EXCLUSIVE: Jay Leno-hosted Tonight Show will air its last episode on February 6, and, per terms of his show exit deal with NBC, the cast and crew will be paid until his contract expires in September. Tonight EP Debbie Vickers made the announcement today to staffers at the show, informed sources report. It’s unclear how many crew and staff were at the meeting on the show’s Burbank lot. At one point it was reported Tonight had about 170 total staffers, including some contract workers. NBC declined comment on today’s news. 
 
 The announcement isn’t a total surprise. At NBC’s Upfront presentation to advertisers in May, the network officially announced that Jay Leno would end his 22-year run on Tonight Show during the week leading up to the 2014 Winter Olympics — which start February 7. NBC also announced Jimmy Fallon would replace him on Monday, February 24, the night after the closing ceremony, followed by the debut of Late Night With Seth Meyers at 12:30 AM. Fallon’s Tonight Show will be broadcast from New York City; Lorne Michaels is exec producing, and Fallon’s Late Night writer Amy Ozols has been named producer. 
 
 Vickers’ announcement was made one week after NBC Entertainment chief Bob Greenblatt confirmed the network is having talks with Leno about “various ideas” for Leno after he ends his run on the late night show in February. “Nothing would make us happier for Jay, a la Bob Hope, to have presence at the network, we’re really hoping to do that, post February,” he told TV critics at Summer TV Press Tour 2013. Talks to replace Leno – this time – started when Greenblatt joined NBC at the beginning of 2011, Greenblatt said, adding that the timing after the 2014 Winter Olympics was decided “to give Jimmy Fallon the best chance of succeeding. We really believe in Jimmy Fallon.” 
 
 Leno has continued to dominate late night TV ratings — he clocked his biggest numbers with President Obama’s Tonight Show visit last night since his last visit to the show nine months ago. And, in his final May sweep before handing over the Tonight Show anchor desk to Fallon, Leno won the key ratings period from April 25-May 22. Tonight bettered time-slot rivals Late Show With David Letterman at CBS and Jimmy Kimmel Live at ABC in every key sales category, and matched its highest margin of victory over Letterman in the 18-49 viewers in nine years. Against Kimmel, Leno grew its 18-49 lead compared with the February sweeps from 12% to 30% in 18-49 and from 39% to 42% in total viewers. But, NBC is having no second thoughts about the transition, according to Greenblatt, who dismissed the numbers as something NBC predicted it would se when the network announced it would be Jay’s final year. “The same happened with Johnny Carson — and Jay’s previous final year,” Greenblatt said. ||||| For the third consecutive night, Tonight Show host Jay Leno took a swipe at his NBC bosses amidst reports that he will be replaced by Jimmy Fallon sometime before 2014. 
 
 Various reports over the last several weeks have indicated that network executives are displeased with Leno’s repeated jokes about the network’s “poor” ratings. The standoffish relationship between Leno and his bosses came to a hilt yesterday when the New York Times reported that the late-night show would move to New York and have a new host within the next year. 
 
 “According to several reports — this is kind of scary — scientists say they’re getting closer and closer to being able to do Jurassic Park-style cloning of extinct species,” the monologue joke began. “Imagine that? Things once thought to be extinct can now be brought back from the dead.” 
 
 And the punchline: “So there’s hope for NBC. It could turn around.” 
 
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 >> Follow Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) on Twitter ||||| Conan O'Brien is wishing he had been nicer to Ryan Seacrest. 
 
 "I thought about something today," he said Thursday during his penultimate monologue as host of The Tonight Show. 
 
 "Over the years I've made a lot of fun of Ryan Seacrest, Larry King, Spencer Pratt, Geraldo, David Hasselhoff, Kirstie Alley and Donald Trump. And here's the messed up thing—they all still have shows." 
 
 "As you all know by now, tomorrow is our last show here," he said. "I'd like to apologize to the guests that were scheduled for next week: President Barack Obama, the pope, the queen of England and our good friend, Elvis Presley." 
 
 While it's common knowledge that O'Brien signed a $33 million deal (plus $12 mil for his staff) that prevents him from suing NBC for breach of contract and requires that he not assume late-night hosting duties for another network until Sept. 1, the deposed funnyman let slip a few other stipulations in the agreement he inked today: 
 
 • "I am prohibited from coming within 500 yards of 11:30." 
 
