The Tonight Show

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The Tonight Show
Laura Bush and current host Jay Leno.
Genre	Talk show, Variety show
Creator(s)	Sylvester L. Weaver Jr.
Starring	Jay Leno (1992-present) Johnny Carson (1962–1992) Jack Paar (1957–1962) Steve Allen (1954–1957)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	4,531 (under Carson) 3,281 (under Leno) as of January 4, 2007
Production
Running time	60 mins. (previously 90-105 mins.)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	1080i HDTV
Original run	September 27, 1954 – present
Links
IMDb profile

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 (though its roots date back to a local New York program called Broadway Open House in the early 1950s), The Tonight Show is the second longest-running entertainment program in U.S. television history (after the soap opera Guiding Light).

While NBC executive Pat Weaver is credited as the Tonight Show creator (he created its morning companion, the Today show), 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.

American comedian Johnny Carson had a 30-year run as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

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 1 Hosts 1.1 Steve Allen 1.2 First Interregnum 1.3 Jack Paar 1.4 Johnny Carson 1.5 Jay Leno 2 Music and announcers 3 Classic gags 4 Programming history 4.1 Notes 5 International broadcasts 6 References 7 External links

[edit] 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 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

[edit] Steve Allen

Tonight's original host was Steve Allen, as noted above. Thanks to his popularity on this program, he was given his own nighttime series, leading him to share hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs during the 1956–1957 season; while Allen prepared his prime time show, Kovacs hosted Tonight on Monday and Tuesday nights. More than being a guest host, 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.

[edit] First Interregnum

After Allen (and 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 by, initially, Jack Lescoulie, with interviews conducted by Hy Gardner. This new version of the show, which was essentially a nighttime version of the Today Show, was not popular, and in July 1957, the show became a talk/variety show again, reverted to its original name and Jack Paar became the host.

[edit] 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."

[edit] Johnny Carson

Main article: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Paar quit the series in March of 1962, and Johnny Carson was chosen as his successor. For contractual reasons, Carson could not take over as host until 1 October 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 Hollywood) for the remainder of his tenure. Announcer Ed McMahon was Carson's sidekick throughout his time with the program.

[edit] Jay Leno

Main article: 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. 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. The 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.

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.

Carson died on January 23, 2005. Leno, now the last living host of The Tonight Show, paid tribute to Carson soon after.

[edit] 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. In 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.

Severinsen was the substitute announcer when McMahon was absent. When Severinsen himself was absent or filling in for McMahon, Tommy Newsom would lead the band. On the rare occasions that both McMahon and Severinsen were away, Newsom would take the anouncer's chair and the band would be led by assistant musical director Shelly Cohen.

Severinsen's band featured several accomplished sidemen, 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 challenge 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...!"

[edit] 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 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] Notes

[edit] 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 since the late '90s. Since October, 2006, it is also being aired in India on Zee Cafe. ^[1]

An early attempt at airing the show in the United Kingdom during the 1980s was unsuccessful, sparking jokes by Carson. Shows such as Des O'Connor Tonight and Wogan were considered by many to be the UK equivalent of the show.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• Tonight! (1954) at the Internet Movie Database
• Tonight! America After Dark (1957) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Jack Paar Show (1957) - a.k.a Tonight Show at the Internet Movie Database
• The Tonight Show interregnum (1962) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Tonight Show from the Museum of Broadcast Communications website