Thursday, Apr. 01, 2010

Jay Leno

Age: 59
Occupation: Late-night talk-show host
Previous TIME 100 Appearances: 1

While he joked on the air about getting "fired" from The Jay Leno Show, most workers would love to get fired so well: he walked back into the job he never wanted to leave, as host of The Tonight Show. Despite an ugly public fight and the ire of Conan O'Brien fans, he returned to late-night No. 1 again — though with David Letterman closer than when Leno left.