Nerve agents are a class of phosphorus-containing organic chemicals (organophosphates) that disrupt the mechanism by which nerves transfer messages to organs. The disruption is caused by blocking acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that normally relaxes the activity of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.

As chemical weapons, they are classified as weapons of mass destruction by the United Nations according to UN Resolution 687 (passed in April 1991) and their production and stockpiling was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993; the Chemical Weapons Convention officially took effect on April 29, 1997.

Poisoning by a nerve agent leads to contraction of pupils, profuse salivation, convulsions, involuntary urination and defecation and eventual death by asphyxiation as control is lost over respiratory muscles. Some nerve agents are readily vaporized or aerosolized and the primary portal of entry into the body is the respiratory system. Nerve agents can also be absorbed through the skin, requiring that those likely to be subjected to such agents wear a full body suit in addition to a respirator.

Biological effects

As their name suggests, nerve agents attack the nervous system of the human body. All such agents function the same way: by inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase which is responsible for the breakdown of acetylcholine (ACh) in the synapse. ACh gives the signal for muscles to contract, preventing them from relaxing.

Initial symptoms following exposure to nerve agents (like sarin) are a runny nose, tightness in the chest and constriction of the pupils. Soon after, the victim will then have difficulty breathing and will experience nausea and drooling. As the victim continues to lose control of his or her bodily functions, he or she will involuntarily salivate, lacrimate, urinate, defecate and experience gastrointestinal pain and vomiting. Blisters and burning of the eyes and/or lungs may also occur. This phase is followed by initially myoclonic jerks followed by status epilepticus. Death then comes via complete respiratory depression, most likely via the excessive peripheral activity at the neuromuscular junction of the diaphragm.

The effects of nerve agents are very long lasting and cumulative (increased by successive exposures) and survivors of nerve agent poisoning almost invariably suffer chronic neurological damage. This neurological damage can also lead to continuing psychiatric effects.

Mechanism of action

When a normally functioning motor nerve is stimulated it releases the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which transmits the impulse to a muscle or organ. Once the impulse is sent, the enzyme acetylcholinesterase immediately breaks down the acetylcholine in order to allow the muscle or organ to relax.

Nerve agents disrupt the nervous system by inhibiting the function of acetylcholinesterase by forming a covalent bond with the site of the enzyme where acetylcholine normally undergoes hydrolysis (breaks down). The structures of the complexes of soman (one of the most toxic nerve agents) with acetylcholinesterase from ''Torpedo californica'' have been solved by X-ray crystallography (PDB codes: 2wfz, 2wg0, 2wg1, and 1som). The mechanism of action of soman could be seen on example of 2wfz. The result is that acetylcholine builds up and continues to act so that any nerve impulses are continually transmitted and muscle contractions do not stop.

This same action also occurs at the gland and organ levels, resulting in uncontrolled drooling, tearing of the eyes (lacrimation) and excess production of mucus from the nose (rhinorrhea).

Antidotes

Atropine and related anticholinergic drugs act as antidotes to nerve agent poisoning because they block acetylcholine receptors, but they are poisonous in their own right. (Some synthetic anticholinergics, such as biperiden may counteract the central symptoms of nerve agent poisoning better than atropine, since they pass the blood-brain barrier better than atropine.) While these drugs will save the life of a person affected with nerve agents, that person may be incapacitated briefly or for an extended period, depending on the amount of exposure. The endpoint of atropine administration is the clearing of bronchial secretions. Atropine for field use by military personnel is often loaded in an autoinjector, for ease of use in stressful conditions. The limitation of atropine is that it is only indicated for use against soman.

Pralidoxime chloride, also known as ''2-PAM chloride'', is also used as an antidote. Rather than counteracting the initial effects of the nerve agent on the nervous system like atropine, ''pralidoxime chloride'' reactivates the poisoned enzyme (acetylcholinesterase) by scavenging the phosphoryl rest attached on the functional hydroxyl group of the enzyme. Though safer to use, it takes longer to act.

