Thursday, February 06, 2014

After 22 years, Leno bids farewell to 'Tonight' --- BURBANK, Calif. (AP) - Jay Leno said farewell to "The Tonight Show" once before, but that turned out to be just a rehearsal. -- On Thursday, Leno is stepping down for the second and presumably last time, making way for successor Jimmy Fallon in New York. When Leno gave up the venerable show to short-lived host Conan O'Brien in 2009, he did a prime-time NBC comedy series before reclaiming "Tonight" in 2010. - This time, Leno's out the door. -- "When we left in '09 we were going to the 10 o'clock show, so there wasn't the same sort of finality to it," said "Tonight" executive producer Debbie Vickers as the program counted down toward its last taping in its Burbank home. -- "It's going to be difficult to not come in and do a show every day for our audience who has been so great to Jay. ... And also hard for this group of people (the staff) who have all been together for 22 years," said Vickers, who worked on Johnny Carson's "Tonight" before taking the top job with Leno. -- Leno, 63, 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. -- "It's been a wonderful job. This is the right time to leave," he said last week, and make way for the next generation. --- Fallon, 39, starts his "Tonight" Feb. 17, with NBC hoping he rides the promotional wave of its Winter Olympics coverage the next two weeks. - More, http://www.aol.com/article/2014/02/06/after-22-years-leno-bids-farewell-to-tonight/20824568/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl6%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D439731

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