The Tonight Show changed hosts and names, but never changed its variety/talk show format. Started by Steve Allen, it was then hosted by Jack Paar, who gave way to the longest-running host Johny Carson. The line of succession post-Carson went a little murkier – two great acts were competing for the gig. David Letterman was already a host of his own NBC show following Carson, “Late Night With David Letterman,” while Jay Leno was an up-and-coming comedian, scoring record ratings any time he appeared on Letterman’s show. Both men manuevered to take over after Carson’s retirement.

On this day, January 8th, in 1993 NBC decided to offer hosting of the Tonight Show to David Letterman. It was a last-ditch for the network to keep Letterman, who was considering a move to CBS after seeing that NBC clearly preferred Leno for the job. The move did not succeed, and Letterman took his Late Night show to a rival station, competing head-to-head in the same time slot as Jay Leno.

One of the most famous Tonight Show moments came in 1960, when host Jack Paar came on stage and for three minutes railed against NBC’s censoring a joke in a previous episode about a water closet (a euphemism for a flushable toilet) being mistaken for a chapel. He concluded his tirade with “There must be a better way of making a living than this,” and walked off, leaving his sidekick scrambling to finish the show. Paar stayed off the Tonight Show for three weeks before reappearing abruptly with the line “As I was saying before I was interrupted….” After a huge wave of applause, Paar continued: “When I walked off, I said there must be a better way of making a living. Well I’ve looked and there isn’t.”