Leno Out of Hospital and "Doing Well," Will Return to Tonight on Monday

Update

Leno Out of Hospital and "Doing Well," Will Return to Tonight on Monday

Sat., Apr. 25, 2009 6:05 AM PDT by Josh Grossberg

Paul Drinkwater/NBC

Jay Leno is "doing very well." And that's no joke.

After being laid up in a hospital Thursday night and forced to cancel his first Tonight Show episodes since taking over from Johnny Carson, the late-night funnyman is home and ready to get back to work, his reps tell E! News.

"We are happy to say that Jay Leno is feeling much better and has been released from the hospital. He's anxious to return to work on Monday," said a spokeswoman for NBC.

Leno was discharged from Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center on Friday afternoon. His publicist, Dick Guttman, says doctors held Leno overnight for observation purely as a precautionary measure.

While Leno will likely mine his stint in sick bay for laughs when he returns to Tonight on Monday, he'll spend the rest of the weekend resting up from whatever ailed him.

Guttman was unable to confirm reports that comedian had been struck by food poisoning or dehydration.

"I'm not sure that's the case but whatever it was, it certainly was severe enough that he couldn't do the show but it wasn't symptomatic of anything major and he'll be back on Monday," the rep said.

Aside from Thursday and Friday's Tonight Shows, Leno, who turns 59 next Tuesday, also canceled his two weekend standup gigs in Las Vegas.

(Originally published April 24, 2009, at 1:50 p.m. PT)