NBC is already looking ahead to The Tonight Show’s 75th anniversary in 2029—an apparent vote of confidence in the network’s late-night future at a time when its broadcast rivals have been pulling back.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon showrunner Chris Miller says the show is actively discussing how to mark its 75th anniversary in 2029, confirming earlier reporting that NBCUniversal was eying the anniversary as a future tentpole.
“We’re absolutely talking about it,” Miller let slip to Variety‘s Brian Steinberg. “We are sort of next in line for a big tentpole type of anniversary. Yes, we are actively thinking about it and talking about it and hope we will have fun news for that soon.”
The discussions fit neatly into a strategy NBCUniversal has increasingly embraced: building major events around its biggest brands, milestones, and programming.
That was perhaps most visible with Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary, which NBC turned into a months-long celebration culminating in a three-hour live primetime special. The network is following a similar playbook for its own centennial this year, with NBC100 set to culminate in another three-hour live primetime event in December.
Variety‘s Steinberg reported in September that NBCUniversal was looking at The Tonight Show’s 75th anniversary as a possible future tentpole as it sought to build on the event model developed around SNL50. Miller’s comments confirm that the show itself is actively talking about the milestone.
The long-range planning would seem to signal NBC’s continued commitment to The Tonight Show—and to traditional late-night programming more broadly—at a time when rival networks have shown considerably more uncertainty about the time period.
CBS exited the traditional late-night talk-show business after ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, while ABC and Jimmy Kimmel are currently negotiating over the future of Jimmy Kimmel Live! beyond the show’s 2026-27 season.
Late night has long been more central to NBC’s identity than it has been at its broadcast rivals. The Tonight Show has been on the network since 1954, while NBC’s 12:30 a.m. franchise dates back to David Letterman’s Late Night debut in 1982. For decades, the network effectively defined the model its competitors later followed.
Fallon’s current deal runs through the 2027-28 television season, one season shy of the anniversary.
The apparent enthusiasm for the show’s 75th is all the more striking given how little attention the franchise received for its two most recent milestone anniversaries.
The show turned 70 on Sept. 27, 2024, without an on-air acknowledgement. Its 60th anniversary in 2014 likewise passed without a dedicated anniversary celebration, despite NBC leaning heavily on the franchise’s history earlier that year as Fallon took over as host.
The 50th received more attention. On Sept. 27, 2004, Jay Leno hosted an anniversary edition of The Tonight Show marking a half-century since Steve Allen launched the franchise. That episode also produced a consequential bit of Tonight Show history: Leno announced that he intended to step down five years later and turn the show over to Conan O’Brien.
