Last night's telecast of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," featuring a guest appearance by President Barack Obama (11.2 household rating, 26 share), has achieved the highest "Tonight" rating in metered-market households since Monday, January 24, 2005 (11.2/26), the night of a special tribute to Johnny Carson, according to in-home viewing figures from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research. The last time Jay Leno scored a higher metered-market rating than last night's 11.2 was Thursday, May 14, 1998 (12.4), the night of the "Seinfeld" finale.
Last night's historic edition of "Tonight" matched the fourth highest metered-market household rating in the more than 16 years Jay Leno has been hosting "Tonight."
President Obama's appearance last night is the first for a sitting U.S. President on a late-night talk show. Also appearing on last night's show was music superstar Garth Brooks.
Last night's telecast of "Tonight" improved on the show's season-average 3.9 household rating in the metered markets by 187 percent.
The other higher rated nights in the metered markets for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" are May 20, 1993, the night of the "Cheers" finale; May 25, 1992, the debut of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"; and May 14, 1998, the night of the "Seinfeld" finale.
National ratings for last night's "Tonight," including demographics and viewer totals, are due from Nielsen on Thursday, March 26.
In case you missed the interview, watch it below right now:
