Tonight Show

A staple on the NBC programming lineup for over five decades, the Tonight Show appears every weeknight following late local news. Jay Leno is the current show host, having established history within the show as the first host to ever serve a second stint as host of the show.

On March 1, 2010, Leno returned to the post as host of The Tonight Show and his return resulted in an estimated audience of nearly 6 million viewers.http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/03/ratings-leno-trounces-letterman-return-late-night This was nearly double the viewing audience for the CBS rival show, Late Show with David Letterman, and provided the highest single show rating for the Tonight Show since previous host Conan O'Brien's debut in June of 2009.

The Tonight Show began in 1954 and was initially hosted by Steve Allen. It was originally only aired on the local affiliate in New York in 1953, and started to air nationally the following year. Allen was soon rewarded by the network with a prime time variety show, and over the next few years would share co-hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs.

By 1957, the show hosting duties migrated full time to Jack Paar, who served as host until 1962 when he too took on a prime time program for the network.

In 1962, the show was turned over to Johnny Carson, and he would lead it to unprecedented heights of popularity. ALongside sidekick Ed McMahon, Carson and the show moved to Burbank, California, in 1972. Carson became known as 'The King of Late Night' and his magnificent 30 year run made him an icon in the entertainment industry.

Carson retired in 1992, and handed the reigns to Jay Leno. The move was filled with controversy as many assumed that David Letterman was the heir apparent, but instead NBC executives chose the less-controversial Leno.

In 2009, the pre-selected replacement for Leno, Conan O'Brien, was moved from his perch as host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien and into the role of host for The Tonight Show in June of 2009. At the same time, Leno was moved into a brand new five-day-a-week prime time talk show that debuted in September of 2009.

However, abysmal ratings for Leno's prime time show led to many NBC affiliates complaining about lost revenues due to a poorer lead-in for their late local news. This, in conjunction with poor ratings for the O'Brien-led Tonight Show, caused a major controversy when NBC announced a plan to discontinue Leno's prime time show. For several weeks, a decision of whether Leno would air in the 11:35-12:05 time slot and would be followed by O'Brien's Tonight Show at 12:05, led to backlash from viewers, critics, and even the two show hosts themselves. Finally, a deal to let O'Brien out of his contract in February 2010 allowed Leno to resume hosting The Tonight Show in March of that year.

This is a list of the most frequent guest host of the Tonight Show and the number of times they hosted the show.

• Joey Bishop - 177

• Joan Rivers - 93

• Bob Newhart - 87

• John Davidson - 87

• David Brenner - 70

• McLean Stevenson - 58

• Jerry Lewis - 52

• David Letterman - 51http://www.johnnycarson.com/carson/history.jsp