Revival of acetylcholinesterase with pralidoxime chloride works more effectively on nicotinic receptors while blocking acetylcholine with atropine is more effective on muscarinic receptors. Often, severe cases of the poisoning are treated with both drugs.

Countermeasures in Development

Butyrylcholinesterase is a prophylactic countermeasure against organo-phosphorus nerve agents. It acts as a scavenger by binding nerve agent in the blood stream before it can exert effects in the nervous system. Because it is a biological scavenger (and universal target) it is currently the only therapeutic agent effective in providing complete stoichiometric protection against the entire spectrum of organo-phosphorus nerve agents.

Classes

There are two main classes of nerve agents. The members of the two classes share similar properties and are given both a common name (such as ''sarin'') and a two-character NATO identifier (such as GB).

G-Series

The ''G-series'' is thus named because German scientists first synthesized them. All of the compounds in this class were discovered and synthesized during or soon after World War II, led by Dr. Gerhard Schrader (later under the employment of IG Farben).

This series is the first and oldest family of nerve agents. The first nerve agent ever synthesised was GA (tabun) in 1936. GB (sarin) was discovered next in 1939, followed by GD (soman) in 1944 and finally the more obscure GF (cyclosarin) in 1949. GB was the only G agent that was fielded by the USA as a munition, specifically in rockets, aerial bombs, howitzer rounds and gun rounds.

V-Series

Dr. Ranajit Ghosh, a chemist at the Plant Protection Laboratories of Imperial Chemical Industries was investigating a class of organophosphate compounds (organophosphate esters of substituted aminoethanethiols). Like Dr. Schrader, an earlier investigator of organophosphates, Dr. Ghosh found that they were quite effective pesticides. In 1954, ICI put one of them on the market under the trade name Amiton. It was subsequently withdrawn, as it was too toxic for safe use. The toxicity did not go unnoticed and some of the more toxic materials had in fact been sent to the British Armed Forces research facility at Porton Down for evaluation. After the evaluation was complete, several members of this class of compounds would become a new group of nerve agents, the V agents (depending on the source, the V stands for Victory, Venomous, or Viscous). The best known of these is probably VX, with the Russian V-gas coming a close second (Amiton is largely forgotten as VG). This class of compounds is also sometimes known as Tammelin's esters, after Lars-Erik Tammelin of the Swedish Institute of Defense Research. Dr. Tammelin was also conducting research on this class of compounds in 1952, but for obvious reasons he did not publicize his work widely.

The ''V-series'' is the second family of nerve agents and contains five well known members: VE, VG, VM, VR and VX, along with several more obscure analogues. The most studied agent in this family, VX, was invented in the 1950s at Porton Down in the United Kingdom. The other agents in this series have not been studied extensively and information about them is limited. It is known, however, that the V-series agents are about 10 times more toxic than the G-agent sarin (GB).

All of the V-agents are ''persistent agents'', meaning that these agents do not degrade or wash away easily and can therefore remain on clothes and other surfaces for long periods. In use, this allows the V-agents to be used to blanket terrain to guide or curtail the movement of enemy ground forces. The consistency of these agents is similar to oil; as a result, the contact hazard for V-agents is primarily – but not exclusively – dermal. VX was the only V-series agent that was fielded by the USA as a munition, consisting of rockets, artillery shells, airplane spray tanks and landmines.

Novichok agents

The Novichok (Russian for "newcomer") agents are a series of organophosphate compounds that were developed in the Soviet Union from the mid 1960s to the 1990s. The goal of this program was to develop and manufacture highly deadly chemical weapons that were unknown to the West. These new agents were designed to be undetectable by standard NATO chemical detection equipment and to defeat chemical protective gear.

In addition to the newly developed "third generation" weapons, binary versions of several Soviet agents were developed and are designated as "Novichok" agents.

