Details

Release year: 1992

Storyline

Jay Leno takes over the Tonight Show with interview, sketches, and plenty of laughs.

Top credits

Cast

Jay Leno — Self - Host, Self, From New York, From Las Vegas, In Las Vegas, Ray Leno, Clay Leno, Dr. Neil Jay Warren, From Chicago, From Chicago:, James T. Kirk, Jay's Sister, Self - Guest, Self - Hoat, Self - Interviewer (segment: Jay Walking), The Mandarin, Tonto's Father
Kevin Eubanks — Self - Musical Director, Self - Music Director, Self, Self - 'Meal or No Meal' Judge, Self - Accused Murder Contractor, Self - Band Member, Self - Musical Director., Self - Musical Guest
Edd Hall — Self - Announcer, Announcer, Self - Annoncer
John Melendez — Self - Announcer, Self, Announcer, Self - Annoncer

See all 6031 credits →

Awards

4 wins & 36 nominations

See all awards →

Did you know

• The Tonight Show's previous host, Johnny Carson, never once appeared on successor Jay Leno's show. Carson did, however, appear twice on rival late night talk show Late Show with David Letterman (1992) (in a walk-on appearance soon after Letterman's show debuted, and later, in a filmed sketch). In the years following Carson's "Tonight Show" retirement, he reportedly contributed jokes to Letterman's monologues from time to time.

• On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show's debut, NBC announced that Conan O'Brien would take over the show in 2009. Leno was still leading the late-night ratings, but O'Brien was promised the show, so that he would not leave NBC. NBC did not want to lose Leno either, and created The Jay Leno Show (2009), the first nightly network primetime talk show. In 2010, due to poor ratings for both O'Brien and Leno's shows, NBC wanted to move Leno's show into O'Brien's timeslot, with O'Brien's "Tonight Show" airing at 12:05 a.m. O'Brien publicly announced that he would rather leave the show than allow that to happen. NBC and O'Brien reached a settlement to allow him to leave the show seven months into his tenure. Leno returned to "The Tonight Show" in March 2010.

• Became the first American nightly talk show to air in High Definition on April 26th, 1999.