Leno May Compete with Conan After Passing the Tonight Show Torch

Jay Leno announced in 2004 that he would step down as host of The Tonight Show in 2009. My wife and I sadly remind each other of this every so often, since we really enjoy his work. I assumed that Leno would ease into retirement, riding his dozens of motorcycles and hitting the big comedy clubs.

However, the New York Times is reporting that Leno's late-night career might not end with his tenure on The Tonight Show. ABC and Fox are both considering big-money offers to him, and Sony seems willing to give Leno half of its movie lot to do a syndicated late-night show.

This is a big surprise. If Leno wanted to stay in late night, one would think that he would simply stay on NBC and approach the length of time that Johnny Carson hosted the show.

Is money a factor? Certainly not. Leno is pulling in $25 million per year, which is more than nearly every athlete in sports. Leno could open a theater in Vegas like Celine Dion and rake in millions more. Nope, that can't be it.

Respect? Now we're getting somewhere. Jay Leno has never gotten the respect he deserves for being a great late-night host. He will never be considered as big a legend as Johnny Carson, who seemed to be an impossible act to follow until Leno made the show his own. .

David Letterman is making $5 million per year more than Leno, plus he gets more money from producing the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Everyone expected Letterman to draw bigger ratings when the two went head-to-head, but Leno has clearly held the top spot in the ratings for several years.

If Leno resurfaces on a different network, it will be for one reason: to prove to NBC that he is a more valuable commodity than Conan O'Brien. When O'Brien's last contract was up, NBC had to promise him the Tonight Show job to keep him from jumping to another network. Leno graciously stepped aside for Conan, although he must have been wondering why NBC was putting him in a secondary position behind O'Brien.

Don't forget that Leno was talented enough to write his own jokes during the writers' strike. Despite anyone's opinion of whether that was right from a union standpoint, you have to admit that it's not easy to write an entire topical monologue each night -- and deliver it on the air as well. Now that's talent!

So Leno's career may not end with the Tonight Show. We could see a three-way battle between Leno, Letterman and O'Brien (not to mention Jimmy Kimmel if Leno doesn't replace him on ABC). The battle wouldn't have the hard feelings of the Letterman-Leno-NBC situation, but it would be fun to watch. Let's stay tuned to see what happens next.