 • "I must return the Etch-A-Sketch my contract was written on." 
 
 • "I'm not allowed to make fun of NBC programming. I have to let the programming speak for itself." 
 
 • "The cop who escorts me off the lot after my last show must have the rank of lieutenant or higher." 
 
 • "Max Weinberg must surrender his key to the women's locker room at the NBC gym." 
 
 • "Have to watch at least one NBC show every weeknight in order to double ratings." 
 
 • "Effective today, NBC will stop paying for Andy Richter's medical marijuana, and medical Jack Daniels." 
 
 • "Must stop production on my documentary expose of NBC: Inside the 'Cock." 
 
 So long as his freedom isn't hindered any further than that, O'Brien should be happy at Fox whichever network he ends up. 
 
 "Obviously this was not our first choice—it wasn't our eighth choice—but I'm determined to make the best of this situation," he said. "So, ladies and gentleman, and people watching, here is the plan. Tonight and tomorrow night, we are going to have a lot of fun on television, that's what we're going to do." 
 
 Before scheduled whirling dervish Robin Williams appeared, Pee-wee Herman showed up to act out the NBC-Conan feud with a stuffed peacock and a giraffe with a mop of red hair attached to its head, and Ben Stiller presented his own highlight reel of the Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien's best moments. 
 
 Of course, it only consisted of a montage of Stiller's appearances, but still. It's the thought that counts. 
 
 Adding to the elegiac tone of the evening was Jimmy Fallon, who had nothing but great things to say about Conan. 
 
 "If there's one thing I've learned from David Letterman and Conan," he said of his Late Night predecessors, "it's that hosting this show is a one-way ticket to not hosting the Tonight Show." 
 
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 Tell us what you're looking for in entertainment and celebrity news. Complete this survey and you will be entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win $500. Click here for full sweepstakes rules. ||||| “Clearly our goal has been to make this a smooth transition,” Mr. Burke said in a telephone interview. “Jay deserves to be treated like someone who has done a wonderful thing for our company for two decades.” 
 
 To underscore that commitment Mr. Burke contacted Mr. Leno late last month to try to quell a dispute between Mr. Leno and Robert Greenblatt, the top NBC entertainment executive in Los Angeles. Mr. Greenblatt had irritated the host by questioning why he was making barbed jokes about the network’s ratings. After that incident Mr. Leno and Ms. Vickers began to feel isolated from NBC’s West Coast management. 
 
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 Mr. Burke assured Mr. Leno that he wanted him to feel comfortable with the transition plan, and that he could stay on to the last day of his contract in September 2014, if that was his choice. 
 
 Mr. Leno said he told Mr. Burke: “I appreciate that, but it’s not really necessary. And I don’t want to make it harder for Jimmy. I want to hand off something that’s going to make it easier.” 
 
 Mr. Leno said he suggested, “If we really want to give him a good send-off, how about after the Olympics?” He said the Winter Games in February would give NBC the chance to promote the new host to big audiences and avoid more competitive start-up times like the summer. “ ‘The Tonight Show’ was No. 1 when I got it,” Mr. Leno said. “I’ve kept it No. 1 for about 90 percent of my term here, and I would like to see Jimmy keep it at No. 1, which I’m sure he will.” 
 
 Mr. Fallon, meanwhile, was waiting for the smoke to clear. His contract for his own NBC show, “Late Night,” had two years left to run, taking him into 2015. He decided to concentrate on his show, stepping back and allowing Mr. Leno and NBC to decide on a plan. He said he never wanted any part of pushing anyone to do anything. “I just kind of wanted to keep doing my job well,” he said. 
 
 Amid the overheated rumors of the past month Mr. Fallon said he and Mr. Leno talked frequently and made sure they remained on friendly terms. “I have nothing but respect for Jay,” Mr. Fallon said. “If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have a show to be taking over.” 
 
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 Lorne Michaels , Mr. Fallon’s executive producer and someone who is often at the center of NBC late-night maneuvers, said Mr. Leno had been gracious toward Mr. Fallon. “What has been key to this transition has been the absolute consideration for everyone’s feelings by all involved,” Mr. Michaels said. “It has been a transparent process.” 
 
