found that he had brought down the median age of The Tonight Show audience by a decade compared with his predecessor, indicating that a generational shift was taking effect as O'Brien established himself in an earlier timeslot. Taking this into account, columnist Tom Shales assessed in August 2009 that O'Brien was in a better position than Leno had been when he began his Tonight Show run in 1992; Leno consistently lost to Letterman in

48090-460: Was first announced a year prior. It was reported that CBS was reconsidering the future of the Late Late Show franchise in favor of lower-cost formats; in November 2023, the network officially announced that it would premiere a Taylor Tomlinson -hosted revival of @midnight —a comedy panel show previously aired by corporate sibling Comedy Central from 2013 through 2017—as a replacement in 2024. Its development and premiere had been delayed due to

48319-511: Was from Sony Pictures Television for a syndicated program. In early 2008, Zucker began to make trips to the Burbank studio in an effort to keep Leno. He gave him numerous suggestions, including a Bob Hope -type deal (high-profile specials), a Sunday night primetime show, or even a nightly cable show on USA Network (owned by NBC Universal ). Executives began to entertain an ideal solution—pay off O'Brien and retain Leno—but Zucker viewed

48548-416: Was furious. Kimmel discussed the appearance during an interview with Marc Maron for the latter's podcast in 2012. Kimmel stated that he felt O'Brien was not given a proper chance, but that he was also motivated by his own history with Leno. According to Kimmel, Leno had some years prior been in serious discussions with ABC about the possibility of jumping ship from NBC. During this period, Leno initiated

48777-698: Was hosted first by Jack Lescoulie (also an announcer and long-time cast member on the Today morning program, 1952–1967) and then by Al ("Jazzbo") Collins , with interviews conducted by Hy Gardner , and music provided by the Lou Stein Trio (later replaced by the Mort Lindsey Quartet , then the Johnny Guarnieri Quartet ). This new version of the show was unpopular, resulting in a significant number of NBC affiliates dropping

49006-526: Was incensed that Rivers did not consult him beforehand and never spoke to her again. Brenner also left Tonight in 1986, although he did so amicably, to launch a syndicated 30-minute late-night talk show called Nightlife , which was canceled after one season. Garry Shandling , who had been a frequent guest host in the early 1980s, served as permanent guest host, alternating with Jay Leno , from 1986 to 1987, when he left to focus on his cable show , leaving Leno to be Carson's sole guest host. In June 1987,

49235-471: Was infinitely more monolithic than it later became. Examples include when he played the game Twister with Eva Gabor in 1966, which increased the sales of the relatively unknown game. In December 1973, when Carson joked about an alleged shortage of toilet paper , panic buying and hoarding ensued across the United States as consumers emptied stores, causing a real shortage that lasted for weeks. Stores and toilet paper manufacturers had to ration supplies until

49464-415: Was married in the W.C. and it was there that she met her husband. I shall be delighted to reserve the best seat for you, if you wish, where you will be seen by everyone'. —Censored joke dropped from February 11, 1960, show Paar returned to the show on March 7, 1960, strolled on stage after the opening credits, struck a pose, and said, "As I was saying before I was interrupted . . ." After

49693-470: Was often more eclectic and would sometimes include the intellectuals and cultural and artistic figures that Carson had long since abandoned) with a cigarette in hand. Carson's new contract in 1980 allowed him to cut the length of his show from 90 minutes to 60 minutes, and for a short time, Tomorrow was moved to an earlier timeslot, to fill the time gap left by Carson's move. NBC felt that Snyder's more conversational style would not bring in enough viewership in

49922-733: Was on ABC, a much smaller network at the time). As primetime variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show faded in prominence over the course of the 1970s, Carson's Tonight Show emerged as a showcase for all kinds of talent, as well as continuing the tradition of a vaudeville-style variety show. Carson's show continued Paar's tradition of launching the careers of a number of comedians, in Carson's case including Jerry Seinfeld , David Letterman , Joan Rivers , Jeff Foxworthy , Ellen DeGeneres , Freddie Prinze , David Brenner , Tim Allen , Drew Carey , and Roseanne Barr . Carson also frequently used guest hosts, especially after 1981 when he negotiated

