Meanwhile , Leno was candid regarding his plans for his new show : " Even though it 's ten o'clock , we 're going to pretend it 's eleven thirty . " '' The Jay Leno Show '' premiered on September 14 , 2009 , featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Kanye West ( just following his infamous rant against Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards ) as guests . The program racked up 18.4 million viewers , doing much better than O'Brien 's '' Tonight Show '' debut in both overall numbers and young demographics . Some critics were harsh to Leno 's program , with many viewing it as a rehash of the show he had just left . Mary McNamara of the '' Los Angeles Times '' called a commercial funnier than the show 's whole , saying , " This is the future of television ? This was n't even a good rendition of television past . " By the show 's second week , with it airing directly opposite season premieres , '' The Jay Leno Show '' saw its audience size fall to six million viewers . As the weeks wore on , producer Vickers noticed that NBC 's plan — to save the best segments , such as Leno 's signature " Headlines " , for last in order to provide a strong lead-in for local news — was possibly hurting the program . One month in , Leno often only made third place , and executives became more uneasy
MTV Video Music Awards
2009 MTV Video Music Awards
2010 Tonight Show conflict