 What was quietly set early on, though, was the decision to move the show back to New York. Mr. Fallon had spoken with NBC and Mr. Michaels about his desire to stay in New York if he became the “Tonight” host. Mr. Burke liked the idea. 
 
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 “It starts from who Jimmy is,” he said. “Jimmy is a New York guy, and the idea of having a show that is in the city Jimmy has always lived in and has Jimmy’s sensibility made sense.” 
 
 Mr. Michaels, who has been producing late-night television at NBC’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center since he created “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, endorsed the idea. “There’s no place in the world better to do a show than 30 Rock,” he said. “I know that because I do one every week.” 
 
 Mr. Leno said he had concluded on his own that his current contract would most likely be his last for “The Tonight Show,” though that point was unspoken at the time he signed. He did not deny that he takes pride in his long success at “Tonight,” which often came in the face of persistent critics and doubters. 
 
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 “I’m glad I’ve kept it No. 1,” Mr. Leno said. “When I started people said, ‘Oh the only reason you’re winning is because of ‘ER,’ or ‘The only reason you’re winning is because Hugh Grant came on and said that one thing.’ Well, at least now I can say the only reason we’re winning is ’cause we’re winning.” 
 
 Mr. Leno will be 64 in 2014. After leaving “Tonight,” he said, he expects to be “back on the road, being a comedian again.” 
 
 It is a life Mr. Leno has never really left, one he shares with his wife, Mavis, who frequently travels with him. “I know what my priorities are,” he said. “I have the same friends from high school. I have had the same wife for 33 years. When times are good, you have fun. When times are bad, you put your head down and work.” 
 
 His strong belief in just doing the work is one reason some who have worked with him suggested he could never step away from the nightly quest to tell a great monologue joke. But he dismissed suggestions that he would seek out another television show — at least for now. 
 
 “There are a lot of things to do,” Mr. Leno said. “I’ve done this job for a long time, and I really enjoy it. Would I do it again? Believe me, the phone’s not ringing off the hook. It will be nice if people seem interested. But I’ll let it sit where it is.”
– Hmm, can anyone think of a reason Jay Leno might be unhappy with NBC? Amid rumors that he's being replaced as Tonight Show host by Jimmy Fallon, Leno has mocked his network for the past three nights, the AP reports. Late night hosts often take potshots at the hand that feeds them, but this time around the network has asked Leno to stop. He hasn't: Last night: "Scientists say they’re getting closer and closer to being able to do Jurassic Park-style cloning of extinct species. Imagine that? Things once thought to be extinct can now be brought back from the dead. So there’s hope for NBC. It could turn around." (Hat tip to Mediaite for the video.) Tuesday: Referring to a Serbian woman with a rare brain condition that causes her to see the world upside down, he quipped, "Isn't that crazy? It's unbelievable. She sees everything upside down. In fact, she thinks NBC is at the top of the ratings." Monday: "You know the whole legend of St. Patrick, right? St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland—and then they came to the United States and became NBC executives." Fallon, who has called Leno to try and smooth things over, also addressed the rumors last night, according to the Hollywood Reporter: "Before we get started, I have to talk about the rumors that came out today that I'll be moving up to 11:30—or as my parents call it, eh, too late. Actually the rumors are true; NBC is turning the Tonight Show into a diving competition," he said, a reference to new ABC reality show Splash. And in an interview for the April issue of GQ, Fallon said hosting the iconic show "would be great, sure, I guess. I'd love it, but it's not on my mind. I'm in no rush to do anything. I'm kind of a boring character in that book. I'm not in a fight with Jay or Conan, or any of them." (In the same article, Lorne Michaels says a Fallon takeover is inevitable, calling the comedian "the closest to Carson that I've seen of this generation.") Still no official word on the all-but-certain rumors, but NBC did confirm yesterday that it is creating a new New York studio for Fallon, who already hosts Late Night in the city. Leno hosts Tonight in Burbank. One analyst notes that the transition could take place during next year's Winter Olympics. "If they're going to do it, it makes sense to do it when NBC is dominating television for 17 days," and can heavily promote the switch, he says. "They could have Fallon in Sochi, talking it up."