Iconic '90s Television Host, Who Survived a Motorcycle Crash, Turns 76
From his multiple hosting gigs on late-night television to showing off his amazing, rare car collection, Jay Leno has been a stable presence in American entertainment for decades. On Tuesday, the comedian celebrated his 76th birthday.
Leno was born on April 28, 1950, in New Rochelle, New York, a city in Westchester County, the area right above New York City. He started his comedy career in the 1970s, first appearing on The Tonight Show in 1977, where her performed a short stand-up set. Throughout that decade, he had minor roles in various TV series, including the pilots of Good Times and Fun with Dick and Jane.
In 1986, he served as the regular substitute host for Johnny Carson on NBC's The Tonight Show, eventually replacing him as host six years later. He remained the host of the iconic talk show for 17 years before leaving briefly in May 2009 to start his own talk show, The Jay Leno Show.
His self-titled show only aired on NBC from September 2009 to February 2010 and was cancelled after five months due to low ratings. Leno eventually returned to The Tonight Show in March 2010, before leaving for good in February 2014. Since then, Jimmy Fallon replaced him and has served as the host since.
After leaving The Tonight Show, he maintained an active touring schedule across venues in the United States and Canada, reportedly doing an average of 200 stand-up comedy performances a year. In 2014, he hosted the one-hour Jay Leno's Garage special on CNBC, and it returned as a primetime series from 2015 until 2022. The series was cancelled after seven seasons due to the channel's decision to re-emphasize business-oriented programming. He also hosted the third revival of the game show You Bet Your Life for two seasons from 2021 to 2023.
In addition to television hosting, Leno is also a voice actor, voicing The Crimson Chin on The Fairly OddParents for 15 years and Billy Beagle for Mickey and the Roadster Racers.
More recently, he has shifted focus to care for his wife, Mavis, who has dementia, and still manages his car collection. In January 2023, the late-night host got into a serious motorcycle accident, two months after a major gasoline fire incident. While test-driving a 1940 Indian motorcycle, he was "clotheslined" by an unmarked wire strung across a parking lot and fell off the bike, resulting in broken ribs, a broken collarbone and two cracked kneecaps.
He revealed the accident via an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal a week after it took place. That didn't stop him from walking around or coming into work, according to his spokesperson.
"It's so funny you should say that," he told the publication. "That was the first accident. OK? Then just last week, I got knocked off my motorcycle."
The Tonight Show franchise has been running on NBC since September 1954, and is filmed in Studio 6B at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Previous hosts include Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Conan O'Brien.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonairs on NBC every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. ET.
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 8:35 PM.