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'''The Tonight Show''' is NBC's long-running late-night talk and variety show, currently hosted by Jay Leno in Burbank, California, USA. The hour-long show premiered September 27, 1954 as a 105-minute broadcast originating from New York City and hosted by Steve Allen. The show features at least two guests each night, usually including a comedian or musical guest. Leno has announced that he will step down as host in 2009, and has named current ''Late Night'' host Conan O'Brien as his successor.[1]
Now in its 52nd season, ''The Tonight Show'' is the second longest-running entertainment program in U.S. television history (after the soap opera ''Guiding Light''). Its roots date back to a local New York program called ''Broadway Open House'' in the early 1950s.
While NBC executive Pat Weaver is credited as the ''Tonight Show'' creator (he created its morning companion, ''Today''), Allen had already created much of the structure of ''Tonight'' with his local New York late-night show, which premiered in 1953 on what is now WNBC-TV.
Each incarnation of ''The Tonight Show'', as outlined below, is generally considered its own entity, with pop culture references frequently referring to the show by its host name more often than as ''The Tonight Show''. The longest-serving host to date was American comedian Johnny Carson who held sway over a 30-year run as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' during which time the series was often also referred to as ''The Johnny Carson Show'' or, simply, ''Carson''. The current host, Jay Leno, has been in place since 1992 and similarly his version of the show is often referred to simply as ''Leno''. The series has also featured many guest hosts over the years, particularly during Carson's reign during his vacations and when he no longer hosted the series five nights a week.
''The Tonight Show'' became the first American television show to broadcast with MTS stereo sound in 1984. On April 26, 1999, the show started broadcasting in 1080i HDTV, becoming the first American nightly talk show to be shot in HD. The show is shot in 16:9 aspect ratio with a 4:3 center-cut for standard definition TV viewers.
A kinescope exists of the very first broadcast of ''The Tonight Show'' (then called simply, ''Tonight''); Steve Allen welcomed viewers with the warning, "This show is going to last forever", referring to the running time. He has yet to be proven wrong.

Contents

Hosts

Steve Allen

Show Changes

Jack Paar

Johnny Carson

Jay Leno

Music and announcers

Classic gags

Programming history

Notes

International broadcasts

See Also

References

External links

Hosts

Host	From	To	Notes
Steve Allen	September 27, 1954	January 25, 1957	variety show
Ernie Kovacs	October 1, 1956	January 22, 1957	Mon.-Tue. host
Jack Lescoulie	January 28, 1957	June 7, 1957	format switch to news program ''Tonight! America After Dark''
Al "Jazzbo" Collins	June 10, 1957	July 26, 1957	replaced Lescoulie
Jack Paar	July 29, 1957	March 30, 1962	format switch to talk show; also called ''Tonight Starring Jack Paar''
Various hosts	April 2, 1962	September 28, 1962	interlude between Paar and Carson eras. Temporary hosts included Groucho Marx.
Johnny Carson	October 1, 1962	May 22, 1992	''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''
Jay Leno	May 25, 1992	2009 (announced)	''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''
Conan O'Brien	Scheduled to take over in 2009

Steve Allen

The original host of ''Tonight'' was Steve Allen, as noted above. Thanks to his popularity on this program, he was given his own primetime Sunday series, leading him to share ''Tonight'' hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs during the 1956–1957 season. While Allen prepared his Sunday comedy-variety show, Kovacs hosted ''Tonight'' on Monday and Tuesday nights. Kovacs had his own announcer and bandleader, separate from Allen's.
During the later Steve Allen years, regular audience member Miss Miller became such an integral part, she was forced to join AFTRA, the television/radio performers union. Allen's announcer was Gene Rayburn, who went on to greater fame as host of ''Match Game''.

Show Changes

After Steve Allen (and Ernie Kovacs) departed ''Tonight'' in January 1957, NBC changed the format, renaming the show '''Tonight! America After Dark''' and transforming it into a news program hosted first by Jack Lescoulie and then by Al "Jazzbo" Collins. With interviews conducted by Hy Gardner, this new version of the show was not popular and in July 1957, the program became a talk/variety show again and Jack Paar became the new sole host of the show.

Jack Paar

On February 11, 1960, Jack Paar famously walked off his show for a month after NBC censors edited out a segment, filmed the night before, about a joke involving a W.C. (a polite term for a flush toilet). 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, Hugh Downs, to finish the broadcast himself.
Paar returned to the show on March 7, 1960, strolled onstage, struck a pose, and said, "As I was saying before I was interrupted..." After 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."
The W.C. joke that caused the controversy involved an English lady visiting Switzerland. She asked about the location of the "W.C." The Swiss misunderstood her as talking about the Wayside Chapel, and left 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 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."