Insecticides

A number of insecticides, the phenothiazines, organophosphates such as dichlorvos, malathion and parathion, are nerve agents. The metabolism of insects is sufficiently different from mammals that these compounds have little effect on humans and other mammals at proper doses; but there is considerable concern about the effects of long-term exposure to these chemicals by farm workers and animals alike. At high enough doses, however, acute toxicity and death can occur through the same mechanism as other nerve agents. Organophosphate pesticide poisoning is a major cause of disability in many developing countries and is often the preferred method of suicide.

Dissemination

Several methods exist for disseminating nerve agents on the battlefield. These include:

Uncontrolled Aerosol Munitions

Smoke Generation

Explosive Dissemination

Atomizers, Humidifiers and Foggers

The method chosen will depend upon the physical nature of the nerve agent(s) used, the nature of the target, and the achievable level of sophistication.

History

The discovery of nerve agents

This first class of nerve agents, the ''G-Series'', was accidentally discovered in Germany on December 23, 1936 by a research team headed by Dr. Gerhard Schrader working for IG Farben. Since 1934, Schrader had been working in a laboratory in Leverkusen to develop new types of insecticides for IG Farben. While working toward his goal of improved insecticide, Schrader experimented with numerous compounds, eventually leading to the preparation of tabun.

In experiments, tabun was extremely potent against insects: as little as 5 ppm of tabun killed all the leaf lice he used in his initial experiment. In January 1937, Schrader observed the effects of nerve agents on human beings first-hand when a drop of tabun spilled onto a lab bench. Within minutes he and his laboratory assistant began to experience miosis (constriction of the pupils of the eyes), dizziness and severe shortness of breath. It took them three weeks to recover fully.

In 1935 the Nazi government had passed a decree that required all inventions of possible military significance to be reported to the Ministry of War, so in May 1937 Schrader sent a sample of tabun to the chemical warfare (CW) section of the Army Weapons Office in Berlin-Spandau. Dr. Schrader was summoned to the Wehrmacht chemical lab in Berlin to give a demonstration, after which Schrader's patent application and all related research was classified. Colonel Rüdiger, head of the CW section, ordered the construction of new laboratories for the further investigation of tabun and other organophosphate compounds and Schrader soon moved to a new laboratory at Wuppertal-Elberfeld in the Ruhr valley to continue his research in secret throughout World War II. The compound was initially codenamed Le-100 and later Trilon-83.

Sarin was discovered by Schrader and his team in 1938 and named after their initials: Schrader, Ambrose, Rudriger and van der Linde. It was codenamed T-144 or Trilon-46. It was found to be more than ten times as potent as tabun. Soman was discovered by Dr. Richard Kuhn in 1944 as he worked with the existing compounds, the name is derived from either the Greek 'to sleep' or the Latin 'to bludgeon', it was codenamed T-300. Cyclosarin was also discovered during WWII but the details were lost and it was 'discovered' again in 1949. The G-series naming system was created by the United States when it uncovered the German activities, labeling tabun as GA (German Agent A), sarin as GB and soman as GD. Ethyl sarin was tagged GE and cyclosarin as GF.

During World War II

In 1939, a pilot plant for tabun production was set up at Munster-Lager, on Luneberg heath near the German Army proving grounds at Raubkammer. In January 1940, construction began on a secret plant, code named "Hochwerk" (''High factory''), for the production of tabun at Dyherrnfurth an der Oder (now Brzeg Dolny in Poland), on the Oder River 40 km (24.9 miles) from Breslau (now Wrocław) in Silesia.

The plant was large, covering an area of 2.4 by 0.8 km (1.5 by 0.5 miles) and was completely self-contained, synthesizing all intermediates as well as the final product, tabun. The factory even had an underground plant for filling munitions, which were then stored at Krappitz (now Krapkowice) in Upper Silesia. The plant was operated by Anorgana GmbH, a subsidiary of IG Farben, as were all other chemical weapon agent production plants in Germany at the time.

