Conan O'Brian to Replace Jay Leno

Actors & Actresses Forum

NEW YORK — NBC announced Monday that Conan O'Brien (search) will take over from Jay Leno (search) as host of the "Tonight" show. But he'll have time to write his jokes -- the planned succession won't happen until 2009.

The announcement solves a delicate problem for NBC, which realized O'Brien was getting antsy in his "Late Night" time slot (12:35 a.m. Eastern) and wanted to keep him from jumping to another network.

Leno planned to make the announcement on Monday's edition of "Tonight," a special celebration of the talk show's 50th anniversary.

"In 2009, I'll be 59 years old and will have had this dream job for 17 years," Leno said. "When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor and there is no one more qualified than Conan."

"Plus, I promised Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60," the notoriously workaholic Leno said about his wife.

Awww. I am going to miss Jay. He is a great host.

Jay Leno is a hell of alot better then David Letterman.But Conan Owns

Wow - bummer! Conan's such a goober by comparrison

Conan is just not funny enough for me to stay up and watch.

Oh dear - Conan is by far the funniest late night show host on TV who speaks to my generation in a manner that we understand... I might actually watch the Tonight Show now...

I think they're both pretty hilarious. I like Jay walking though. those can get some awsomely funny results.

I loved Jay inserting himself into the debates. He asked both the President and Kerry questions. Very funny.

I liked Conan O'Brien's show granted, I never watched Leno, but he was hilarious compared to Letterman...

Letterman is good for the top 10 lists. Other than the list, I don't like his show.

Are you serious? His top ten list is the thing I HATE most about his show. We havea guy on TV over here copying that sort of thing and it makes me hate the Aussie guy too. It's so jeuvenile.

I ususally don't tune into Letterman at all. The top 10 list is the best part of his show.