The Tonight Show - Hosting History

Hosting History

NBC's Broadway Open House which began in 1950 first demonstrated the potential for late night network programming. The format for The Tonight Show can be traced to a nightly 40 minute local New York show hosted by Allen, originally titled The Knickerbocker Beer Show (after the sponsor) but quickly retitled The Steve Allen Show, which premiered in 1953 on WNBT. Beginning in September 1954, it was renamed Tonight! and shown on the full NBC network. Detailed history of hosts can be found here .

Host From To Notes # of episodes
Date Age Date Age
Steve Allen September 27, 1954 32 January 25, 1957 35 Tonight Starring Steve Allen Between all of the hosts from The Tonight Show's debut until the Carson era, 2,000 episodes were made
Ernie Kovacs October 1, 1956 37 January 22, 1957 37 Monday-Tuesday host
Jack Lescoulie January 28, 1957 44 June 21, 1957 44 Today veteran hosted format switch to news program Tonight! America After Dark
Al "Jazzbo" Collins June 24, 1957 38 July 26, 1957 38 Replaced Lescoulie, who remained on Today
Jack Paar July 29, 1957 39 March 30, 1962 43 Format switch to talk show; also called Tonight Starring Jack Paar and Jack Paar Tonight
Various hosts April 2, 1962 September 28, 1962 Interlude between Paar and Carson eras. Temporary hosts included Groucho Marx, Merv Griffin, Bill Cullen and Jerry Lewis.
Johnny Carson October 1, 1962 36 May 22, 1992 66 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 4,531 (not including guest hosted or Weekend Tonight Show/Best of Carson episodes)
Jay Leno May 25, 1992 42 May 29, 2009 59 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 4,307
Conan O'Brien June 1, 2009 46 January 22, 2010 46 The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien 145
Jay Leno March 1, 2010 59 present 62 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno See above

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