Johnny Carson

Main articles: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Jack Paar left the show in March of 1962, and Johnny Carson was chosen as his successor. For contractual reasons, Carson could not take over as host until October 1, 1962, and the months between Paar and Carson were taken by a series of guest hosts, including Groucho Marx who introduced Carson as the new host on October 1. For all but a few months of its first decade on the air, Carson's "Tonight Show" was based in New York. In May of 1972 the show moved to Burbank, California (although it was announced as coming from nearby Hollywood) for the remainder of his tenure. Announcer Ed McMahon was Carson's sidekick throughout his time with the program.

Jay Leno

Main articles: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Johnny Carson retired on May 22, 1992, and was replaced by current host Jay Leno amid mild controversy. David Letterman not only wanted to move into that earlier timeslot from his late night spot after ''The Tonight Show'', but was considered by Carson and others as the natural successor (despite Leno having been Carson's permanent guest host for several years). In the years following Carson's retirement until his death in 2005, he never appeared as a guest on Leno's ''Tonight Show''. Letterman, having had his heart set on the earlier time slot, eventually left NBC and joined CBS. ''Late Show with David Letterman'', airing in the same slot, has been going head to head against Leno's ''Tonight'' ever since. Conan O'Brien slid into the late night time slot vacated by Letterman, and has himself, enjoyed success.
Unlike Carson and Paar before him, Leno has been a "full-time" host, maintaining a five-day-a-week schedule and only rarely utilizing guest hosts during the 15-plus years of his tenure.
On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere, NBC announced that Jay Leno will be succeeded by O'Brien in 2009. Leno explained that he did not want to see a repeat of the hard feelings and controversy that occurred following Carson's retirement when he was given the show instead of Letterman. It has also been speculated that NBC asked Leno to do this so that Conan wouldn't accept a more lucrative offer. It was rumored that at the time of the announcement ABC was talking to Conan about possibly replacing Jimmy Kimmel.
Carson died on January 23, 2005. Leno, now the last living host of ''The Tonight Show'', paid tribute to Carson soon after.

Music and announcers

Music for the series is provided by 'The Tonight Show Band', led since 1995 by Kevin Eubanks, who replaced Leno's original musical director, Branford Marsalis. On March 29, 2004, the long-time announcer Edd Hall was replaced by John Melendez, who started out on ''The Howard Stern Show''.
Skitch Henderson was the band leader during the Steve Allen and early Carson years, followed briefly by Milton DeLugg (who later went on to become the musical director of ''The Gong Show''). Gene Rayburn served as Allen's announcer and sidekick and also guest-hosted some episodes. Jose Melis led the band for Jack Paar, and Hugh Downs was his announcer. For most of Johnny Carson's run on the show, the ''Tonight 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 the band. 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.
Severinsen's band featured several accomplished sidemen in addition to saxophonist Newsom, including trumpeter Snooky Young, pianist Ross Tompkins, and drummer Ed Shaughnessy. The band frequently appeared on camera in the "Stump the Band" segments, where an audience member would dare the band to play some obscure song title, and the band would comically improvise something appropriate. The routine was played for full comedy value and the band wasn't really expected to know the songs, but on two occasions the band did answer correctly, much to the maestro's surprise. Severinsen was heard to ask incredulously, "You mean we ''actually''...!"

Classic gags

''Other gags are included in the specific articles about The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

★ "Man on the Street interviews" (Allen). Frequently featured actors as recurring characters, most notably Don Knotts, Louis Nye and Tom Poston, though Allen also performed impromptu bits with non-professional civilians.

★ "Crazy Shots" (Allen). Later known as
★ "Wild Pictures." Allen's supporting cast and guest stars would participate in quick visual gags while Allen played piano accompaniment.

★ Stump the Band (Paar, later Carson) (currently used [albeit with comical variations] on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' and ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''). Audience members are asked to name an obscure song and the band tries to play it. If the band doesn't know the song, it usually breaks into a comical piece of music.

★ Carnac the Magnificent (Carson). Carson plays a psychic who is given sealed envelopes (that McMahon invariably states, with a flourish, have been kept "hermetically sealed inside a mayonnaise jar underneath Funk & Wagnalls' porch since noon today"). Carnac holds an envelope to his head and recites the punchline to a joke contained within the envelope, then rips open the envelope and reads the matching question inside. Sample: "Saucepan... Who was Peter Pan's wino brother?" If a joke falls flat with the audience, Carnac invariably passes a comedic curse upon them (e.g., "May a bloated yak change the temperature of your jacuzzi!").

