Report: Howard Stern will replace Jimmy Fallon when Jay Leno leaves Tonight Show

By Dylan P. Gadino | March 6, 2013 at 10:05 pm | 5 comments | feature slider, News, TV/Movies | Tags: abc, america's got talent, howard stern, jay leno, jimmy fallon, Late Night, nbc, tonight show

Last weekend news broke that Jimmy Fallon would replace Jay Leno in 2014 as host of The Tonight Show and that NBC would make the announcement as early as May. Although the network denied the story in the Hollywood Reporter, who cited “two high-level industry insiders” and Leno’s camp refused to comment, the piece explained that NBC was fearful that with Jimmy Kimmel’s increasing popularity (especially with young people) and with Jimmy Kimmel Live’s new time slot at ABC – it goes head-to-head with Leno – the current Tonight Show would never retain its high viewership. Enter: Fallon, whose Late Night show is a hit with a much younger, Internet-savvy audience.

Well, today the plot thickened ever so slightly, as a new report surfaced, claiming NBC is already in the process of prepping Howard Stern, longtime radio host and current judge on America’s Got Talent, to take over Fallon’s future-former slot at 12:35 am. New York Post television critic Lisa Stasi, writes, “sources close to the radio man,” say part of Stern’s “grooming” for network television is his run on AGT.

“Sure, Stern loves the judging gig on America’s Got Talent, but even Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne could take just so much of extreme cyclists and dog acts,” she writes. “I never figured it was really about that for Stern — it was about creating a Howard that was palatable for TV.”

What do you, dear Laughspinners, think? Is Stern a good choice to replace Fallon?

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About the Author

Dylan P. Gadino

Dylan is the founder and editor in chief of Laughspin. He launched Punchline Magazine in 2005 (which became Laughspin in the summer of 2011) with childhood friend Bill Bergmann. Dylan lives in northern New Jersey with his wife and two sons. He hopes the Shire is real.

http://www.facebook.com/john.w.smith John W. Smith

NBC is fucking with Jay Leno so that he’ll negotiate an affordable and short final deal. C’mon, we’ve seen last year’s LOUIE three parter. There is a 0.0% chance Howard Stern is going to host Late Night. Here’s three of many reasons:

1) He has an incredibly degraded audience that does not include college-age people, the audience that’s the entire point of the Late Night franchise. 30+ viewers are either asleep or watching Ferguson. Stern in 1993 would have been a great — but risky — idea. Stern in 2013? Completely absent from the national conversation, stuck behind a walled garden (Sirius) and collecting a paycheck on a garbage talent show.

2) He’s nearing retirement anyway and has pulled back from the Sirius show over the last few years. Arguably an afternoon recording time would be lower impact on his lifestyle, but transitioning to a completely unfamiliar production schedule after thirty-five years of doing the same thing every morning doesn’t seem likely.

3) He would probably be pretty terrible at it.
- Thom
  
  Terrible seems like a strong word, but I’ll agree that the iron is not hot.
  
  Also, the idea of Howard doing a late night monologue makes no sense to me, and pretty much every late night show except for his old E! show pretty much is forced into that mold of “monologue -> cheesy bits -> interviews” in order to survive. The guys who don’t wear suits or perform monologues seem to all get cancelled.
  
  And Howard is approaching retirement. Why would he want to end his career as the guy who follows Jimmy Fallon? Or worst yet, the guy who’s ratings get him cancelled.
  
  And Howard’s not a comedian. He’s pretty close to one the way he thinks, but there have always been writers handing him notes while they are on air. Sure, Howard knows interesting and can interview like a motherfucker, but I assume he gives himself help with the comedy for a reason.
  
  So yeah, maybe terrible is the word…
- AFV
  
  Please. Howard Stern is the King of all media. Until you have a history of correct prognostications your opinions will be just opinions.
http://twitter.com/sns1102 Steve S

I only doubt this because of the commitment to time and his current schedule. Anyone who thinks this is a bad idea is insane. Stern is the best interviewer out there. He isn’t going to replicate the same model late night talk show if he does this. I guaranty the show would be based around his interviewing abilities. In the last ten years he has been able to get a lot more A list celebrities- Bradley Cooper, Quentin Tarantino, Ron Howard, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, etc…. And those interviews are far and away better then anything we see on television now.
Buster Brown

Absolutely no chance. Zero. Ain’t gonna happen. Not even maybe. I’d LOVE to put cash on it, but can’t find anyone stupid enough to take the bet no matter the odds.