Jay Leno appeared on Late Night forty-one times, forty as a guest and one in a taped cameo. Here are all of his appearances, plus other related videos scattered within.
A few clips were edited together from different sources. For one video (January 6, 1983), I chose the E! broadcast, as it's the only source in my collection that didn't mute "Hostess Twinkies."
The istanbul collection is in three parts:
Part 1: Clips #1 to 14 --
Part 2: Clips #15 to 28 --
Part 3: Clips #29 to 50 -- here
Part 3 begins with Jay's first Tonight Show as guest-host in 1986. It foreshadowed shifting tectonic plates between Jay, Dave, NBC, and CBS.
Before all that, though, there's a reason Jay appeared so often on Late Night, especially up that first guest-host milestone: he was damn funny, and Dave's laughter was genuine. There's much here to analyze their evolving relationship.
Part 1:
1. April 15, 1982: Jay guest appearance #1 (stand-up #1 and home base chat)
2. June 4, 1982: Jay #2
3. June 30, 1982: Jay #3 (introduced by Harve Mann)
4. October 11, 1982: Jay #4
5. November 10, 1982: Jay #5
6. January 6, 1983: Jay #6
7. February 2, 1983: Jay #7
8. April 5, 1983: Jay #8
9. July 7, 1983: Jay #9
10. September 6, 1983: Jay #10
11. October 4, 1983: Jay #11
12. January 12, 1984: Jay #12
13. March 13, 1984: Jay #13
14. May 14, 1984: Jay #14
Part 2:
15. August 16, 1984: Jay #15
16. September 26, 1984: Jay #16
17. January 9, 1985: Jay #17
18. March 21, 1985: Jay #18
19. April 24, 1985: Jay #19
20. August 21, 1985: #20
21. October 10, 1985: Jay #21
22. November 19, 1985: Jay #22
23. January 9, 1986: Jay #23
24. January 30, 1986: Jay #24
25. March 25, 1986: Jay #25 (w/Seth Green, then 12 years old)
26. May 28, 1986: Jay #26
27. June 18, 1986: Chris Elliott's Jay Leno impression #1
28. August 19, 1986: Jay #27
Part 3:
29. September 9, 1986: Jay's first Tonight Show as guest-host, rod stewart monologue
30. October 2, 1986: Chris Elliott's Jay Leno impression #2
31. October 14, 1986: Jay #28 (w/Chris Elliott)
32. November 1, 1986: Dave cameos on Jay's television special
32. December 16, 1986: Jay #29
33. February 7, 1987: Jay #30 (stand-up #2 for 5th anniversary)
34. May 13, 1987 (taped April 13): Jay #31
35. September 29, 1987: Jay #32
36. November 24, 1987: Jay #33 (with 3 kids: Jocelyn Argento, Kristin Symons, and Brian Wilde)
37. February 11, 1988: same Condom Week joke setup with different punchlines, Jay guest-hosting The Tonight Show, followed by Dave an hour later
38. March 4, 1988: Jay #34
39. July 7, 1988: Jay #35
40. May 4, 1989: Jay #36 (in Chicago)
41. August 16, 1989: Jay #37
42. October 11, 1990: Leno guests on Donahue, excerpts
43. October 11, 1990: Leno guests on Live at Five
44. October 11, 1990: Jay #38
45. November 2, 1990: Jay's taped Viewer Mail cameo, taped October 11, 1990
46. June 6, 1991: Dave congratulates Jay for succeeding Johnny Carson as Tonight Show host
47. December 12, 1991: Jay #39
48. May 7, 1992: Jay #40 (Jay becomes Tonight Show host in two weeks)
49. giant January 14, 1993: Jay, now Tonight Show host, remarks on Dave's decision to leave NBC for CBS
50. June 25, 1993: Jay wishes Dave well before the upcoming final Late Night
