The Tonight Show
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Tonight Show | |
|---|---|
 Laura Bush and current host Jay Leno. |
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| Genre | Talk show, Variety show |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV |
| Running time | 60 mins. (previously 90-105 mins.) |
| Creator(s) | Sylvester L. Weaver Jr. |
| Starring | Conan O'Brien (2009-) Jay Leno (1992-2009) Johnny Carson (1962–1992) Jack Paar (1957–1962) Steve Allen (1954–1957) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 27, 1954–present |
| No. of episodes | 4,531 (under Carson) 3,086 (under Leno) as of January 27, 2006 |
| 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), and 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 |
[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 original 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] Second Interregnum
Following the departure of Jack Paar, the name of the series reverted to The Tonight Show and the program continued with a succession of guest hosts until the next era of the series was ready to begin.
[edit] Johnny Carson
Paar quit the series in March of 1962, and Johnny Carson was chosen as his successor. 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
Johnny Carson retired May 22, 1992, and was replaced by current host Jay Leno.
The show's full name is currently The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. During the Carson years, it was known as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. During the Paar era, it was first Tonight Starring Jack Paar, then The Jack Paar Tonight Show, and eventually led to Jack Paar's primetime Sunday-night NBC show titled The Jack Paar Program.
On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere, 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 following Carson's retirement instead of David Letterman.
The death of Carson on January 23, 2005 made Leno the only surviving host of The Tonight Show.
[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 Band was led by Doc Severinsen and the show's announcer was Ed McMahon. By the end of the Carson years, Severinsen had become the primary substitute announcer when McMahon was absent. When Severinsen was absent or filling in for McMahon, Tommy Newsom would lead the band.
[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.
- 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 overnight"). 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. 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 Carol Wayne, later Teresa Ganzel). A parody of 1950s-style advertising pitchmen, the skit 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, and get back in the car."), as is a reference to "Drive until you get to the FORK IN THE ROAD" (a map is unfolded to reveal a table fork).
- 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 an audience member would invariably ask "How (hot/cold/big/small, etc.) was it?" which would trigger the punch line 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 |
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[edit] Notes
- ^ Ends at 12:47 on some affiliates
[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 hugely successful on the pay-TV network Foxtel in Australia, where new episodes are shown a maximum of 48 hours after recording. In Sweden, Kanal 5 has shown The Tonight Show since the late '90s.
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] 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
Categories: NBC network shows | Citytv network shows | Variety television series | Television talk shows | Tonight Show | 1950s TV shows in the United States | 1960s TV shows in the United States | 1970s TV shows in the United States | 1980s TV shows in the United States | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States
