The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is the full name of NBC's The Tonight Show hosted by Jay Leno, debuting on May 25, 1992. The show takes over from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, after the retirement of Johnny Carson on May 22, 1992. Under Leno, the show has won four Emmy Awards and another forty-one nominations. The show is taped in Burbank, California, near Los Angeles.

On April 26, 1999, the show began broadcasting in 1080i HDTV, becoming the first American nightly talk show to be shot in high definition. The show is shot in 16:9 aspect ratio with a 4:3 center-cut for standard definition television sets.

On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere, NBC announced that Jay Leno will be succeeded by Conan O'Brien in 2009. Leno explained that he did not want to see a repeat of the hard feelings and controversy that occurred when he was given the show over David Letterman following Carson's retirement.^[1][2]

The show is often referred to simply as "Jay Leno", due to the continued association of "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

Recurring Segments

• Jay Leno opens the show by walking onstage, shaking hands with audience members and doing a monologue of 25-30 topical jokes from the news. It is the longest monologue of any late night talk show.
• Headlines (Monday): Humorous print items sent in by viewers. These real-life headlines are usually headlines with typographical errors or overlooked, inappropriate items.
• Jaywalking: An unscripted pre-taped segment where Jay Leno asks people questions about current news and other topics in public areas around Los Angeles (usually Hollywood Boulevard or Universal Studios); they typically respond in an outrageously incorrect manner.
  • The segment's name is a play on the host's name and the illegal practice of jaywalking.
  • Some of the interviewees prove so popular with viewers that they become regulars on The Tonight Show itself.
  • The same concept is used in a game show called Street Smarts and, in Canada, on Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans segment on This Hour Has 22 Minutes.^{[citation needed]}
• Celebrity Interviews: Jay will conduct an interview with a celebrity or recent major news name. The person in question is an obvious parody designed to utilize humorous responses. This often occurs "via satellite", but the character's portions are done on the musical performance part of the stage.
• Comedic Products: Depending on the season, Jay will bring out comedic spins on gifts, media releases, and "inventions that didn't work out".
• Ask the Fruitcake Lady: Marie Rudisill, an outspoken older woman and aunt of Truman Capote, responded to questions about relationships, sex and family. She was originally on the show to promote her cookbook about fruitcake. This segment has now ended due to her death.
• Videos We Found on YouTube: A prototypical Leno segment where Leno shows amusing videos found on Youtube. However, the videos are not viewed on YouTube but video files instead.
• Ross the Intern: Ross Matthews, a highly effeminate intern for the show, is sent to participate in special events. Considering Ross first appeared around the turn of the millennium, and a typical internship lasts no longer than two semesters, it is highly unlikely he is still, as his stage name suggests, an intern. Recently, as part of a running gag, Jay Leno started introducing Ross as his illegitimate son. Ross's blog.
• Pitch To America: Whenever a screenwriters convention is held in the U.S., a Tonight Show camera crew sets up an area where screenwriters can walk up and make a pitch for a movie script or television show that he/she has been working on. People also can pitch a product as well.
• Stuff We Found on eBay: Jay brings up some of the oddest stuff that he has found while searching on eBay.
• Pumpcast News: A fake news anchor, played by Timothy Stack, displayed on a TV screen at a gas station harasses and bothers the customers pumping gas.
• Duller Image Catalog: Jay will present outrageous and crude products that are created by the staff.
• The Fine Print: At his desk Jay presents regular everyday products but when zoomed in to reveal the fine print there is a message telling what the product's real intentions are. For example on a bag of chips the fine print will reveal that if you eat the product you will get fat. Such an example can be considered an actual joke used in this segment, virtually verbatim.
• Photo Booth: A real free photo booth is set up at Universal Studios Hollywood and people inside are bothered and made fun of before getting their picture taken.
• 99 Cent Shopping Spree: Jay shows off items collected from a local 99 cent store. These products are real and are shown if they have any assembly mistakes, poorly translated words on directions or packaging, or if they are just tacky items.
• Celebrity Jeopardy: A jeopardy game that includes people in costumes portraying famous people that were recently in the news. George W. Bush, and Martha Stewart, are commonly portrayed. Gilbert Gottfried, who is always included on the panel, portrays other uncommon characters such as the Easter Bunny or Pontius Pilate, and is characterized by his frequent use of the phrase, "Son of a bitch!" at some point during the segment.
• Truth in Labeling: Jay displays products whose names have been changed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are now renamed for their most common uses. For example a United States one hundred-dollar bill is now just called gas money.
• Dealing with the Public: Jay plays real police/911 audio/video recordings that are ridiculous, stupid, and/or funny.
• Sidewalking: A camera and microphone are set up in a public location (e.g., on the street, on a college campus), individuals step up to the microphone and perform whatever they desire.
• Teenage Wasteland: Teenagers come out and perform a stunt or show off a talent which they possess.
• Does this impress Ed Asner: Individuals perform stunts or show off a talent in front of Ed Asner. Asner comments on whether or not the act impresses him. Similar to the former Late Show with David Letterman stunt, "Is This Anything?".
• Midnight Confessions: Members of the audience tell a story about something in their life they are somewhat embarrassed about. Often, at the end of the confession, a product appropriate for the situation is presented to the person (often by Gilbert Gottfried)
• Wheel of Consolation: In the final weeks of American Idol, the person who gets voted off comes on The Tonight Show, and is given a chance to spin the wheel of consolation, which contains three elaborate sounding prizes. The wheel is rigged to stop on a certain item, when the contestant receives a play-on of the item won. For example, if the wheel stops on 'Breakfast with Royalty,' the Burger King mascot presents the contestant with a breakfast sandwich.
• Often guest stars and "behind the scenes" personnel are made fun of in rigged gags. For example, American Idol's Simon Cowell appeared and Jay showed a clip of Simon releasing a dog at a person at the audition. Another gag was when a giant stuffed dog was a choking hazard. John Melendez was saying it wasn't a choking hazard, it was so cute. The dog started strangling Menendez.

Notable Episodes

• Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, The Tonight Show was off the air for about a week, as were most similar programs. The first post-9/11 episode began with a still image of an American flag and a subdued opening without the usual opening credits. (Late Show with David Letterman did something similar.) Leno's monologue paid tribute to those who lost their lives and to firefighters, police, and rescue workers across the US. Like David Letterman, Leno had questioned whether a show that regularly poked fun at the government could continue after the attacks, but in his monologue he explained that he saw the show as a respite from the grim news of the world, akin to a cookie or glass of lemonade handed to a firefighter.
• The Tonight Show was the show where Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for Governor of California in the 2003 recall election.
• On Thanksgiving Day in 1998, Hulk Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. In the long run, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt.

Ratings

On September 22, 2006, Variety reported that The Tonight Show led in ratings for the 11th consecutive season, with a nightly average of 5.7 million viewers – 31% of the total audience in that time slot – compared to 4.2 million viewers for The Late Show with David Letterman, 3.4 million for Nightline and 1.6 million for Jimmy Kimmel Live. Letterman initially lead in ratings, however the turning episode was when Hugh Grant appeared on Leno (and before that, Letterman's disastrous hosting stint at the 67th Annual Academy Awards). Leno asked Grant "what the hell were you thinking", referring to Grant's arrest for hiring a prostitute.

References

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