THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO

'''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''' is an Emmy Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by comedian Jay Leno on NBC. It premiered on May 25, 1992, succeeding ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. The show is taped in Burbank, California.
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.
Leno's incarnation of ''Tonight'' has followed the same basic format as that of his predecessors: an opening monologue followed by comedy routines, interviews and performances. Unlike Jack Paar or Johnny Carson, however, Leno has, as of 2007, rarely utlilized guest hosts, preferring to host the series by himself. In the first 15 years of his tenure, there have only been a couple of occasions in which a substitute host has appeared. The most notable occasion happened on May 12, 2003, when Katie Couric guest-hosted as part of a publicity stunt that saw Leno guest-hosting ''The Today Show'' the same day.[1]
On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show's debut, 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]

Contents

Recurring segments

Notable episodes

Ratings

References

External links

Recurring segments

★ Leno opens the show by walking onstage, shaking hands with audience members and doing a monologue of 25-30 topical jokes from the news.

★ Headlines (Monday): Humorous print items sent in by viewers. These real-life headlines are usually headlines with typographical errors or overlooked, inappropriate items.

★ Jaywalking: A pre-taped segment where Leno asks people questions about current news and other topics in public areas around Los Angeles (usually Hollywood Boulevard or Universal Studios). Most responses are outrageously incorrect.

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★ Howard Stern has said the segment is based on his Homeless Game. ^[3]

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★ The segment's name is a play on the host's name and the illegal practice of jaywalking.

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★ Some of the interviewees prove so popular with viewers that they become regulars on ''The Tonight Show'' itself. Such examples are Jaywalk all-stars Kip and Kim, who have a recurring segment on the show entitled ''What would Kip and Kim Do?'', where people in situations ask them for advice. Their responses are often ridiculous and done to make the audience laugh.

★ The Audience Wants to Know: Selected audience members are chosen to ask Leno questions, and in response, Leno shows a video clip relating to the subject.

★ Celebrity Interviews: Leno 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, Leno 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 ended following Rudisell's death.

★ Videos We Found on YouTube: A prototypical Leno segment where he shows amusing videos supposedly found on YouTube. However, the videos are not viewed on YouTube but video files instead.

★ Ross the Intern: Ross Mathews, a highly effeminate intern for the show, is sent to participate in special events. As part of a running gag, Leno started introducing Ross as his illegitimate son.

★ 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 sometimes pitch a product.

★ Stuff We Found on eBay: Leno brings up some of the oddest stuff that he has supposedly found while searching on eBay, and the studio audience must determine whether the object was sold or not.

★ 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: Leno will present outrageous and crude products created by the staff.

★ The Fine Print: At his desk Leno 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 (example: a bag of chips that warns if you eat the product you will get fat).

★ 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: Leno 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 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: Leno 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 called "gas money."

★ Dealing with the Public: Leno plays real police or 911 audio/video recordings that are ridiculous, stupid 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 perform a stunt or talent 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 about which they are embarrassed. 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 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 off 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.
'Tonight Show Shown Across Europe'
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is available to viewers across Europe on CNBC Europe.
The programme airs at 00:00 CET (23:00 GMT) in a 30 minute condensed version Mondays to Fridays. On Saturdays and Sundays the show's full version is transmitted at 21:00 CET (20:00 GMT) in a 45 minute broadcast. On the weekday condensed version the monologue, interviews with guests and the musical guest are shown. The "comedy" segment is not shown on weekdays, although CNBC Europe have recently shown the "Headlines" comedy segment in the condensed version (the "Headlines" comedy segment is edited down a bit for the weekday version beacuse of timing).
CNBC Europe used to show the full version of the Tonight Show on weekdays as well as weekends but on 26th March 2007 the channel decided to broadcast a condensed version for 30 minutes on weekdays, to give more room for business news programmes. Late Night with Conan O'Brien was also shown on weekdays, but since 26th March there are only shown on weekends along side The Tonight Show.

Notable episodes

★ In 1993, guests Burt Reynolds and Marc Summers got into a heated match of throwing insults at one another. Eventually, Reynolds threw his drink at Summers, who in return threw his drink at Reynolds. Leno decided that a duel between the two guests was necessary, and he brought pies onto the stage. Reynolds and Summers decked each other with pies, with Reynolds aftewards trying to call a truce with Summers, who was visibly annoyed and angry. To this day, it is unknown whether the incident was stagged or real. Summers claims the incident as true. As a result, Summers was never brought back to ''The Tonight Show''. The feud between Summers and Reynolds was listed on E!'s Top 100 Celebrity Feuds of All Time.

★ In July 1995, Hugh Grant publicly apologized on ''The Tonight Show'' after he was arrested for indecent conduct with a prostitute.^[4] Afterwards, Leno replied, "What the hell were you thinking?"

★ 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. Leno's monologue paid tribute to those who lost their lives and to firefighters, police and rescue workers across the US. 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.

★ On August 6, 2003, 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.

★ On September 27, 2005, Jennifer Garner accidentally slipped out the gender of her baby, when she had intended to keep it a secret from the media.^[5]

★ In January 2006, Rachel Weisz revealed that she was five months pregnant and engaged to Darren Aronofsky.^[6]

★ On July 12, 2007, Jessica Biel appeared on the show to promote her movie, ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry''. When Leno asked her if she had overcome her other fears, Biel said she once "sang at a bar in Paris". Leno urged her to sing in front of the crowd. She sang ''Almost Paradise''. In the end, he gave her a mini bright pink Barbie Cadillac car.

★ Actress Lindsay Lohan was scheduled to appear July 24, 2007, for her first interview since leaving rehab, but Lohan was arrested earlier that day. Rob Schneider appeared on the show instead, dressed up as Lohan and answering some of the questions Leno had prepared for Lohan.

★ On August 7, 2007, Zac Efron was a guest on ''The Tonight Show''. Because Efron was a huge Barry Bonds fan, Leno had Bonds sign a baseball for Zac. Ironically, this was the same night that Barry broke the All-Time Home Run Record.

★ On September 5, 2007, Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson announced his candidacy for President of the United States on the Tonight Show

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''. When the Leno initially directly faced Letterman's show, Letterman initially lead in ratings, however the turning episode is generally marked when Hugh Grant appeared on Leno (which also aired shortly after Letterman's poorly received hosting stint at the 67th Annual Academy Awards). Leno famously asked Grant "What the hell were you thinking?" referring to Grant's arrest for seeing a prostitute.

References

1.
2.
3. Howard Stern Shock Jock in Winter
4. Chronicle Nadine Brozan
5. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1110778,00.html
6. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1147501,00.html

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