What is The Tonight Show?
{{italictitle}} {{unsourced|date=August 2009}} '''''The Tonight Show''''' is a [[Popularity|popular]] late night [[television]] [[talk show|talk]] and [[comedy]] show in the [[United States]]. It appears on the [[National Broadcasting Company|NBC]] [[television network]]. The show started in 1954 and was hosted by [[Steve Allen]]. In 1957, [[Jack Paar]] became the host, with [[Ernie Kovacs]] hosting on some nights. In 1962, [[Johnny Carson]] took over and stayed until 1992, with announcer [[Ed McMahon]] as sidekick, and [[Doc Severinsen]] as bandleader. Carson, McMahon, and Severinsen retired from ''The Tonight Show'' in 1992, when [[Jay Leno]] became host. Leno left the show in 2009, and [[Conan O'Brien]] (of ''[[Late Night]]'' and ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' fame) became host from June 2009 to January 2010 before leaving due to controversy with ''The Tonight Show'''s timeslot. Jay Leno became the host of the show again on March 1, 2010. Leno retired in 2014 when [[Jimmy Fallon]] took over. ==2009 timeslot controversy== In late 2009, NBC said that they would be moving the ''[[Jay Leno Show]]'' to 11:35 PM, the time usually slotted for ''The Tonight Show''. The ''Jay Leno Show'' would be 30 minutes long. ''The Tonight Show'' would be moved to 12:05 AM, but would still be a full hour long. NBC did this because Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien were not getting enough viewers, and they believed that moving ''The Jay Leno Show'' to late night would increase their [[prime time]] viewers. After being told this, Conan O'Brien said that he would be leaving ''The Tonight Show''. He said that he believed that moving the show to 12:05 would ruin it, and that it would be unfair to ''Late Night'', which would have been moved to 1:05 AM. The deal was made that O'Brien would receive $33 million and that his staff of almost 200 people would receive $12 million. Conan O'Brien's last show aired on January 22, 2010. {{The Tonight Show|state=collapsed}} {{tv-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tonight Show, The}} [[Category:1954 television serie