Jay Leno-Jimmy Fallon ‘Tonight Show’ Handoff Set for Post-Olympics:
NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke has calmed the waters in NBC latenight, brokering a deal for Jimmy Fallon to take the reins of “The Tonight Show” from Jay Leno following NBC’s coverage of the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The specific timing of Fallon’s ascent was still unclear, but sources said he would take over on the heels of the Olympics coverage, which runs Feb. 7-23. A source said he’d be behind the “Tonight” desk by early March at the latest.
Jimmy was excited too:
Today was one of the most exciting days of my life. I read every tweet and every post and I thank you.
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) April 4, 2013
I really appreciate the tweet from the Producer of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, my friend, Gavin Purcell:
Thanks to everyone who has ever supported our show. Especially @stevegarfield & @petercoffin who were there at the beginning. #falpals
— Gavin Purcell (@gavinpurcell) April 4, 2013
I replied:
@gavinpurcell Thanks Gavin. Excited for Tonight Show Behind the Scenes Video Blog! ;-) cc @jimmyfallon @petercoffin
— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) April 4, 2013
Then watched the show, where The Roots opened with the Tonight Show Theme:
Nice job by @theroots with the Tonight Show theme to kick off @latenightjimmy with @jimmyfallon tonight. Yeah! Congratulations.
— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) April 4, 2013
Cheers!