Oh, sure, there was that awkward nine-month lapse between his farewell then and his return on Monday, a stretch when Leno left, flopped in prime time, then accepted the assignment from NBC to push out his flagging “Tonight Show” successor, Conan O’Brien.NBC and Leno’s fans can relax: Judging from his first night back, it’s the same old Jay with pretty much his same old “Tonight Show.” He started the show by spoofing the conclusion of “The Wizard of Oz,” where Dorothy awakens to find all those crazy goings-on were only a dream.
Jay, seen in sepia tones in what was meant to be a Kansas farmhouse, said, “I went away to the strangest place! It was wonderful, but some of it wasn’t so nice.” In fact, Leno had gone away from the nation’s TV screens for less than a month when he returned on Monday to his old haunt in late night.
“It’s good to be home,” he told his audience as he began his first “Tonight Show” monologue since last spring. “I’m Jay Leno, your host. At least, for a while.” Leno was reclaiming his old job at NBC’s “Tonight Show” just nine months after giving it up to O’Brien, and only 19 days after NBC pulled the plug on Leno’s prime-time misadventure.
“We were off for the last couple of weeks,” Leno cracked during his monologue. “Kind of like the Russians at the Olympics. What happened to them?” Leno noted that one of his guests was an American gold medalist, skier Lindsey Vonn.
“Did you see her?” Leno marveled. “When it comes to going downhill, nobody is faster. OK, except NBC.” As he zinged his own network, along with former vice president Dick Cheney, Toyota and Tiger Woods, Leno signaled the resumption of the late-night war between him and his longtime CBS rival David Letterman, who had gained the ratings upper hand during O’Brien’s brief, unhappy claim on “The Tonight Show.”
