Jay Leno (top) and Conan O’Brien: Talk time

Los Angeles, Sept. 28 (Reuters): Jay Leno, America?s leading late-night comedian as host of NBC?s The Tonight Show, will retire in 2009 and be replaced by Conan O?Brien, the offbeat comic whose own show airs an hour later, the network said yesterday.

Leno, 54, was to officially break the news to viewers on Monday?s broadcast marking the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show, a television institution he inherited from Johnny Carson in 1992.

In a statement issued by NBC, Leno said he had been planning to turn the programme over to O?Brien since March, when Leno extended his own contract for another five years to 2009.

O?Brien, 41, hosts NBC?s Late Night with Conan ?Brien, which is aired at 12:30 am, following The Tonight Show.

?In 2009, I?ll be 59 years old and will have had this dream job for 17 years,? Leno said. ?When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor, and there is no one more qualified than Conan. Plus, I promised (my wife) Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60.?

O?Brien signed a new contract yesterday that keeps him at Late Night for five years and guarantees he will succeed Leno in 2009.

No financial terms were disclosed, but media reports have valued Leno?s contract at more than $20 million a year.