'Tonight' Farewell
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2014 This photo shows actor Hugh Grant (left) during an interview President Barack Obama during an interview with host Jay This photo provided by NBC shows Miley Cyrus (left) during with host Jay Leno. Leno. an interview with host Jay Leno, on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” — AP photos After 22 years, Leno bids ‘Tonight’ farewell ake way for Jimmy Fallon, “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno end- Obamacare.” But later Leno was serious, even choking up, when he late-night host made America feel a little better at bedtime and invok- ed a stellar if sometimes stormy run Thursday night with high shared that he’d lost his mother the first year he became “Tonight” ing his predecessor, Johnny Carson. Leno’s “Tonight” tenure was sec- Memotion at concluding what he termed “the greatest 22 years host, his dad the second and then his brother. ond in length only to Carson’s 30 years. of my life.” Calling himself “the luckiest guy in the world,” Leno went “And after that I was pretty much out of family. And the folks here “You were handed the baton by one of the all-time greats. But once out on top, which was where he stayed for most of his stretch as the became my family,” he said of the crew and staff of “Tonight.” The ten- it was in your grasp, you ran the race,” Crystal said. He and Leno, long- successor to “King of Late Night” Johnny Carson. His exit, not entirely der moments had a heightened effect on a show that was mostly aim- time friends, reminisced about the old days, with Leno recalling how by choice, now clears the deck for yet another chapter of the 60-year- ing for laughs, with traditional monologue jokes, clips from old shows Crystal and other comedians visiting his town, Boston, stayed in Leno’s old talk show, with Fallon taking over as “Tonight” moves back to New and a wild assortment of celebrities helping him close the book.
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