The Tonight Show With Jay Leno - Notable Episodes

Notable Episodes

• On July 10, 1995, Hugh Grant appeared on the talk show, in public for the first time after his monumentally publicized arrest on lewd conduct charges the previous month. Leno infamously asked him "What the hell were you thinking?" In answer to those charges, he told Jay Leno, "I think you know in life what's a good thing to do and what's a bad thing, and I did a bad thing...and there you have it." The appearance is notable as it resulted in the first episode in which Leno beat CBS rival David Letterman.
• On November 30, 1995, Howard Stern, who had made two previous highly rated appearances in 1992 and 1993, made an infamous appearance in which he appeared with two bikini-clad women (porn stars Nikki Tyler and Janine Lindemulder), attempting to show 'the Tonight Show's first lesbian kiss' and encouraging Jay to spank one of them. Stern and the two lesbians stayed on the show during Siskel and Ebert's segment, who were also guests on the show that night, where he began to suck one of their toes, to raucous applause and behavior from the crowd. Jay was visibly uncomfortable during both segments, repeatedly telling Howard "it will all be edited out", and hastily trying to conduct the Siskel & Ebert interview while the crowd was going wild at Howard's antics. During the broadcast Jay ended the show early by walking off the air, which was edited out when it aired a few hours later, as revealed by Stern when he went on the air (on the Howard Stern Show) the following morning. Despite the situation Leno called into the show that morning claiming that Howard had "gone beyond the acceptable standards". Howard said Jay shouldn't have "been so uptight" and that he had a 'real' reaction to the situation which was great. Howard recounted how Jay had yelled at his producer Gary Dell'Abate saying Howard had "'s-d' in his house" and supposedly 'grabbed his crotch' and yelled "Pussy, Pussy, Pussy! That's all it is with Howard" which Jay denied but agreed he had been angered by Howard.
• In September 2000, with California in an energy crisis that forced power outages, Jay Leno did an episode in the dark using only candles and flashlights known as "The Tonight Show Unplugged" in response to California's power crisis.
• Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, The Tonight Show was off the air for about a week, as were most similar programs. The first post-9/11 episode began with a still image of an American flag and a subdued opening without the usual opening credits. Leno's monologue paid tribute to those who lost their lives and to firefighters, police and rescue workers across the US. Leno had questioned whether a show that regularly poked fun at the government could continue after the attacks, but in his monologue he explained that he saw the show as a respite from the grim news of the world, akin to a cookie or glass of lemonade handed to a firefighter. Senator John McCain and the musical group Crosby, Stills, and Nash were featured guests. For an extended period after the attack, a short clip of a large American flag waving was shown in between the announcement of the musical guest and Leno's introduction during the opening montage.
• On May 12, 2003, Leno and Katie Couric swapped places as a publicity stunt, with Leno anchoring The Today Show and Couric guest hosting The Tonight Show. This was the only episode during Leno's tenure to feature a guest host. The guests were Mike Myers and Simon Cowell that day.
• On August 6, 2003, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on The Tonight Show and confirmed he would be running against California governor Gray Davis for the California recall election. Schwarzenegger won the election on October 7.
• On January 24, 2005, Jay had a special episode that paid tribute to Tonight Show predecessor Johnny Carson, who had died the day before. During the opening credits, the guests of that show were simply announced using pictures from when they were on Johnny's Tonight Show, and the monologue simply gave condolence to Carson. There were no segments used, however, Leno played clips from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson before commercials. All the guests were people who had worked with Carson or had been on his show, including Ed McMahon, Drew Carey, Don Rickles, and Bob Newhart.
• On July 20, 2006, as Colin Farrell was being interviewed by Leno, Farrell's stalker, Dessarae Bradford, evaded security, walked on stage as cameras were rolling, confronted Farrell, and threw her book on Leno's desk. In front of a silent, stunned audience, Farrell escorted her off the stage himself, told the camera crew to stop filming, and handed her over to security. As Bradford was led out of the studio, she shouted "I'll see you in court!" Farrell's response was simply, "Darling, you're insane!" Outside the studio, NBC security handed her to Burbank police, who eventually released her. While waiting to begin filming again, a shocked Leno sarcastically called for "a round of applause for NBC security" from the audience. After Farrell apologized to the audience, describing Bradford as "my first stalker," the show then continued filming and the incident was edited out of the broadcast aired that night. Farrell later requested a restraining order in court against Bradford.
• On January 2, 2008, The Tonight Show (along with Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Conan O'Brien) returned to air without writers, with the WGA still on strike. This was in response to the deal by David Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants with the WGA to allow Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to return with writers. Leno's guest that night, Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, was criticized for crossing the WGA picket line to appear on the show. Huckabee would go on to win the Iowa caucuses the very next day.
• On July 24, 2007, the monologue was animated, and was not hosted by Leno, but Homer Simpson. Simpson gave a boring monologue to the audience (who were also animated), and was "kicked out" by Leno. This sketch was to promote The Simpsons Movie.
• On June 13, 2008, Leno delivered the news of Tim Russert's death to his audience during his monologue, and set aside some time in it to remember his old colleague. Leno then stated that he would continue the show as normal afterwards.
• On March 19, 2009, Barack Obama appeared on the show. This marked the first time that a sitting President of the United States appeared on a late night talk show. President Obama came under fire for a remark made about the Special Olympics, which he made in reference to Leno's congratulations to Obama's low bowling score.
• On March 1, 2010, Leno made his return to The Tonight Show with a re-written version of The Jay Leno Show theme song and a renovated Stage 11. Leno's guests were Jamie Foxx, Olympic Gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, and musical guest Brad Paisley. Leno also did a segment searching for a new desk, an element which was not implemented into his primetime show.
• On November 18, 2010, former President George W. Bush made his first appearance on a late night talk show since leaving office.
• On November 23, 2010, former bandleader Kevin Eubanks returned to promote his new album Zen Food.
• On March 2, 2011, the 4,000th episode aired.