Because of the plant's deep secrecy and the difficult nature of the production process, it took from January 1940 until June 1942 for the plant to become fully operational. Many of tabun's chemical precursors were so corrosive that reaction chambers not lined with quartz or silver soon became useless. Tabun itself was so hazardous that the final processes had to be performed while enclosed in double glass-lined chambers with a stream of pressurized air circulating between the walls.

3,000 German nationals were employed at Hochwerk, all equipped with respirators and clothing constructed of a poly-layered rubber/cloth/rubber sandwich that was destroyed after the tenth wearing. Despite all precautions, there were over 300 accidents before production even began and at least ten workers died during the two and a half years of operation. Some incidents cited in ''A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare'' are as follows:

Four pipe fitters had liquid tabun drain onto them and died before their rubber suits could be removed.

A worker had two liters of tabun pour down the neck of his rubber suit. He died within two minutes.

Seven workers were hit in the face with a stream of tabun of such force that the liquid was forced behind their respirators. Only two survived despite resuscitation measures.

The plant produced between 10,000 and 30,000 tons of tabun before its capture by the Soviet Army.

In 1940 the German Army Weapons Office ordered the mass production of sarin for wartime use. A number of pilot plants were built and a high-production facility was under construction (but was not finished) by the end of World War II. Estimates for total sarin production by Nazi Germany range from 500 kg to 10 tons.

During that time, German intelligence believed that the Allies also knew of these compounds, assuming that because these compounds were not discussed in the Allies' scientific journals information about them was being suppressed. Though sarin, tabun and soman were incorporated into artillery shells, the German government ultimately decided not to use nerve agents against Allied targets. The Allies did not learn of these agents until shells filled with them were captured towards the end of the war.

This is detailed in Joseph Borkin's book ''The Crime and Punishment of IG Farben'':

The secret gets out

Towards the end of World War II and during the occupation of Germany, the Allies recovered weapons containing the three German nerve agents of the day, prompting further research into nerve agents by the former Allies. The Red Army captured a factory producing tabun at Dyhernfurth in early 1945, they dismantled the entire site and took it back to Russia. Stocks of tabun, sarin and soman were discovered by all the Allies within Germany; the Anglo-American advance seizing around 250,000 tons of chemical weapons, the subset of nerve agents (totaling around 30,000 tons) was split with the British taking 14,000 tons of tabun-filled bombs and the Americans taking the balance of sarin-filled devices. The British-held bombs were eventually dumped at sea over 1955-56 as Operation Sandcastle.

The fourth G-series nerve agent, cyclosarin, although discovered by German scientists studying organophosphates during WWII was seemingly not found by the Allies, but independently rediscovered in 1949.

In 1952, researchers in Porton Down, England invented the VX nerve agent, inspired by the commercial pesticide Amiton, later reclassified as VG. The UK soon unilaterally abandoned the chemical weapons and chemical weapons research. In 1958 the British government traded their VX technology with the United States of America in exchange for information on thermonuclear weapons; by 1961 the US was producing large amounts of VX and performed its own nerve agent research. The four agents (VE, VG, VM, VX) are collectively known as the "V-Series" class of nerve agents.

Since World War II

Since World War II, Iraq's use of mustard gas against Iranian troops and Kurds (Iran-Iraq war of 1981–1988) has been the only large-scale use of any chemical weapons. On the scale of the single Kurdish village of Halabja within its own territory, Iraqi forces did expose the populace to some kind of chemical weapons, possibly mustard gas and most likely nerve agents.

In the Gulf War, no nerve agents (nor other chemical weapons) were used, but a number of U.S. and UK personnel were exposed to them when the Khamisiyah chemical depot was destroyed. This and the widespread use of anticholinergic drugs as a protective treatment against any possible nerve gas attack, have been proposed as a possible cause of Gulf War syndrome. One of the most widely publicised uses of nerve agents was the 1995 terrorist attack in which operatives of the Aum Shinrikyo religious group released sarin into the Tokyo subway system.

