Reports: Brian Williams Told NBC Execs He Wanted To Replace Jay Leno

Suspended NBC anchor Brian Williams reportedly didn’t want to just read the news — or even slow jam it — for the rest of his career.

The frequent late-night TV guest had expressed serious interest in hosting “The Tonight Show” once NBC began looking for a replacement for Jay Leno, the New York Times and New York Magazine reported Tuesday.

“Brian wants to be a late-night comedian,” a former colleague of the anchor’s told New York Magazine’s Gabriel Sherman. “He traded on being Nightly Newsanchorman-war-reporter to ingratiate himself with Jimmy, Lorne Michaels, and Jon Stewart.”

But top NBC brass refused to play along. They told Williams that the idea was ludicrous and that he should stick to journalism, two anonymous industry executives with knowledge of the discussions told the Times.

NBC announced Tuesday night that the longtime “Nightly News” anchor would be suspended without pay for six months, after Williams admitted that he told a false story about flying aboard a helicopter that was forced down by enemy fire in Iraq in 2003. In a memo to staff, NBC News President Deborah Turness said the network had “concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field.”