The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Logo used from 2010–2014
Also known as	The Tonight Show
Genre	Late-night talk show Variety show
Presented by	Jay Leno
Starring	Branford Marsalis Kevin Eubanks Rickey Minor
Narrated by	Edd Hall John Melendez Wally Wingert
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	22[1]
No. of episodes	4,610[2] (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	Helen Kushnick (1992) Debbie Vickers Jay Leno
Production locations	NBC Studios Burbank Burbank, California
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	62 minutes
Production companies	Big Dog Productions NBC Productions (1992–1996) NBC Studios (1996–2004) NBC Universal Television Studio (2004–2007) Universal Media Studios (2007–2009, 2010–2011) Universal Television (2011–2014)
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	May 25, 1992 (1992-05-25) – May 29, 2009 (2009-05-29)
Release	March 1, 2010 (2010-03-01) – February 6, 2014 (2014-02-06)
Related
The Jay Leno Show You Bet Your Life (2021 revival)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010, and ended on February 6, 2014.

The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise debuted on May 25, 1992, three days after Johnny Carson's retirement as host of the program. The program originated from NBC Studios in Burbank, California, and was broadcast Monday through Friday at 11:35 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific time zones (10:35 p.m. Central/Mountain time). Unlike Carson or his predecessor Jack Paar, Leno only once used a guest host, preferring to host the series in person.

The series, which followed the same basic format as that of its predecessors (an opening monologue followed by comedy routines, interviews and performances), ran until May 29, 2009, after which Leno was succeeded by Conan O'Brien.^[3] NBC signed Leno to a new deal for a nightly talk show in the 10:00 pm ET timeslot. The primetime series, titled The Jay Leno Show, debuted on September 14, 2009,^[4] following a similar format to the Leno incarnation of Tonight.^[5][6][7]

Neither O'Brien's version of the program, which premiered June 1, 2009 nor The Jay Leno Show generated the ratings NBC had expected. The network decided to move a condensed 30-minute version of Leno's show to O'Brien's time slot, and O'Brien's Tonight Show a half-hour later. This decision met with opposition from O'Brien, whose stint on The Tonight Show ended January 22, 2010, after which he began his own talk show, Conan, on TBS. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno then began its second incarnation, the sixth of the franchise, on March 1, 2010. Leno left The Tonight Show for good on February 6, 2014, and on February 17, was succeeded by Late Night host Jimmy Fallon, at which time the series returned to New York for the first time since 1972.