Talk:The Tonight Show

90 minutes?
The article mentions the show was shortened to 30 minutes under Jay Leno.

But there is no mention of something I faintly recall - wasn't the show 90 minutes long during the 1960s with Johnny Carson? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.245.64.65 (talk) 20:01, 10 November 2010 (UTC)


 * It aired for 90 minutes from 1967-80. There was also s 15-minute bit from 1965-66 cohosted by Ed McMahon and Skitch Henderson to accommodate affiliates with shorter newscast lengths. --Daniel Benfield (talk) 05:00, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

The show was never shortened to 30 minutes. That was the network's desperate plan to salvage the Tonight after the Conan collapse: have Leno rescue it then have Conan come on a half hour later. Conan could read the writing on the wall, and quit. I read that PBS recently cut Conan's show down to half an hour, though. Trocadero Thunder (talk) 19:07, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Not PBS, I meant TBS. Trocadero Thunder (talk) 19:08, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

The 1st 15 minutes of the 105 minute Tonight Show was when Carson originally did his monologue but as affiliates' newscasts kept expanding from a quarter hour to half an hour, Carson refused to begin until 11:30, with others filling in until it was finally dropped and the show was shaved to 90 minutes. Later he cut it back even more, which he came, by all insider accounts, to regret. It was in the last half hour of 90 minutes that he could sneak in the most interesting guests, the writers and raconteurs. The Tonight Show then got even worse with the new cut-down version, down 45 minutes from its glory days under Paar. Trocadero Thunder (talk) 19:17, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Leno Contract Expiration
Article currently states Leno's current contract expires September 2013 per this cited Los Angeles Times August 27, 2012 source.

More recent articles state a September 2014 expiration:
 * March 21, 2013 Hollywood Reporter
 * March 21, 2013 TMZ
 * March 22, 2013 JD Journal

Conrad T. Pino (talk) 00:02, 23 March 2013 (UTC)

The Tonight Show is the longest-running talk show, not The Late Late Show.
The opening paragraph states that The Tonight Show is the longest running talk show by the same broadcaster, after Ireland's The Late Late Show. The Tonight Show debuted in 1954, eight years before the debut of The Late Late Show, and it has also been broadcast by the same network, NBC, for its entire run so far. The show had some format changes over its life, but aside from a brief move to a news-style show in 1957 and then revering back later that year, it has always been a talk show. It is a talk show that is older than The Late Late Show, and has been broadcast on the same network since its beginning. I think the facts are clearly in The Tonight Show's favor, and I believe that the opening paragraph should be changed to reflect this.

(Above post didn't use 4~ just so you know it's not a continuation of my post) Guys I'm Irish and I agree with the above statement. The wiki page for the late late show states that it is the worlds longest running TV talk show. I changed it to the 2nd longest running but I'm pretty sure that it will be changed back because it gives references at the bottom of the page to say its number 1 which I couldn't change. To be honest I would love if it was the number 1 show but the fact that we have two wikipedia pages that completely contradict each other makes wikipedia look a little bit of a joke so whatever the consensus is can we get some consensus on it acroos both WIKI pages. They can't both be right and it gives further fuel to those that say Wikipedia is unrealiable Tcla75 (talk) 01:28, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Third-longest-running show on NBC?
"It is the third-longest-running show on NBC, after only the news and talk shows Today and Meet the Press." Soooo....it's really the fourth-longest-running, right? Because after claiming it's the "third-longest-running", you list exactly 3 shows (the news, Today, Meet the Press) running longer. Or don't you count "the news" as a show? But then it doesn't make sense to mention it in this sentence which is clearly talking about "shows". It would be like "Ben is the third-tallest boy in class, after only Susie, Tom and John". --2A02:8108:9C0:54:BC99:3C10:741C:EDA0 (talk) 05:05, 24 December 2015 (UTC)


 * If you read the quote as "...news-and-talk shows..." then it makes better sense. Perhaps the hyphens should be added. Dhtwiki (talk) 10:47, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 one external links on The Tonight Show. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110929162529/http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/781543221.html?dids=781543221:781543221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+20,+2005&author=Post+Wire+Services&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=102&desc=CARSON+FEEDS+LETTERMAN+LINES to http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/781543221.html?dids=781543221:781543221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+20%2C+2005&author=Post+Wire+Services&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=102&desc=CARSON+FEEDS+LETTERMAN+LINES
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100123091934/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-21/conan-o-brien-signs-accord-to-exit-tonight-show-nbc-says.html to http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-21/conan-o-brien-signs-accord-to-exit-tonight-show-nbc-says.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131203050255/http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/nbcentertainment/pressreleases?pr=contents/press-releases/2011/06/03/jaylenoandjimmy1307126281571.xml to http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/nbcentertainment/pressreleases?pr=contents/press-releases/2011/06/03/jaylenoandjimmy1307126281571.xml

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).


 * https://web.archive.org/web/20110929162529/http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/781543221.html?dids=781543221:781543221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+20,+2005&author=Post+Wire+Services&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=102&desc=CARSON+FEEDS+LETTERMAN+LINES
 * https://web.archive.org/web/20100123091934/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-21/conan-o-brien-signs-accord-to-exit-tonight-show-nbc-says.html


 * https://web.archive.org/web/20131203050255/http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/nbcentertainment/pressreleases?pr=contents/press-releases/2011/06/03/jaylenoandjimmy1307126281571.xml

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 02:13, 14 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Links #1 and #2 work but lead to small articles. #3 leads to a page with a broken image or PDF link. Dhtwiki (talk) 06:27, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Tick tock, move the hands *every* day?
Some IP has noticed that the total count of episodes had been stuck at 12,001 for quite some time. Around the end of July they corrected Jay Leno's totals (which were 4650 vs. correct 4610) and then started to 'fix' the totals count every day or so. Today it says 12,207. The IP is a range starting 2602:306:381e:......

So the real question is, why doesn't the infobox totals count 'work'?
 * * Total: 12,207

Did this ever work? Shenme (talk) 03:52, 9 September 2018 (UTC)


 * That code indicates that someone is transcluding just the total number of shows—via, say,, which gives "12,207"—onto another page. IOW, this is the source page and that code doesn't indicate automatic updating (although I wouldn't mind if such a functionality were added), if that's what you were thinking. Dhtwiki (talk) 07:16, 9 September 2018 (UTC)