Jay Says Goodbye to the ‘Tonight Show’

07 Feb, 2014

“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno ended a stellar if sometimes stormy run Thursday night with high emotion at concluding what he termed “the greatest 22 years of my life.”

Calling himself “the luckiest guy in the world,” Leno went out on top, which was where he stayed for most of his stretch as the successor to “King of Late Night” Johnny Carson.

His exit, not entirely by choice, now clears the deck for yet another chapter of the 60-year-old talk show, with Fallon taking over as “Tonight” moves back to New York from its longtime Los Angeles home on Feb. 17.

“You’re very kind,” Leno told his audience at the start of his last monologue. “I don’t like goodbyes. NBC does. I don’t care for them.”

He had said goodbye to “The Tonight Show” before.

His first departure came in 2009, when he was briefly replaced by Conan O’Brien but reclaimed the show after a messy transition and O’Brien’s lackluster ratings. In `09, he was moving to a prime-time show on NBC; this time he’s out the door, and has said he’ll focus on comedy clubs and his beloved car collection.

“I don’t need to get fired three times,” he cracked. “I get the hint.”

But later Leno was serious, even choking up, when he shared that he’d lost his mother the first year he became “Tonight” host, his dad the second and then his brother.

“And after that I was pretty much out of family. And the folks here became my family,” he said of the crew and staff of “Tonight.”

The tender moments had a heightened effect on a show that was mostly aiming for laughs, with traditional monologue jokes, clips from old shows and a wild assortment of celebrities helping him close the book.

Leno brought his show full circle with Billy Crystal, who was his first guest in May 1992 and his last guest Thursday. Crystal played ringmaster at one point, calling on Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black, Kim Kardashian, Carol Burnett and others for a musical tribute to Jay with a “Sound of Music” song parody.

Leno, 63, has said he plans to continue playing comedy clubs, indulging his passion for cars and doing such TV work as comes his way – other than hosting on late-night.

“I’m real excited for Jimmy Fallon,” Leno told his audience. “It’s kind of fun to be the old guy and sit back here and see where the next generation takes this great institution.”

AP

Image Chris Haston/NBC

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