Tonight begins Jay Leno’s final week with The Tonight Show on NBC and the late night show has been posting best of videos from his 22 year run as host. The latest collection is a one full of kids that have stayed up past their bedtime to be on his show. There are singers, musicians, inventors and animal owners and they are all too precious for words. You just want to eat them all up! Especially the poor kid at the end who was dressed up as Donald Trump’s hair for Halloween. If I had a kid, I would dress them up in that costume.
BTW tune into the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight at 11:35p on NBC as he hands over his reign to Jimmy Fallon.
When Johnny Carson did his last The Tonight Show, Bette Midler serenaded him. Well yesterday when Bill Maher made his last appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he brought along Seth MacFarlane to serenade him with their version of Thanks for the Memories. They are no Miss Divine, but they were pretty darn close.
Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon did their first joint interview today on Today with Matt Lauer about the changing of guard over at The Tonight Show in a few weeks. The two late night hosts seemed sincere when they said there are no hard feelings between them and that they only wish the other one good luck in their next endeavor.
Leno also admitted that this time around he was asked to step down from The Tonight Show and he is OK with passing the torch over to Fallon. The current host of Late Night admitted he doesn’t know what to expect when he takes over as host of The Tonight Show on February 17th. One thing he can expect is that Leno will not try to take his job back this time because he told Lauer he doesn’t want to do another late night talk show.
The interview felt very awkward to me, not because of Leno and Fallon, who I sincerely think are friends; but because of Lauer. It didn’t feel as comfortable as it should be and after talking with Fallon last week at the TCAs, it felt like things are copacetic between them. Maybe it was Lauer who was uncomfortable, thus making the interview feel that way. What do you think?
Adam Sandler was a guest on The Tonight Show yesterday and he turned the table on Jay Leno by asking him questions. One of the things Billy Madison had to know is if the NBC late night host ever accidentally got an erection during the middle of interview. If you think about it, it is a given for any host because of the tight outfits some of the actresses wear on the show. Which explains why all the hosts are behind a desk. It is to hide when their mic wants to stand straight up and have that guest hold him. At least that is what Leno was hinting at when he answered the question.
We are less than a month away from Jay Leno saying goodbye to The Tonight Show and today at the NBC TCA Winter Press Day NBC’s Chairman, Bob Greenblatt, announced who his final guest will be. On May 25, 1992, Billy Crystal helped to launch the show as the first guest, so it is only appropriate that he will be the one to close it out. Also joining him on Thursday February 6th, is Garth Brooks and I hope he serenades Leno just like Bette Midler did to Johnny Carson during his final appearance as a host of The Tonight Show.
NBC also announced today who will be on the show that final week. On Monday February 3rd, Leno will pass the baton over to Jimmy Fallon, and Betty White will make her 19th appearance on the show. The next night, Matthew McConaughey and NBA legend Charles Barkley, who makes his 24th visit to the show, are guests and Lyle Lovett will perform, tying the most performances by any singer on the talk show. On Wednesday, Sandra Bullock and Blake Shelton (which should make his mom very proud) will talk to Jay one final time. Finally, on Thursday, Jay Leno bids farewell to his home of 22 years minus a few months.
Not a bad final week for a man who has entertained us for almost a quarter of a century.
UPDATE: Jimmy Fallon’s first guest for The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon on February 17th will be Will Smith and the first musical guest will be U2!!!
UPDATE 2: Seth Meyers first on Late Night with Seth Meyers will be Amy Poehler, so look out for it on February 24th.
