Posted on 02/06/2014 11:28:48 PM PST by onyx
“I don’t like goodbyes – NBC does – but I don’t care for them,” an emotional Jay Leno said, kicking off a star-studded final broadcast show as host of The Tonight Show. “Tonight is our last show for real. I don’t need to be fired three times — I get the hint,” Leno joked to a friends-and-family studio audience as he ended his 22-year run Thursday night. It’s his second very-last-time-as-host — having been pushed aside in 2009 by NBC to make way for Conan O’Brien, who lasted seven months.
“I’ve got to tell you, the outpouring from people has really been touching. Anthony Weiner sent me a photo of his ______ looking really sad.
In sharp contrast to the “last” time Leno celebrated his very last night as host of Tonight Show in 2009 — when, ever the team player, he had O’Brien as his final night’s guest — tonight’s show was packed with celebrities including President Obama. Longtime pal Garth Brooks performed his hit “The Dance.” And a cast of A-listers including Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black and Carol Burnett performed with Billy Crystal and The Shut Your Von Trapp Family Singers, the Rogers & Hammerstein tune from The Sound Of Music, “So Long, Farewell” with lyrics changed to suit the occasion. (Watch a clip below.) The show ended with Leno in tears as he thanked the audience, calling the Tonight Show crew his family and wishing his successor Jimmy Fallon well.
But first, Leno mulled exactly how long 22 years is.
- “Here’s how long ago it is. When I started hosting, marijuana was illegal and you could smoke cigarettes anywhere you wanted.”
- “Twenty two years ago, guys actually had to go to newsstands for porn, can you imagine?”
- “So much has happened. You know the saddest part – OJ never found the real killers.”
I forgot that tonight was Leno’s final show, but it came on after my local news!
I didn’t really pay close attention after his monologue. Those guests of his bore me.
OH, and BTW, you’re right: Jimmy Fallon will take the show to a new low for ratings.
I’ll NEVER watch that IDIOT.
I don’t think he’s amusing at all.
Fallon’s gonna fallon his ass.
That line was funnier than anything HE ever did!!
Yeah ... lol.
You’re right.
NBC has lost its way.
Leno has several more years in him.
Just one of the reasons I stopped watching several years ago. Jimmy Fallon will take the show to a new low for ratings.
But they don’t care if they lose tons of viewers and money. Ideology trumps everything.
He’s no Johnny Carson, but, in truth, there could be only one. Still miss him.
This reminds me of way back in the Johnny Carson days, and in his last years the early 1980s I first saw Leno a few times as a guest on the late night David Letterman show that came afterward, (1 am) and my immediate reaction was that Leno was much funnier than Letterman was.
I miss Carson. It was never the same without him.
Beat me to the punch.
one of his best things was spoofing breaking bad.
i won’t watch. didn’t watch leno either.
Who did what and why should I care?
I never made a point of watching Leno, but if I happened to be watching the news I would switch over to him instead of Leno. His monologues were okay, and he wasn’t afraid of taking a swipe at Obama. I enjoyed his “News Headline” bit, and his man-on the street interviews where so many people were idiots. I always wondered how many people they had to ask before they found someone that didn’t know who the Vice President was? Agreed on the guests - I usually turned it off when it came to them.
“instead of Letterman”
I’ll get a lot more sleep in the future, fallon really sucks!
Highlander!
Did they fire him because he made Obama jokes?
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