Ocean disposal of chemical weapons

In 1972, The United States Congress banned the practice of disposing chemical weapons into the ocean. However 32,000 tons of nerve and mustard agents had already been dumped into the ocean waters off the United States by the U.S. Army, primarily as part of Operation CHASE. According to a 1998 report created by William Brankowitz, a deputy project manager in the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, the Army created at least 26 chemical weapons dump sites in the ocean off at least 11 states on both the west and east coasts. Additionally, due to poor records, they currently only know the rough whereabouts of half of them.

It is unknown how these dumps of chemical weapons have affected the ocean ecology. The steel containers they are contained within face a variable rate of decay and no one is really certain where or how deep they were dumped. If a nerve agent leaks into the ocean, it is unlikely to negatively affect any living organisms before it breaks down into its nonlethal chemical components. This is because nerve agents are not very stable, so even remaining in their containers, they are likely not very active any more. Then, if they were to be exposed to salt water, the salt water would likely break them down very quickly before they did any significant damage to animal life .

Footnotes

References

Borkin, Joseph (1978). ''The Crime and Punishment of IG Farben''. New York: Free Press. 1978. ISBN 0-02-904630-0, available for download in Australia (as it is out-of-print) see this link.

E-Medicine. (June 29, 2004). CBRNE – Nerve Agents, V-series: Ve, Vg, Vm, Vx. Retrieved Oct. 23, 2004.

E-Medicine. (June 30, 2004). CBRNE – Nerve Agents, G-series: Tabun, Sarin, Soman. Retrieved Oct. 23, 2004.

Mitretek Systems. (May 2004). Short History of the Development of Nerve Gases. Retrieved Oct. 23, 2004.

Paxman, J.; Harris, R. (2002). ''A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare'' (2002 Rando edition). Random House Press. ISBN 0-8129-6653-8.

United States Senate, 103d Congress, 2d Session. (May 25, 1994). The Riegle Report. Retrieved Nov. 6, 2004.

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – Nerve Agents

History of fluorophosphates as related to the development of nerve agents in Germany, Great Britain and the U.S.A.

Buckley NA, Roberts D, Eddleston M. ''Overcoming apathy in research on organophosphate poisoning.'' BMJ. 2004 Nov 20;329(7476):1231–3. Review. PMID 15550429

External links

ATSDR Case Studies in Environmental Medicine: Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Including Pesticides and Chemical Warfare Nerve Agents U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Nervegas: America's Fifteen-year Struggle for Modern Chemical Weapons Army Chemical Review

History Note: The CWS Effort to Obtain German Chemical Weapons for Retaliation Against Japan CBIAC Newsletter

Goats' Milk Used in Production of Anti-nerve Gas Agents

AChE inhibitors and substrates – 2wfz, 2wg0, 2wg1, 1som in Proteopedia

Category:Anticholinesterases

de:Nervenkampfstoff es:Gas nervioso fr:Gaz innervant it:Gas nervino he:גז עצבים mk:Нервен гас nl:Zenuwgas ja:神経ガス no:Nervegass simple:Nerve agent sl:Živčni strup fi:Hermokaasu sv:Nervgas tr:Sinir gazı zh:神經毒素

Coordinates	28°36′50″N77°12′32″N
Name	Jay Leno
Birth name	James Douglas Muir Leno
Birth date	April 28, 1950
Height
Birth place	New Rochelle, New York, U.S.
Medium	Television, Film, Stand up
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Emerson College
Active	1973–present
Genre	Observational comedy, Political satire
Subject	American culture, Everyday life
Influences	Johnny Carson, Robert Klein, Alan King, George Carlin, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Rodney Dangerfield
Influenced	Dennis Miller
Website	The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Spouse	Mavis Leno (1980–present)
Signature	Jay Leno Autograph.svg
Notable work	''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' (host, 1992–2009, 2010–)''The Jay Leno Show''(host, 2009–2010)

}} James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno (born April 28, 1950) is an American stand-up comedian and television host.

From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled ''The Jay Leno Show'', which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time, UTC-5), also on NBC. After ''The Jay Leno Show'' was canceled in January 2010 amid a host controversy, Leno returned to host ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' on March 1, 2010.

