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"The Tonight Show," the generic title used to describe the many iterations of NBC TV's latenight comedy-talk show, was originally developed by Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, the president of NBC in the early 1950s. Tonight! was the initial title. It ran from 1954 through 1956, hosted by Steve Allen. In its final year, Allen shared hosting duties with the comedian Ernie Kovacs. In 1957, the title was changed to Tonight! America After Dark, with Jack Lescoulie as host. Unlike Allen's show, which emphasized comic sketches and music, Tonight! America After Dark concentrated on news, interviews, and live remote broadcasts, much like the Today program. After six months, Al Collins replaced Lescoulie and a month later the format was overhauled once again. The Jack Paar Show debuted in July 1957 in a format that emphasized interviews and "desk comedy." Paar also conducted political crusades on the air, supporting Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba, broadcasting from the Berlin Wall, and including presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon among his guests in 1960. When Paar left the show in March 1962, guest hosts filled in on the re-titled The Tonight Show until October of that year.

From October 1962 through May 1992, Johnny Carson established and sustained The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as an American institution. The format of his show, an opening comic monologue—often about news events—followed by interviews, occasional comic pieces, musical performances, and chats with the audience, would be copied by nearly all of the late-night talk shows that followed. Carson retired in 1992 and NBC awarded the vacated position to Jay Leno, who had been a frequent guest host since 1987, and re-titled it The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. David Letterman, angry that he had been passed up for the job, left his NBC program and moved to CBS to compete with Leno.

Since the Jack Paar era, the program has enjoyed an important place in American culture.

Bibliography

Carter, Bill. The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the National Battle for the Night. New York: Hyperion, 1994.

Metz, Robert. The Tonight Show. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1980.

IN BRIEF: The night of this day.

Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always try to be a little kinder than necessary. — Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937), Scottish playwright, author of Peter Pan.

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sign description: The bent hand comes down on the back of the wrist of the opposite horizontal arm.

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For a list of words related to tonight, see:

• Fixed Times - tonight: present or coming night

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See words rhyming with "tonight."

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Common misspelling(s) of tonight

• tongiht

Dansk (Danish)
adv. - i aften, i nat
n. - i aften, i nat

Nederlands (Dutch)
vannacht

Français (French)
adv. - ce soir, cette nuit
n. - ce soir

Deutsch (German)
n. - diese Nacht, dieser Abend
adv. - heute nacht, heute abend

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - απόψε, η σημερινή βραδιά
adv. - σήμερα το βράδυ, απόψε

Italiano (Italian)
stanotte, stasera

Português (Portuguese)
n. - esta noite, hoje à noite
adv. - hoje de noite

Русский (Russian)
сегодня вечером/ночью

Español (Spanish)
adv. - esta noche
n. - esta noche

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - denna kväll, kvällen, denna natt, natten
adv. - i kväll, inatt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
在今晚, 今晚, 今夜

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adv. - 在今晚
n. - 今晚, 今夜

한국어 (Korean)
adv. - 오늘 밤은
n. - 오늘 밤

日本語 (Japanese)
adv. - 今夜は, 今夜

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ألليليه (ظرف) في هذه ألليله‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adv. - ‮הלילה‬
n. - ‮הלילה‬

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