love it and we ll give you an award for it. carson: and so it has come to this. fallon: i thought that johnny carson came with the tv set. leno: what the hell were you thinking? ray: dave was the new johnny, for me. letterman: i m not exactly a computer. slow down. meyers: it felt. edgy before i was probably old enough to appreciate what edgy was. man: you better be as good as letterman. o brien: i ll give it a shot. o brien: my heart dropped through my butt. it exited my butt. stewart: holy [beep] [beep]. noah: this is madness. absolute madness. kimmel: it makes every hair on my body stand up. kimmel: we re on! kimmel: but nobody s a late night host until they are one. clinton: tomorrow we will drown out the negative voices that have held us back for too long. reporter: after a night of fires, looting, and violence, five people are dead. katie: the end of an era. after ruling late night television for 30 years, johnny carson steps down tonight. [distant applause]
Pretty scary for those of us who had kids and families and houses. i am glad you are here and i am glad i am here. yes! it was a story every day in the trades, will nbc dump leno, where will dave go? don t mind me. i am just a temp. when johnny carson retired, after being on the tonight show for 30 years, it was an old field. hence the intense competition between jay leno and david letterman. suddenly it became about, who got the show. letterman got it and leno was like, maybe i don t have a place in show business. he made it very clear up front that his dream was to someday host the tonight show. it just didn t seem to make any sense of having jay leno doing an hour of a talk show, then i would come on afterwards doing an hour of a talk show. i felt maybe my time had come to step out of network television i said to dave, if nbc wants to put you on at 12:30 after jay
Afraid of long-term commitment. if you ask me, i think, one out of every three tv networks is afraid of jay started with this huge pressure, a lot of nerves. behind the scenes, it was dramatic. jay s manager, helen kushnick, was the executive producer. to say helen was not collaborative is an understatement. that was war. and now, that his trial is over, suicide dr. jack kevorkian says he is going to get a brand new car. says he is sick and tired driving that old fvan of his. it is nothing but a death trap. the early years of the tonight show with jay, it was pretty scary for those of us who had kids and families in houses. i m here. okay, yes! there was a story, every day, in the trades. will in canbc dump leno? will leno be replaced? where will dave go? don t mind me. i m just a temp.
it was a story everyday, will nbc dump leno and where will dave go? don t mind me. i am just a temp. when johnny carson retired, it was an open field. it was intense competition between david letterman and jay leno. i am became about who got the show and letterman. maybe i won t have a show for show business. he made it up front that his dream was to host the tonight show. it does not make any sense for jay leno to do an hour of the talk show and i felt that my time has come out of network station. if i said if nbc wants to put you on at 12:30 after jay leno, you would kill yourself. i said, i have to get you into the 11:30 show.
Afraid of commitment. if you ask me, i think one out of every three tv networks is afraid of commitment. jay started with huge pressure, a lot of nerves. behind the scenes it was dramatic. jay s manager, helen cushnik, was the executive producer. to say helen was not collaborative was an understatement. that was war. now that his trial is over, suicide performer jack kevorkian says he s going to get a new car. he is sick of driving that old van of his, it s nothing but a death trap. in the earlier years of the tonight show with jay, it was pretty scary for those of us who had kids in houses. i m glad you re here. hey, i m glad i m here! yes! and every day, they wondered will leno be replaced? the ratings are going down. where will dave go? when johnny carson retired