Jay Leno's Last Show

I can remember watching just a few shows with Jack Paar on the Tonight Show late at night on weekends. I likely was 10 to 14 when that happened. So, I really got into the habit of staying up late to watch Johnny Carson about the time I was 14 in 1962 when he started on the show. Though Steve Allen actually created the show I was really little then and so didn't watch it because it was too late. The Jack Paar version of the Tonight show was in Black and white and I can't remember whether Johnny Carson started his show in Black and White or Color. I think in 1962 we bought our first color TV to watch the Rose Parade because Color TVs just started to get good like they look now except with much less definition than now.

Then when Johnny Carson retired in 1992 I felt sort of lost even though Jay Leno was always very funny and quite capable. Johnny was always the master and everyone knows there will only be one like Johnny Carson. He was the penultimate for the Tonight Show and never could be replaced.

However, over the first 4 years I got as attached to watching the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as I had been staying up to watch the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Starting sometime in the 1980s I bought my first VHS recorder so I could record the Tonight Show and not have to stay up late to watch it. I did the same for Saturday Night Live or SNL like it is called today. Then when DVRs became available I started recording all the shows. Now I have a DVR and record The Tonight Show every night along with David Letterman, my daughter likes Jimmy Kimmel, I also record the late show with Jimmy Fallon and also Craig Ferguson. I always enjoy hearing from all the guest actors, singers and international personalities.

Now we are moving into the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and I think he will be a little more like Johnny Carson because he is a similar type of personality as Johnny Carson. So, I think because of his SNL training and his personality he will be a very good Tonight Show person too.

It's hard to believe I started Watching Johnny Carson in 1962 then 30 years later Jay Leno took over and now it is 22 years after that. I was 14 when this all started to be really interesting for me and now I'm 65. Amazing!