After 17 years and 3,800 shows Jay Leno, the king of late-night television and one of the most popular entertainers in the US, ended his reign yesterday on The Tonight Show, a national institution that has been putting America to bed since 1954.

Leno, 59, who took over the show in 1992 from Johnny Carson — the undisputed high priest of late-night TV who retired after 30 years in the chair — handed the torch on to Conan O’Brien, who becomes only the fifth host of Tonight in 55 years.

Leno’s legacy is not only to pass on the No 1-rated late-night show to O’Brien — he has topped the ratings since the early 1990s — but it is also something far more profound. He made politics funny and introduced what is now the widespread phenomenon of young viewers getting their news from late-night comics. The show’s format has barely changed since Steve Allen, the inventor of late-night television, opened it in 1954. Yet Leno’s signature opening monologue — a rapid-fire fusillade of one-liners — made him the most political comedian on American television, and his audiences loved it.

According to the Centre for Media and Public Affairs, a think-tank that tracks political humour — Leno has told one third more political jokes than his late-night rival, David Letterman — 33,331 in all, up to the end of last year. He also had more political candidates as guests than any other chat show.

Earlier this year Barack Obama appeared with Leno, becoming the first sitting US President to appear on a late-night talk show. In 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for the California governorship on Tonight. That same year, John Kerry, then the Democratic presidential candidate, roared on to the set on a motorbike in an attempt to shed his stiff and aloof image. It didn’t work.

Unlike Carson, who was barely seen again after he retired, Leno is not going away. NBC, which is suffering disastrous evening ratings, is moving him to a prime-time, 10pm show in the autumn.

“There’s not a lot of sadness because I’m going to be taking a lot of the people with me that I work with,” Leno said. “I don’t worry about legacy. That’s not my problem. When I hand over to Conan I will hand it over to him as the No 1 show. So if there’s any legacy at all it’s probably that.”

Unlike Letterman, whose style is more hard-edged and acerbic, Leno handled his interviewees gently. With his big chin and middle-brow, regular guy demeanor, he has bested Letterman in the ratings apart from a rocky first year when NBC executives considered sacking him. One of his most-watched shows was in 1995, when Hugh Grant made his first public appearance after being arrested in a car with the prostitute Devine Brown. Leno’s opening question brought the house down: “What the hell were you thinking?” That helped to cement Leno at the top of the ratings. His departure was not a surprise. NBC announced five years ago that O’Brien would take over this year.

Late-night antics

Hugh Grant fresh from his arrest for soliciting a prostitute, appeared on The Tonight Show, apologised, and boosted Jay Leno past his rival David Letterman in the ratings

Bobcat Goldthwait the Police Academy actor famously set ablaze Leno’s guest chair in a 1994 stunt purportedly designed to protest about the cancellation of another late-night programme

Sacha Baron Cohen the comedian appeared on Tonight in character as Borat beside Martha Stewart, the homemaker. During a bed-linen demonstration, Borat asked her where on the bed one would tie a woman’s arms and legs

Source: Times archive

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