The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - Season 22

Jay Leno, with guest Dana Carvey, is nearing the end of his run as host of "The Tonight Show." He's been a ratings leader, but the rest of Leno's legacy isn't very memorable.

(Paul Drinkwater/NBC)

As his run as host of

nears its end -- for the second time --

is displaying a stiff upper lip to match his famously jutting jaw. In all the interviews he's given, from

to magazines, Leno is staying consistent with his talking points. He doesn't resent NBC replacing him as host with

; Leno's contract will be up later this year, and when asked to leave early to give Fallon the prime spot after NBC's Winter Olympics coverage, Leno said yes; at age 63, it feels like a good time to leave; Fallon's talented and the kinds of bits he does, singing with Justin Timberlake and so on, aren't things Leno can do. Check, check, and check.

What's most striking about the run-up to Leno's last show, Feb. 6, is how there doesn't seem to be a moist eye in the house when it comes to his departure.

Contrast that to the waves of nostalgia that swept the country as

the greatest late-night talk show host of all time, was wrapping up his career as host of "The Tonight Show." Admittedly, that was 1992, when TV was a more sparsely populated place, and there weren't numerous late-night viewing alternatives.

And it was Carson, who, despite his own aversion to sentimentality, drew affectionate tears from viewers as his last shows aired. His penultimate show as host, featuring Bette Midler singing to him, was one of the most touching TV moments in history.

At least Leno's departure this time lacks the messy fallout that occurred during the 2009-2010 debacle, when Leno was forced out of "The Tonight Show" seat to make room for

Since Leno was still drawing strong ratings, NBC gave him a five-night-a week show at 10 p.m.

That didn't last long, as the network and its affiliates weren't happy with the ratings for Leno's 10 p.m. show, or with how O'Brien was doing as host of "The Tonight Show." In early 2010, O'Brien decided to step down as host of "Tonight," rather than see it bumped back a half-hour, to make room for a Leno 11:30 show. Leno returned as "Tonight Show" host shortly after O'Brien's well-publicized exit.

The

, and it didn't do Leno much good, either. While O'Brien was seen as the hero of the saga, not wishing to besmirch the legacy of "The Tonight Show" by seeing it ejected from its decades-old time slot, Leno drew fire from many sources, including other comedians, notably ABC's late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel.

This time, following last year's announcement that made official what industry experts had predicted -- that Fallon would inherit "The Tonight Show" in 2014 -- the transition is proceeding in a more dignified manner.

But where are the tears for Leno? Especially considering that, during most of his tenure, he's kept "The Tonight Show" as the top-rated late-night show?

Tuning into a recent show, it was strange how unremarkable everything seemed. Leno, as has been his custom for a while, made a crack about being aged out of his hosting gig. Joking about the Grammy awards telecast, for example, Leno mentioned the performance by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

"Some people still enjoy the older entertainers," he said. But then he moved along, the unstoppable motor of the monologue crushing anything that might feel like genuine emotion.

Watching Leno do the show that he first took over back in 1992, it felt like it could have been any night between then and now. Leno worships the convention of the monologue, and he dutifully told joke after joke, ranging from celebrity gossip (Justin Bieber's misbehavior) to toothless political gags (New Jersey, a timeless punchline if ever there was one) to sports (the Lakers' losing streak).

A few taped bits ("Cat Theater" featured video of a cat rolling around in a bucket) were tucked into the monologue, which made it seem to last forever. When it came time to sit behind the desk, Leno did his "Headlines" bit, which he's been doing for years. Then guest Dana Carvey came out, and proceeded to do celebrity imitation schtick, with Leno feeding him prompts.

The new episode of "

which followed, couldn't have been a starker contrast. While Leno uses his professionalism as a bullet-deflecting shield, keeping his personal beliefs and passions hidden behind its barrier, Fallon is all naked enthusiasm and geeky energy.

At 39, Fallon doesn't just sit there behind the desk. Like the digital-literate viewers who have shared videos from Fallon's show on the Internet, the host wants to get involved, whether he's doing lip-sync battle with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, singing with Timberlake or, as in a recent show, donning a suit of armor for a ridiculous race with Johnny Knoxville, of "Jackass" fame.

When Barry Gibb, the Bee Gees frontman who Fallon has done a nutty imitation of in the "Barry Gibb Talk Show" sketches on "Saturday Night Live," sat down for a chat, it wasn't long before Fallon was singing Everly Brothers tunes with Gibb.

Fallon makes no secret of being a fan of his favorite guests, and his love of music bubbles up at the drop of a hat. Where Leno in many ways seems alone at his "Tonight Show" post -- he doesn't trade lines with his announcer, or kid around much with his bandleader, Rickey Minor -- Fallon bounces off his announcer Steve Higgins, and treats house band The Roots like costars.

From what Fallon has been saying,

and again at the Television Critics Association winter press event, he doesn't plan to do much different as host of "The Tonight Show." And why should he? He's not going far. Under him, the show returns to New York, to the studio where Carson hosted before the show moved to California, in 1972. Fallon and his writers have crafted a solid foundation, making the most of Fallon's skills at sketch comedy, musical performance, parody, and building recurring bits, such as the "Thank You Notes" feature.

Fallon's show, like Carson's, is tailored to its host's personality and talents. Leno's "Tonight Show," by comparison, seems like an efficiently manufactured product, aimed at what Leno and his writers think are middle-of-the-road, across-the-board tastes, neither too hard or too soft.

Plenty of people like what Leno created, as the ratings indicate. He's easy to take, undemanding company. But when we look back at the big moments during his years on the job, they're few and far between. Sure, he got lots of laughs and attention when Hugh Grant -- fresh from a scandal involving the actor being arrested for "lewd conduct" with a prostitute -- appeared on the show, in 1995. "What the hell were you thinking?" Leno asked Grant, and that speaking-for-everybody moment was pivotal for Leno surging ahead of CBS' David Letterman in the late-night ratings race.

But beyond that, what do we think of when we think of Leno's "Tonight Show" years? His heart is in the monologue, and talking about his beloved cars. Leno can be engaged and amused when he's talking to other comedians. But for the most part, he's been a big, smiling, amiable, capable blank. His passion seems to have been doing the job as skillfully as he could, ruffling as few feathers as possible, and revealing as little about what really makes him tick as he can manage.

So when Leno says goodbye on Feb. 6, joined by guests Billy Crystal and Garth Brooks, chances are good that he'll deliver the same kind of show he's given us from the start: competent, consistent and surprisingly unmemorable.

-- Kristi Turnquist