O'Brien To Take Leno's Seat

Jay Leno will graciously give NBC's The Tonight Show to Late Night host Conan O'Brien in 2009, the network announced Monday.

"In 2009, I'll be 59 years old and will have had this dream job for 17 years," Leno said in NBC's statement. "I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor and there is no one more qualified than Conan."

O'Brien, 41, has signed a contract to stay in his current job at Late Night which airs at 12:30 a.m. ET for the next five years and then take over the top-rated late night show when Leno retires, according to CNN.com.

"Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien continue to be the most successful combination in all of late night," said NBC senior vice president Rick Ludwin. "We have locked in the future ... for years to come."

In a press statement O'Brien called The Tonight Show "one of the great franchises in television" and said he is "thrilled to get this opportunity."

"I am thankful to everyone at NBC -- which has been my home for the last 11 years -- and I am particularly grateful to Jay for all the generous support and kindness he has always shown me," he said.

O'Brien is a former writer for Saturday Night Live, and The Simpsons and has been on Late Night since 1993.