Jimmy Fallon draws most viewers in over 20 years for The Tonight Show during premiere week as new host
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Jimmy Fallon during his first week as host of The Tonight Show drew the most viewers to the late-night staple since 1993.
The 39-year-old comedian took over The Tonight Show on Feb. 17 following the departure of longtime 63-year-old host Jay Leno.
Fallon got a fast start with his premiere show on Monday pulling in a 7.1 rating, which is equivalent to about 11.3 million viewers.
First show: Jimmy Fallon, shown during his debut as host of The Tonight Show on February 17 with Will Smith, pulled in the show's highest weekly ratings since 1993
The first show included an appearance by Will Smith, a rooftop performance by U2 and a seemingly never-ending string of celebrity cameos that included Robert De Niro, Mariah Carey, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey, Seth Rogen, Mike Tyson and Lady Gaga.
Fallon kept the momentum up during his first week and pulled a nightly average of 8.5 million viewers with guests including Justin Timberlake, Bradley Cooper, Emma Thompson, First Lady Michelle Obama, Will Ferrell and Jonah Hill stopping by.
The show's weekly numbers were more than double the prior season-to-date, according to an article on Sunday by The Hollywood Reporter.
Famous friends: Jimmy welcomed fellow former Saturday Night Live comedian Kristen Wiig to his show during the first week
It also was the most-watched week of The Tonight Show since the Cheers send-off boosted its numbers in 1993.
Fallon - in the highly coveted 18-49 age demographic - averaged a healthy 2.8 rating with a boost on Friday by the appearance of Timberlake.
The Tonight Show scored its best week since 2005 among viewers under age 50.
Stream of celebrities: A steady stream of celebrities including Mariah Carey appeared on Jimmy's first show as part of a skit
Viewers also extended their interest to recordings of the show with Fallon's premiere jumping from a 3.8 rating to a 4.9 rating among adults 18-49 when DVR viewership was taken into account.
With DVR viewership counted, Fallon's premiere was the highest rated Tonight Show since Leno's debut in 1992.
The Tonight Show has been a regular fixture on NBC since 1954 and its longest-running and most famous host was Johnny Carson.
Huge guest: Justin Timberlake helped boost the new show's ratings on Friday when he performed
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daria, USA, 29 minutes ago
Watched him the first night, gave it a pass because it was the first show. Second show, 3 minutes into the monolog, turned it off and turned on Perry Mason. Been watching Perry ever since. :-)