50151-429: Was only guaranteed The Tonight Show in name rather than the 11:35   pm slot with which it was synonymous. On January 10, NBC confirmed it would be moving Leno out of primetime as of February 12 and intended to move him back to late-night as soon as possible. TMZ reported that O'Brien was given no advance notice of this change, and that NBC offered him a choice: The Tonight Show in a 12:05 a.m. time slot, or

50380-434: Was produced). Aside from the title change and a new set, Fallon's version of The Tonight Show is nearly identical to the format of Late Night he employed, as he imported many of his signature comedy bits and much of his Late Night staff, including house band The Roots and announcer Steve Higgins . Prior to the transition, Fallon said, "In our heads, we've been doing The Tonight Show for five years. We're just on at

50609-429: Was quitting, so he could not be accused of forsaking his contractual obligations." O'Brien's press release went out mid-day on January 12, 2010, which he addressed to "People of Earth": For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be

50838-404: Was replaced by Ed Herlihy . Groucho Marx introduced Carson as the new host on October 1, 1962. Ed McMahon was Carson's announcer and on-screen side-kick, the same role he'd filled on Who Do You Trust? McMahon also introduced Carson with the drawn out catchphrase "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" The Tonight Show orchestra was, for Carson's first four years, still led by Skitch Henderson . After

51067-538: Was shortened to 90 minutes and again to 60 minutes in 1980 with 15 weeks of vacation a year. Because of a lack of competition, Carson was free to take time off (by 1980, he was only hosting three new shows a week) and have guest hosts on the show on a weekly basis, and for weeks at a time when Carson was on vacation, including Joey Bishop (a former competitor of his), Joan Rivers , David Letterman , Bob Newhart , Don Rickles , David Brenner and Jerry Lewis . In his final years, Carson produced new shows only three nights

51296-440: Was still in essence receiving The Tonight Show , he remained calm. The final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien aired on February 20, 2009, followed by The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 29. Much of O'Brien's entire staff moved cross-country to Los Angeles to prepare his version of The Tonight Show . He and his staff threw themselves into developing the program, but remained concerned regarding NBC's commitment to

51525-460: Was still losing to Letterman in total viewers, but, owing to O'Brien's appeal to a young audience, maintained its lead in the touted demographics. Meanwhile, Leno was candid regarding his plans for his new show: "Even though it's ten o'clock, we're going to pretend it's eleven thirty." The Jay Leno Show premiered on September 14, 2009, featuring guests Jerry Seinfeld and Kanye West , shortly after West's infamous incident with Taylor Swift at

51754-439: Was succeeded by Craig Kilborn ; at this time, The Late Late Show switched to a more conventional (albeit lower-budget) format in line with Late Show and its competitors. Kilborn had previously served as host of The Daily Show , a late-night satirical news program on Comedy Central , and upon Kilborn's departure, Jon Stewart replaced him on that program. Perhaps one of the most unusual late-night hosts to come out of this boom

51983-483: Was taped on February 20, 2009. Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon took over as host of Late Night on March 2, 2009. The popularity of late-night shows in the United States has been cited as a key factor in Americans not getting a requisite seven to eight hours of sleep per night. Since 2015, late-night talk shows have competed for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series ; prior to then,

52212-402: Was the announcer, and José Melis led the band. The Jack Paar Show was moved to the evening's prime time (as The Jack Paar Program ) and aired weekly on Friday nights through the 1965 season. Johnny Carson was chosen as Paar's successor when Paar chose to leave The Tonight Show for a prime time show. Carson was host at the time of the weekday afternoon quiz show Who Do You Trust? on

52441-412: Was using the ABC discussions as a bargaining tactic to try to get his old job back. The only late night host who remained neutral was Jimmy Fallon , calling O'Brien and Leno "two of my heroes and two of my friends". He later joked that, "There's been three hosts of Late Night : David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and me. And if there's one thing I've learned from Dave and Conan, it's that hosting this show

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