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Howard Stern Says ‘The Tonight Show’ Is His

Mar 20, 2013  •  Post A Comment

Radio shock jock and “America’s Got Talent” judge Howard Stern says he knows who will take over from Jay Leno as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.” Stern told his radio listeners Tuesday morning on SiriusXM that the job is his, EW.com’s Inside TV reports.

“Stern casually mentioned how he’s going to ‘take over “The Tonight Show”’ when addressing the public drubbing that Matt Lauer has received over Ann Curry’s departure last summer,” the story reports. “Stern also refers to how Bob Greenblatt — NBC’s entertainment chairman — told him how he’s ‘got to take over the show.’”

However, the website reports that an insider said no such talks are in the works. The piece notes that Leno’s numbers on the NBC show continue to be strong in the 11:30 p.m. time slot.

“During the February sweeps, ‘The Tonight Show’ beat ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ and ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ among adults 18-49 (1.003 million versus Letterman’s 920,000 and Kimmel’s 898,000) and attracted a bigger audience (3.5 million viewers versus Letterman’s 3.2 million and Kimmel’s 2.5 million),” EW reports. “Still, rumors persist about a possible succession plan in 2014 that would involve Jimmy Fallon assuming the 11:30 p.m. time slot.”

Stern has reportedly been in a feud with Leno for years.

“Stern likes to talk trash about Leno,” the report notes. “Last August, Stern claimed that reports about Leno taking a pay cut to limit staff reductions was not the entire truth. ‘Jay wanted to cut staff. He’s embarrassed to do it. He didn’t want to come off as a bad guy. NBC took the hit for him, because they’re a corporation. … My bullsh-t meter is going off all over the place,’ he said.”

4 Comments

  1. Umm, seriously? What have the folks at EW been smoking? Anyone listening could clearly tell that Stern was JOKING when he said that. How this turned into some kind of news story that required a denial from the network is ridiculous.

  2. If NBC hired this foul mouthed idiot for the Tonight Show, it would be the biggest mistake in the history of Television.

  3. Brent: read EW’s article

  4. Howard Stern loves to talk trash about Jay Leno.
    Jimmy Kimmel * * *
    David Letterman * * *
    Interesting people under 60 * * *
    Does anybody see a pattern here?

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