The Tonight Show is a daily variety show broadcast on NBC, airing on weekdays at 11:35 PM. Saturday Night Live was created to fill its time slot on the weekend; it previously featured new episodes on every weekday with repeats at the same time on the weekend, but then-host Johnny Carson asked to occasionally have the repeats broadcast on weekdays, so he could take time off.
2009 controversy[]
Prior to 2009, The Tonight Show was hosted by Jay Leno, with former SNL writer Conan O'Brien hosting the show that followed it, Late Night. Fearing that O'Brien would defect to another network for an earlier time slot, NBC agreed to force out Leno and give The Tonight Show to O'Brien. Late Night was given to SNL alum Jimmy Fallon, followed by O'Brien starting his Tonight Show, and Leno attempting a 10 PM prime time show.
NBC took a dislike to that arrangement early on. Ratings for O'Brien's Tonight Show were lower than they had been for Leno, causing it to fall below CBS' competing Late Show with David Letterman. When Leno's show began its run, the ratings sank even lower, and local affiliates complained to NBC that they were losing viewers from their 11 PM local news programs. After much drama in tabloid news, O'Brien was forced from his Tonight Show, and Leno returned.
While the change in arrangement seemed to calm the turbulence, it ultimately didn't. Leno's returned Tonight Show did not sufficiently increase its ratings, and during the summer of 2013, it was decided to fire Leno and move Fallon to 11:35 PM. This happened at the beginning of NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics, when late night programming was scheduled to go off the air. Leno gave a tearful goodbye on his last episode; on the following night, only Fallon's Late Night aired, which ended with him walking from studio 6A across the hall to 6B, where his Tonight Show would be taped.
His spot on Late Night was filled by Seth Meyers. Meyers desired to stay on SNL as long as possible, and left mid-season 39, less than a month before his Late Night began.