Early life

James "Jay" Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1950. His mother, Catherine (née Muir; 1911–1993), a homemaker, was born in Greenock, Scotland, and came to the United States at age 11. Her schooling was limited and as a result she prized her children's successes. Leno's father, Angelo (1910–1994), who worked as an insurance salesman, was born in New York to immigrants from Flumeri, Italy. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and although his high school guidance counselor recommended that he drop out of school, he later obtained a Bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Emerson College, where he started a comedy club in 1973. Leno's siblings include his late older brother, Patrick, who was a Vietnam veteran and a lawyer.

Career

During the 1970s, Leno appeared in minor roles in several television series and films, first in the 1976 episode "J.J. in Trouble" of ''Good Times'' and the same year in the pilot of ''Holmes & Yo-Yo''. After an uncredited appearance in the 1977 film ''Fun with Dick and Jane'', he played more prominent parts in 1978 in ''American Hot Wax'' and ''Silver Bears''. Other films and television series from that period include ''Almost Heaven'' (1978), "Going Nowhere" (1979) from ''One Day at a Time'', ''Americathon'' (1979), ''Polyester'' (1981), "The Wild One" (1981) from ''Alice'', "Feminine Mistake" (1979) and "Do the Carmine" (1983) from ''Laverne & Shirley''.

''The Tonight Show''

Starting in 1987, Leno was a regular substitute host for Johnny Carson on ''The Tonight Show''. In 1992, he replaced Carson as host amid controversy with David Letterman, who had been hosting ''Late Night with David Letterman'' since 1982 (aired after The Tonight Show), who many had expected to be Carson's successor. The story of this turbulent transition was later turned into a book and a movie. Leno continued to perform as a stand-up comedian throughout his tenure on ''The Tonight Show''.

In 2004, Leno signed a contract extension with NBC which would keep him as host of ''The Tonight Show'' until 2009. Later in 2004, Conan O'Brien signed a contract with NBC under which O'Brien would become the host of ''The Tonight Show'' in 2009, replacing Leno at that time.

During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Leno was accused of violating WGA guidelines by writing his own monologue for ''The Tonight Show''. While NBC and Leno claim there were private meetings with the WGA where there was a secret agreement allowing this, the WGA denied such a meeting. Leno answered questions in front of the Writers Guild of America, West trial committee in February 2009 and June 2009, and when the WGAW published its list of strike-breakers on 11 August 2009, Leno was not on the list.

In 1998, Leno competed in a tag-team match at the WCW's "Road Wild" pay-per-view . In 2001, he voiced The Crimson Chin, a superhero in the Nickelodeon animated series The Fairly OddParents and continues to do so today.

Leno said in 2008 that he was saving all of his income from ''The Tonight Show'' and living solely off his income from stand-up comedy.

On April 23, 2009, Leno checked himself into a hospital with an undisclosed illness. He was released the following day and returned to work on Monday, April 27. The two subsequently cancelled ''Tonight Show'' episodes for April 23 and April 24 were Leno's first in 17 years as host. Initially, the illness that caused the absence was not disclosed, but later Leno told People magazine that the ailment was exhaustion.

Michael Jackson trial

In the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson over allegations of child molestation, Leno appeared as a defense witness (many celebrity defense witnesses had been expected, but Leno was one of the few whose testimony was actually needed). In his testimony regarding a call by the accuser, Leno testified that he never called the police, that no money was asked for, and there was no coaching — but that the calls seemed unusual and scripted.

As a result, Leno was initially not allowed to continue telling jokes about Jackson or the case, which had been a fixture of ''The Tonight Show'''s opening monologue in particular. But he and his show's writers used a legal loophole by having Leno briefly step aside while stand-in comedians took the stage and told jokes about the trial. Stand-ins included Roseanne Barr, Drew Carey, Brad Garrett, and Dennis Miller among others.

