Jay Leno: Gone from NBC late-night, but not forgotten by NBCUniversal. Jay Leno’s Garage online, and soon on CNBC?

When Jay Leno signed off this spring as host of NBC’s The Tonight Show for his second time, he meant it. And some speculated Leno might wind up following his former network boss Jeff Zucker over to Zucker’s new network on cable and CNN.

But Jay Leno’s Garage has remained active as an NBC site and webseries, producing new videos; the most recent, two days ago, about his Meyers Manx Dune Buggy.

The website won an Emmy in 2011 for Outstanding Special Class, Short-Form Nonfiction Programs (read: documentary webseries).

So why go anywhere? Why leave NBCUniversal if you don’t have to?

The Hollywood Reporter claims Leno is close to a deal with CNBC that would put his love of cars back on TV, and in primetime. THR’s sources “say no start date for the Leno show has been decided, nor has the frequency of the show, which will be a regular series.” CNBC produced and aired a one-hour special, Jay Leno’s Garage: The Ultimate Car Week, on Aug. 31, in conjunction with Leno’s Big Dog Productions. Leno and Tod Mesirow executive produced.

Roll it.

As NBC Entertainment President Bob Greenblatt told TV critics last year: “Nothing would make us happier than for him, à la Bob Hope, to still be a presence on the network.”

In the meantime, Jay Leno continues to tell jokes on the road on tour, and Sunday nights at The Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, Calif.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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