Jay Leno 2004

In 2004 Jay Leno felt it was necessary to address the then recent disclosure that he would be handing over The Tonight Show reins to Conan O’Brien in 2009. Leno wanted his audience to understand his conviction as it pertained to this important changing of the guards.

Here’s the last thing he says:

“Because you know when I took this show over, boy there was a lot of animosity between me and Dave and who’s gonna get it, and quite frankly, a lot of … good friendships were permanently damaged. And I don’t want to see anybody ever have to go through that again. Cause this show is like a Dynasty. You hold it, and then you hand it off to the next person. And I don’t want to see all the fighting and all the ‘who’s better?’ and nasty things back and forth in the press so right now, here it is, Conan, it’s yours, see you in 4 years buddy!”

See the video of the full announcement and read the complete transcription!