Succession by Conan O'Brien and ''The Jay Leno Show''

Because Leno's show continued to lead all late-night programming in the Nielsen ratings, the pending expiration of Leno's contract led to speculation about whether he would become a late-night host for another network after his commitment to NBC expired. Leno left ''The Tonight Show'' on Friday May 29, 2009, and Conan O'Brien took over on June 1, 2009.

On December 8, 2008, it was reported that Leno would remain on NBC and move to a new hour-long show at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (9 p.m. Central Time) five nights a week. This show follows a similar format to ''The Tonight Show'', tapes at the same lot, and retains many of Leno's most popular segments. ''Late Night'' host Conan O'Brien was his successor on ''The Tonight Show''.

Jay Leno's new show, titled ''The Jay Leno Show'', debuted on September 14, 2009. It was announced at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that it would feature one or two celebrities, the occasional musical guest, and keep the popular "Headlines" segments, which would air near the end of the show. First guests included Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey (via satellite), and a short sit-down with Kanye West discussing his controversy at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Timeslot conflict and return to ''The Tonight Show''

In their new roles, neither O'Brien nor Leno succeeded in delivering the viewing audiences the network anticipated. On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that beginning March 1, 2010, Jay Leno would move from his 10pm weeknight time slot to 11:35pm, due to a combination of pressure from local affiliates whose newscasts were suffering, and both Leno's and O'Brien's poor ratings. Leno's show would be shortened from an hour to 30 minutes. All NBC late night programming would be preempted by the 2010 Winter Olympics between February 15 and February 26. This would move ''The Tonight Show'' to 12:05am, a post-midnight timeslot for the first time in its history. O'Brien's contract stipulated that NBC could move the show back to 12:05 a.m. without penalty (a clause put in primarily to accommodate sports preemptions).

On January 10, NBC confirmed that they would move Jay Leno out of primetime as of February 12 and intended to move him to late night as soon as possible. TMZ reported that O'Brien was given no advance notice of this change, and that NBC offered him two choices: an hour-long 12:05am time slot, or the option to leave the network. On January 12, O'Brien issued a press release that stated he would not continue with ''Tonight'' if it moved to a 12:05am time slot, saying, "I believe that delaying ''The Tonight Show'' into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. ''The Tonight Show'' at 12:05 simply isn’t ''The Tonight Show.''"

On January 21, it was announced that NBC had struck a deal with O'Brien. It was decided that O'Brien would leave ''The Tonight Show''. The deal was made that O'Brien would receive a $33 million payout and that his staff of almost 200 would receive $12 million in the departure. O'Brien's final episode aired on Friday, January 22. Leno returned as host of ''The Tonight Show'' following the 2010 Winter Olympics on March 1, 2010.

On July 1, 2010, ''Variety'' reported that total viewership for Jay Leno's ''Tonight Show'' had dropped from 5 million to 4 million for the second quarter of 2010, compared to the same period in 2009. Although this represented the lowest second-quarter ratings for the show since 1992, ''Tonight'' was still the most-watched late night program, ahead of ABC's ''Nightline'' (3.7 million) and David Letterman's ''Late Show'' (3.3 million). Ratings over the following summer, when compared to the same period in 2009 with O'Brien hosting ''The Tonight Show'' (including O'Brien's highly rated debut), showed that while total viewership was 12% higher for Leno, viewership in the important "adults aged 18–49" demographic was 23% lower. NBC ratings specialist Tom Bierbaum commented that due to the host being out of late night television for a period of time and the subsequent 2010 Tonight Show conflict, Leno's ratings fall was "not a surprise at all".

Public image

Criticism of Leno

Leno has faced heated criticism and some negative publicity for his perceived role in the 2010 ''Tonight Show'' timeslot conflict. Critics have pointed to a 2004 ''Tonight Show'' clip, wherein Leno claimed he would allow O'Brien to take over without incident. At the time, Leno stated he didn't want O'Brien to leave for a competing network, adding, "I'll be 59 when [the switch occurs], that's five years from now. There's really only one person who could have done this into his 60s, and that was Johnny Carson; I think it's fair to say I'm no Johnny Carson." Leno also described ''The Tonight Show'' as a dynasty, saying "you hold it and hand it off to the next person. And I don't want to see all the fighting..." At the end of the segment, he said, "Conan, it's yours! See you in five years, buddy!"

Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt was among the first celebrities to openly voice disappointment with Leno, saying, "Comedians who don't like Jay Leno now, and I'm one of them, we're not like, 'Jay Leno sucks;' it's that we're so hurt and disappointed that one of the best comedians of our generation... willfully has shut the switch off." Rosie O'Donnell has been among O'Brien's most vocal and vehement supporters, calling Leno a "bully" and his recent actions "classless and kind of career-defining."

Bill Zehme, the co-author of Leno's autobiography ''Leading with My Chin'', told the ''Los Angeles Times'': "The thing Leno should do is walk, period. He's got everything to lose in terms of public popularity by going back. People will look at him differently. He'll be viewed as the bad guy."

Support for Leno

NBC Sports head executive and former ''Saturday Night Live'' producer Dick Ebersol spoke out against all who had recently mocked Leno, calling them "chicken-hearted and gutless."

Jeff Gaspin also defended Leno: "This has definitely crossed the line. Jay Leno is the consummate professional and one of the hardest-working people in television. It's a shame that he's being pulled into this."

Paul Reiser and Jerry Seinfeld are two of the number of celebrities to have voiced support for Leno.

Responding to the mounting criticism, Leno claimed that NBC had assured him that O'Brien was willing to accept the proposed arrangement and then would not let either host out of his contract. Leno also said that the situation was "all business." He appeared on the January 28 episode of ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' in an attempt to repair some of the damage done to his public image.

Personal life

Leno has been married since 1980 to Mavis Leno; they have no children.

He is known for his prominent jaw, which has been described as mandibular prognathism. In the book ''Leading with My Chin'' he stated that he is aware of surgery that could reset his mandible, but does not wish to endure a prolonged healing period with his jaws wired shut.

Leno is dyslexic. He claims to sleep only four to five hours each night. Leno does not drink or smoke, nor does he gamble. He spends most of his free time visiting car collections or working in his private garage.

Leno reportedly earns $32 million each year; his total net worth is unknown, but has been estimated to be at least $150 million.

Charity

In 2001, along with his wife, he donated $100,000 to the Feminist Majority's campaign to stop gender apartheid in Afghanistan, to educate the public regarding the plight of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Mavis Leno is on the board of the Feminist Majority.

In 2009, he donated $100,000 to a scholarship fund at Salem State College in honor of Lennie Sogoloff. Mr. Sogoloff gave Leno his start at his jazz club, Lennie's-on-the-Turnpike.

Love Ride

Since 1985 Jay Leno has been the grand marshal for the Love Ride, a motorcycle charity event which since its founding in 1984 has raised nearly $14 million dollars for charities benefiting muscular dystrophy research and, in 2011, Autism Speaks.

Vehicle collection

Leno owns approximately 100 vehicles, not including about 90 motorcycles. He also has a website called "Jay Leno's Garage," which contains video clips and photos of his automobiles in detail.

He has a regular column in ''Popular Mechanics'' which showcases his car collection and gives advice about various automotive topics, including restoration and unique models, such as his jet-powered motorcycle and solar-powered hybrid. Leno also writes occasional "Motormouth" articles for ''The Sunday Times'', reviewing high-end sports cars and giving his humorous take on automotive matters.

References

External links

Official ''Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' web site

Jay Leno's Car Collection

Jay Leno's Columns at Octane magazine

''The New York Times'' on Leno's affiliation with McPherson College

Live performance videos from the Tonight Show

Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American voice actors Category:Actors from New York Category:American television actors Category:American film actors Category:Emerson College alumni Category:California Democrats Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Car collectors Category:Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Andover, Massachusetts Category:People from New Rochelle, New York Category:SEMA Members Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American people of Scottish descent

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