Jay Leno made a crack at the NBC executives on Monday night calling them "snakes."

Comedian Jay Leno insulted his Tonight Show execs during his monologue at the start of Monday's episode, referring to them as "snakes."

"Well you know the whole legend of St. Patrick, right?" Leno asked his audience. "St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland, and then they came here to the United States and became NBC executives."

"It's a fascinating, fascinating story," he added.

While Jay Leno has never been very shy about criticizing his network to get a laugh, the latest attack comes after reports that the host will be replaced next year.

Last month Leno made several rather harsh jokes about NBC's low ratings. "For the first time in history NBC is going to finish fifth in the ratings period," he said in his February 28 monologue. "We are behind the Spanish-language network Univision - or as we call it here in Los Angeles: Cinco de Ratings."

In another joke, the late night host remarked, "It's so bad, The Biggest Loser isn't just a TV show anymore; it's our new motto."

After the series of ratings jokes, one of the "snakes," NBC entertainment head Robert Greenblatt, sent Jay Leno an email expressing the networks unhappiness about the comments.

This reportedly triggered a rather heated exchange between the two men leading to rumors that Jay Leno is going to be replaced by Jimmy Fallon next year.

In response to the slap on the wrist, Leno defended his actions saying that making jokes at about their network is a long-standing tradition among late night talk show hosts.

NBC is reportedly not firing Jay Leno over the "snakes" comment, or even the other jokes made at their expense. Rather it is in reaction to the falling ratings and, by switching over to Fallon, the hope that they can maintain their younger viewers who have been gradually making the shift over to ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live.