The first airing of The Tonight Show on US television took place on this date in 1954, making today it’s 70th anniversary. Here are some facts about it.
It started life as a local show in New York, in 1954 when Sylvester L. Weaver Jr., the president of NBC, decided to expand the network's programming past the 11:00 p.m. local news. It became a national show on September 27, 1954.
The host of the New York show was Steve Allen, who stayed with it when it went national. He was the youngest host at 32.
There have been five more official hosts along with numerous guest hosts and co-hosts. The official hosts after Steve Allen are: Jack Paar (1957–62), Johnny Carson (1962–92), Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14), Conan O'Brien (2009–10), and Jimmy Fallon, the current host who took the helm on February 17, 2014.
Johnny Carson is the longest serving in terms of seasons, clocking up 30. He’s not, however, the host with the most episodes to his name. That was Jay Leno as during his tenure, the show began to be shown on more nights of the week.
When Leno took over from Carson, he changed the name of the show slightly from “The Tonight Show Starring” to “The Tonight Show With” because he felt Carson was more deserving of star billing. However, current host Jimmy Fallon has reverted back to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The Tonight Show is the world's longest-running talk show and the longest-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States. It is the third-longest-running show on NBC, after the news-and-talk shows Today and Meet the Press.
It was the first late night talk show to have the sitting President of the United States as a guest in 2009 when Barack Obama made an appearance.
Originally the show was broadcast live, but in 1959 they began recording the shows earlier in the day.
At one time the first 15 minutes weren’t shown all over America as some NBC affiliate channels chose to broadcast a local news round up instead. From February 1965, Johnny Carson rebelled against this and refused to host the first 15 minutes, preferring to wait until the full network was watching before delivering his opening monologue.
It’s not just broadcast in the USA. The Tonight Show is also seen around the world. It is broadcast on CNBC Europe, although it will be three days later than the US broadcast.
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