LENO FINALE PREVIEW

Tonight’s the night. 

Jay Leno hosts his last edition of “The Tonight Show” before moving to prime-time this fall. 

For standup comedians, the Holy Grail has always been “The Tonight Show”, but simply appearing wasn’t enough for Leno. 

“I remember at my high school graduation, I said I wanted to go to California to try to become the next host of The Tonight Show,“ he recalled.  “Oh, what a jerk, what an idiot, my friends said.“

The dream became reality 17 years ago, but now, the king of late night is saying farewell for a move into a daily prime-time show this fall. 

For the many night owls still left, Conan O’Brien’s ready to serve. 

He’s coming from New York to take over “The Tonight Show”. 

The network has already tweaked Conan’s East Coast persona in promos and he’ll do plenty himself. 

“Most movies, television, take somebody and put them in an environment where they don’t belong.  You’ve just described 95 percent of comedy. That’s Conan O’Brien hosting the Tonight Show in Los Angeles,“ explained O’Brien.

NBC hopes he’s right. 

They’ve got plenty riding on this newest host.

“NBC has never had a failure on The Tonight Show.  They’ve gotten this transition right every single time,“ notes TV Guide’s Stephen Battaglio.

The incoming host will be the outgoing host’s final guest. 

O’Brien hopes that diffuses talk there’s animosity between them.

“We’re still good friends.  I need Jay to do well at 10 and I think he will do well at 10.  It’s a good lead in for our show,“ O’Brien said.

Along with Conan, James Taylor will be leno’s final musical guest.