LOS ANGELES: US President Barack Obama is to be comedian Jay Leno’s guest on The Tonight Show, on March 19, the first time a sitting president has been on the late night talk show, NBC and the White House said.

“It will be happening

and we will send a press release shortly,” Leno’s spokeswoman, Tracy St Pierre, told AFP on March 16. The NBC studios are in Burbank, a suburb north of Los Angeles.

An administration official confirmed that Obama would take part in the broadcast, which will be pre-recorded.

Obama is planning to visit California in the middle of the week to promote his economic recovery plan.

He is scheduled to hold a ‘town hall’ meeting on March 18 in Costa Mesa, California and then to tour an electric vehicle factory in Pomona on March 19, the White House said.

Obama has appeared on the late night comedy shows before as a candidate, but NBC said this will be the first time a serving president has been on The Tonight Show.