We have today a clip of Jay Leno's first appearance with Johnny Carson after it was announced Jay would be guest hosting, switching off with Garry Shandling. This was after Joan Rivers was abruptly removed from that position, which happened the moment NBC and Carson learned she'd signed to do a competing show against Johnny on Fox. The folks at NBC were already annoyed with Joan and discussing replacing her…which was probably why she signed with Fox.
Upon learning of her Fox deal during a week she was sitting in for Johnny, they wanted her off their air A.S.A.P., lest she turn that week into a promo for her new show. Garry Shandling was suddenly drafted to host the next night on short notice. He was the first choice to be the new Permanent Guest Host of The Tonight Show and it was not necessarily something he had time to do, nor was it in his then-current career plan. I didn't know Garry that well but I knew he was a meticulous advance-planner and he was also fully committed to It's Garry Shandling's Show, which was then in production.
He filled-in for Johnny a few nights but someone else was needed. Leno was then under contract to NBC in one of those deals where they sign someone just to keep that person away from the competition…and then can't really find anything to do with that person. They signed Jay for that reason and also because, I suspect, they were fighting so much with David Letterman that they wanted an option in case Dave took a hike. Jay was kind of engaged as the guest host's guest host but I don't think Garry hosted very much, if at all, after the date of this segment. (And note Johnny's little joke reference to Ms. Rivers grabbing another offer).
I really like Jay Leno. I have since long before he ever set foot on the Tonight Show stage when I saw him at local comedy clubs. If you don't like him, you oughta see him perform live some day, assuming there is ever live performing anywhere in the future. He's always seemed like a genuinely nice guy to me and I never bought into the spin that he shoved Johnny or Conan off The Tonight Show. Ratings did that quite effectively. And one of the reasons I found myself rooting for him was that I kept hearing people predict failures that never happened.
When he became Johnny's guest host, they said he'd never be given the show. Then when he was given the show, they said he'd be canceled in thirteen weeks. And then when he kept the show in first place, they said NBC would wise up and replace him with Dave. And then when Dave went to CBS instead, there was a time he was clobbering Jay and they said, "Well, that's it for Leno. He'll be back opening for Patti LaBelle in six months."
And then after the first night Jay beat Dave in the ratings, it was "that's the one time it will ever happen" and then it happened almost every night for year after year after year. Jay only lost the show to Conan because someone at NBC fearlessly predicted that within the five years of his last contract, Jay's ratings would surely plunge…and five years later, they hadn't. Lorne Michaels was quoted in one of Bill Carter's books as saying, "Fortunes have been lost in this business by underestimating Jay Leno." I just enjoy that. Here's Jay with Johnny…