After controversial host-shifting, Conan O’Brien’s untimely exit, and much NBC-bashing by critics, Jay Leno will return to host The Tonight Show on Monday.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the silver-haired comedian’s guests for the first two weeks have been set, and they’re doozies.
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, the cast of MTV's spray-tan-tastic Jersey Shore, American Idol judge Simon Cowell and Olympians Apolo Anton Ohno, Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn will all stop by.
Also scheduled to make appearances are actress Dakota Fanning, socialite Kim Kardashian, triple-threat Jamie Foxx and the authoritativly voiced actor Morgan Freeman.
Musical guests include Brad Paisley, Avril Lavigne, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
Leno needs all the help he can get. After leaving the Tonight Show on May 29, 2009, he shifted from his 11:35 p.m. slot to a 10 p.m. one to helm The Jay Leno Show.
The series was berated by critics, dropped from 17 million viewers in the first week to barely 6.6 million by November, and aired its last episode on Feb. 9.
Plus, last week we reported Leno’s longtime bandleader and sidekick Kevin Eubanks was departing the show after almost 20 years.
Meanwhile, former Late Night host O'Brien took the Tonight Show reins but after a contract dispute with NBC over being shuffled back to late-late-night, the network paid him more than $30 million to exit the show.
Promos for the new Tonight Show depict Leno driving a race car while The Beatles’ song “Get Back” plays in the background. NBC had nixed the idea of a campaign based around ‘80s hit Dallas, which would have hinted that the Jay Leno Show debacle was all a dream.
The Tonight Show returns with Leno as host Monday, March 1, at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.
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