Thursday, April 1, 2010

Leno claims he and Conan O'Brien both got screwed

Jay Leno didn’t pull any punches last night – he made it clear that “Conan got screwed, and I got screwed”. After Sept. 1, Jay Leno said he expects Conan to start his own competing late-night show. NBC compensated Conan O’Brien $ 32 million in debt settlement relief to get him to vacate the Tonight Show couch.

Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien battled it out

When Conan O’Brien took over the NBC Tonight Show, Jay Leno helmed a prime-time variety show. Many NBC affiliates saw their 11pm ratings drop by double digits after the prime time show premiered. NBC decided to cancel the experiment and kick O’Brien off the tonight show after only a few months.

Leno chats with joy Behar

Before going on the Tonight Show, Joy Behar recorded an interview with Leno in the Tonight Show green room. In the course of the interview, Joy Behar heard about Jay Leno’s philosophy on comedy and the way the business of television works. Leno told her “The reason how business pays a lot of cash is, whenever you get screwed you have something left over (sic)”. Never one to put all his eggs in one basket, Leno traveled to Vegas to perform his stand-up show after taping both interviews.

Conan takes Team CoCo on the road

Conan O’Brien cannot return to TV until September, according to the terms of his small personal loan from NBC. Conan O’Brien has chosen instead to take his show on the live performance circuit. With tour dates around the country, “Team Coco” is quickly selling out everywhere it goes. Will Conan fulfill Jay’s expectation that O’Brien will return to live TV? With the number of fans and supporters, it wouldn’t be too hard to do. No major TV networks have said anything about talking with Conan – yet.



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