James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno (born April 28, 1950) is an Emmy Award-winning American stand-up comedian and television host, who succeeded Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show in 1992. Leno will continue to host The Tonight Show until May 29, 2009. Late Night host Conan O'Brien is his scheduled replacement as host.

 Leno's comedic style is chiefly observational, with storytelling and topical humor often mixed into his routine. Leno's comedic delivery is usually straightforward and that of a folksy, "everyman" personality. Combining elements of a late-night comedy club and a laid-back talk show, Leno's incarnation of Tonight has proven highly successful in the ratings.An audience favorite since Leno's hosting of The Tonight Show is his weekly installment Headlines, in which he features unintentionally humorous newspaper articles, advertisements and other printed media that fans mail into the show, especially crime reports, nuptial announcements, and menus. Jay has a penchant for media items involving stupid criminals, bad foreign language to English translations for household or food items and especially finds amusement from unhappy looking animals in silly costumes. Jay has highlighted his cat Cheeses dressed up with a limousine driver's cap in past installments. Jay also has authored a series of book collections taken from Headlines, published by Grand Central Publishing.Another recurring sketch on Leno's Tonight Show is Jay-Walking, where Jay asks people off the street some questions regarding current or historical events. Jay frequents the areas just outside the NBC studios such as down Melrose avenue or within Universal Studios Hollywood's City Walk. Radio shock jock Howard Stern has argued that Jay stole the idea of Jay-Walking from his program.