★ The Tea Time Movie, with "Art Fern" (Carson) and the Matinée Lady (originally Paula Prentiss, then a parade of one shots including Edy Williams, Juliet Prowse and Lee Meredith, then for many years Carol Wayne, then Danuta Wesley, and finally Teresa Ganzel). Carson once said that Art Fern was his favorite character: "He's so sleazy!" Huckster Art usually wore a loud suit, lavish toupee, and pencil mustache, and spoke in the high, nasal approximation of Jackie Gleason's "Reginald van Gleason III" character. A parody of 1950s-style, fast-talking advertising pitchmen, the Tea Time Movie consists of a rapid-fire series of fake advertisements for products and companies sponsoring a late-night movie. Invariably the jokes refer to his buxom Matinée Lady assistant, and at least once in every skit a variation of the "Slauson Cutoff" joke is made (e.g., "You can find our store by heading down Hwy. 101 until you get to the Slauson Cutoff. Get out of the car, cut off your slauson, get back in the car."), as is a reference to "Drive until you get to... (a map is unfolded to reveal a table fork) the ''fork'' in the ''road''!" Art would then return us to today's movie (like "Tarzan and Cheetah Have to Get Married" or "Rin Tin Tin Gets Fixed Fixed Fixed," etc.), followed by an antique. four-second film clip. Back to Art, caught necking with the Matinée Lady before announcing another movie and another commercial.

★ The "Dancing Itos" (a parody of Judge Lance Ito during the O.J. Simpson trial) (Leno)

★ Several traditions were adopted for Carson's monologue. When jokes didn't work, he would occasionally pull down the boom microphone to announce "Attention, Kmart shoppers!" or the NBC Orchestra would break into "Tea for Two" prompting Carson to break into an impromptu soft shoe dance, among other responses. Recurring jokes included references to producer Frederick De Cordova's age, and (during the years when Ronald Reagan was president) De Cordova's involvement with Reagan's infamous movie ''Bedtime for Bonzo''.

★ Frequently during his monologues, Carson would make a statement of the form "It was so (hot/cold/big/small, etc.)", and McMahon would lead the audience in asking. "How (hot/cold/big/small, etc.) ''was'' it?" which would trigger the punchline of the joke.

Programming history

''The Tonight Show'' has been scheduled at various times throughout its history on NBC. All times shown are Eastern.

Begin Date	End Date	Nights	Start	End	Notes
September 27, 1954	October 5, 1956	Mon-Fri	11:15	1:00
October 8, 1956	January 4, 1957	Mon-Fri	11:15	12:30
January 7, 1957	December 30, 1966	Mon-Fri	11:15	1:00
January 2, 1965	January 1, 1967	Sat or Sun	11:15	1:00	repeats
January 2, 1967	September 5, 1980	Mon-Fri	11:30	1:00
January 7, 1967	September 26, 1975	Sat or Sun	11:30	1:00	repeats
September 8, 1980	August 30, 1991	Mon-Fri	11:30	12:30
September 2, 1991	present	Mon-Fri	11:35	12:37

Notes

1. http://bis.zeeaccess.com/asp/index.asp?Archive_ID=7102006112829&Category_Type=Archive_Date_Description

Some NBC affiliates air it from 3:05-4:00

International broadcasts

''The Tonight Show'' is also seen around the world. It is broadcast on CNBC Europe, usually three nights after it has been shown in the U.S. The show is screened on The Comedy Channel in Australia, where new episodes are shown hours after its American broadcast. In Sweden, Kanal 5 has shown ''The Tonight Show'' (as ''Jay Leno Show'') since the late '90s. Since October, 2006, it is also being aired in India on Zee Cafe 12 hours after the show is shown in the USA. ^[1]
An early attempt at airing the show in the United Kingdom during the 1980s was unsuccessful, sparking jokes by Carson. On the October 23, 1984 broadcast, guest Paul McCartney had this to say of the show's British run:
''Carson: (throwing to commercial) ...we have to pay some bills here. It's not like British television which just goes and goes till they end it.
McCartney: Oh you're just mad because they didn't like your show.''
Shows such as ''Des O'Connor Tonight'' and ''Wogan'' were considered by many to be the UK equivalent of the show.

See Also

List of late night network TV programs

References

1. http://bis.zeeaccess.com/asp/index.asp?Archive_ID=7102006112829&Category_Type=Archive_Date_Description

External links

★ NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

★ Live Performances from the Tonight Show

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★ The Tonight Show from the Museum of Broadcast Communications website