NBC originally called The Tonight Show Tonight! when the program launched in 1954.
The series began on September 27, 1954, with Steve Allen as host. Its original title was the simple, punctuation-marked Tonight!, reflecting the program’s role as a new late-evening television offering rather than the fully established franchise name audiences know today.
The title later evolved as the show changed hosts and formats. Jack Paar hosted the program after Allen, and Johnny Carson’s long run eventually made The Tonight Show one of television’s most recognizable brands. Historical references may therefore use Tonight!, Tonight, or The Tonight Show for closely related periods.
The early program helped establish the late-night talk-show template: an opening monologue, comedy features, celebrity conversations, musical performances, and interaction with a studio audience. Its initial title is easy to overlook because the modern name became dominant, but it identifies the show’s earliest broadcast era.