30-minute tirade to Melendez's comments with Carolla, calling the former employee a "no-talent ingrate" who should stick to holding up the mug on The Tonight Show. Stern commented, "I didn't have a beef with him before, but I do now. He's delusional. He can go fuck himself. I officially want nothing more to do with John. I've had it with him, and he's a talentless fuck. All he did was stutter. He just asked questions that we wrote for him." Commenting on Melendez's claim that Stern did not like him doing side gigs away from Howard's show such as stand-up, rock music, and writing books, Stern retorted, "That's because they were horrible, and he was slapping my name on them." He also touched on the fact that Melendez's then-wife Suzanna and Stern's then-fiancée Beth are friends by saying he does not want them phoning each other anymore: "I'm going to have a talk with Beth about that." Stern also had choice words for Carolla over what he saw as a fellow radio host's attempt to get Melendez riled up: "He calls me 'Stern,' and I'm not sure what that's about". 2004–2014: Jay Leno's shows The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Melendez debuted on The Tonight Show on March 29, 2004, taking over for Edd Hall. On the show, he was identified simply as "John Melendez" as opposed to "Stuttering John." In late September 2004, only six months after Melendez joined the show, NBC announced that Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien in 2009. Throughout his first run on the Tonight Show, Melendez regularly appeared in the show's comedy sketches and did correspondent pieces. The Jay Leno Show In September 2009, Melendez reunited with Leno and former Tonight bandleader Kevin Eubanks as a member of the writing staff on The Jay Leno Show. Confirmation of his status on Leno's new prime time show came later than that of Eubanks, weeks after the end of Leno's tenure on The Tonight Show, which led to speculation that Melendez would not appear at all. Melendez's ambiguous job status prompted a sarcastic job offer from his former boss Stern. When asked about Melendez's new role, Leno stated that Melendez would appear in comedy segments during the show and that the new show would not have a studio announcer (though Wally Wingert would later serve as show announcer). On The Tonight Show, Leno described his