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Introduction
Born on April 28th, 1950, Jay Leno was a self-made man from birth. He was born in New Rochelle, NY but after moving spent most of his childhood living in the town of Andover in Massachusetts. He had jobs from working at McDonalds to doing stand up at local bars until finally hosting "The Tonight Show" for over 20 years ("Jay Leno"). -
Jay Leno Debuts on First Tonight Show
On May 25th, 1992, Jay Leno hosted his first Tonight Show replacing Jimmy Carson (Carter). NBC made the announcement in June of 1991 to the public. This was inportant to Jay's career because it was the beginning of the long legacy he would build on the show over the next 20 years. -
Jay Leno Steps Down From Tonight Show
On May 29th, 2009, Leno hosted his finale before he would hand the show off to Conan (Carter "Final Bow"). Leno was going to stay on NBC but was just going to move to a different time slot. The initial transition was smooth but it would later lead to some conflict with NBC over who would host what show and at what time. -
Leno Returns To The Tonight Show
On March 1st, 2010, Leno returned to the position of hosting the Tonight Show. This is only less than a year from when he had given the show up to Conan (Carter "Leno Returns"). Being back hosting the show he had hosted for 16 years, he would be able to finish a very successfull career of over 20 years on the Tonight Show. -
Leno Takes $15 Million To Exit NBC Early
Before leaving the show, Leno offered to take a 50% pay cut to leave the show before his contract expired. That came out to $15 million in his pocket from NBC (Luippold). Some people think this was a greedy decision and this cartoon (Granlund) illustrates that. Really he just wanted a smooth transition from him to Fallon unlike it was with Conan. -
Leno Leaves Tonight Show For Second Time
Jay Leno left the Tonight Show for the Second time on February 6th, 2014. Watch this video of him on his last show thank everyone that helped him along the way. Hearing this really show that he appreciates everyone that helped him to get where he is and that he is a very respectable man.
