The Tonight Show at 70
A look back at the NBC late-night staple's legacy, from Steve Allen to Jimmy Fallon.
For 70 years, The Tonight Show has served as one of television's most consistent — and consistently iconic — places for late-night banter and laughs. And for the last decade, those laughs have elicted from those seated opposite Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon.
The former SNL cast member took over a desk once occupied by Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien on February 17, 2024, and will celebrate his tenth anniversary as host with a two-hour primetime special airing May 14 on NBC. In honor of that milestone, and The Tonight Show turning 70 in the same year, here's a breakdown of this TV staple by the numbers:
1,971: Total number of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon episodes that have aired as of press time.
6,714: Total number of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson that aired.
4,610: Total number of episodes of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that aired.
145: Total number of episodes of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien that aired.
62: Run time in minutes of a Tonight Show with Jay Leno episode.
2.5: Number of seasons featuring the first Tonight Show host, Steve Allen.
105: Run time in minutes of a Tonight Starring Steve Allen episode.
3: Number of title changes to the show during Jack Paar's tenure as host. Those titles were: Tonight Starring Jack Paar, The Jack Paar Tonight Show and The Jack Paar Show.
1: Number of times host Jack Paar asked asked a seemingly inebriated Mickey Rooney to leave the show.
4,000: Number of guests during Fallon's tenure.
1,500: Musical performances featured on shows hosted by Fallon.
120: Holiday sweaters created and given away over the years on Fallon's show.
431 million: Number of views for the show's most-watched YouTube video, "Jimmy Fallon, The Roots & Star Wars: The Force Awakens Cast Sing Star Wars Medley (A Cappella)."
11: Total Emmy nominations
50 million: Number of estimated viewers that tuned in for Johnny Carson's final episode in 1992.
93: Times Joan Rivers appeared as guest host for Carson.
May 1, 1972: Date Carson's show moved from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York to NBC Studios in Burbank, Calif.
30: Number of seasons hosted by Carson.
22: Number of seasons hosted by Jay Leno.
5: Previous Tonight Show hosts: Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno.
4: Number of popular guest hosts who presided over the show when Jack Paar was on vacation (Jonathan Winters, Johnny Carson, Orson Bean and the show's announcer, Hugh Downs.)
3: Number of Tonight Show band leaders under Carson's tenure — Skitch Henderson, Milton Delugg and Doc Severinsen.
1: Where McMahon's famous "Here's Johnny!" catchphrase ranks in a 2006 TVLand poll of U.S. TV catchphrases and quotes.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs weeknights on NBC.