Conan: I wouldn't do what Jay Leno did to me."

[benwolf]

CBS press release:
CONAN O’BRIEN SAYS HE WOULD NOT HAVE DONE WHAT JAY LENO DID TO HIM – “60 MINUTES”

In His First Post-Tonight Show Interview, He Tells Steve Kroft he wasn’t Even Sure NBC Really Wanted Him to Stay. Conan O’Brien says he would have left NBC rather than do what Jay Leno did to him, in his first interview since being forced off the Tonight Show. O’Brien’s interview with Steve Kroft will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES, Sunday, May 2 (7:00-8:00PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
“He went and took that show back and I think in a similar situation, if roles had been reversed, I know-- I know me, I wouldn't have done that,” O’Brien says. “If I had surrendered The Tonight Show and handed it over to somebody publicly and wished them well-- and then…six months later. But that's me, you know. Everyone's got their own, you know, way of doing things,” he tells Kroft. Asked by Kroft what he would have done, O’Brien says, “Done something else, go someplace else. I mean, that's just me.”

O’Brien eventually left NBC, deciding not to play second-fiddle to Leno. He says he didn’t see the point in giving his all in a relationship that seemed to have no future. “I think this relationship is going be toxic and maybe we just need to go our separate ways,” he says. “That's really how it felt to me…and I started to feel that I'm not sure these people even really want me here….I can't do it [anymore].”

 

[landtuna]

Ya, poor Conan. It was Leno who screwed him all right. His ratings fell through the floor and he lost the support of his network and their affiliates.

That's show biz pal. Just ask Benny, Skelton (and many more people much more popular and talented than you).

 

[pab]

Leno's ratings dropped when he took over for Carson. Especially once Letterman started on CBS. But he was given a chance. O'Brien wasn't.

 

[Mainedude2007]

Leno's ratings dropped when he took over for Carson. Especially once Letterman started on CBS. But he was given a chance. O'Brien wasn't.

NBC was in a much better state back in '92, '93, '94 and '95.....they had Cheers, Seinfield and Friends and now that have......???

 

[KentBrockman]

I am not an O'Brien fan, but when I sat in at a 'Tonight Show' taping a couple weeks ago, Leno came across as a distant, very cold guy in person. He pretty much came out and "phoned it in." Very little pre-show interaction with the audience and a scowl on his face during the breaks... in which he ignored the audience again. Then he got irritated at audience members for clapping after he taped the promos for the affiliates. He is very different when the cameras are on. On the flipside... I've seen Carson tape in person more times than I can count in NY & Burbank(showing my old age ). What you saw on Carson's 'Tonight' was how the guy really was.... joking around with band members & crew and interacting with the audience during breaks and after the show. He was having fun. I seems like Leno is just there to do a gig and collect a paycheck.

 

[DToTheJ]

...when I sat in at a 'Tonight Show' taping a couple weeks ago, Leno came across as a distant, very cold guy in person... Very little pre-show interaction with the audience and a scowl on his face during the breaks... in which he ignored the audience again. Then he got irritated at audience members for clapping after he taped the promos for the affiliates. He is very different when the cameras are on...

Please be sure to give this information to Bill Carter, if he doesn't already have it.

 

[pab]

There are also reports that NBC has been using laugh tracks and "sweetening" audience response on Leno, most notably on the Sarah Palin appearance. Were there any signs of that on the show you attended the taping for?

 

[TheBigA]

To say Jay Leno "surrendered" The Tonight Show doesn't tell the real story. Leno had no choice. Conan had a contract that said he was going to take over The Tonight Show on a certain date, regardless of circumstances. The problem was that Leno was still immensely popular on that date. So NBC was stuck removing a host that was still #1 in his daypart. No one forced Johnny Carson to retire. No one had a contract that stipulated that Carson had to leave his show by a certain date. Conan did that to Leno, and if roles were reversed, I don't think Leno would have done that to Conan.

 

[imhomerjay]

No no, we may not deviate from Team CoCo's narrative that somehow Conan was screwed over, even if he DID set the whole thing in motion.

Not to mention it's pretty hard to say he got the shaft with the tens of millions of dollars he took home for refusing to have a show air 30 minutes later.

He took a gamble by pushing for a hard date to push Jay out the door. He lost, yet still padded his bank account quite nicely.

 

[KentBrockman]

There are also reports that NBC has been using laugh tracks and "sweetening" audience response on Leno, most notably on the Sarah Palin appearance. Were there any signs of that on the show you attended the taping for?

I think they MAY be sweetening it, especially during the monologue. They tape right at the crack of 4pm Pacific time and feed it up on the satellite at the same time (according to Jay). I'm not sure if they sweeten the show as it's taped/fed or add the laughs in later. But it seemed like there was more laughs when it aired later that night... or it could just be the way the studio audience was recorded. Too hard to to tell.

 

[landtuna]

Mistakenly, I thought perhaps the return of Leno to The Tonight Show would result in something equal or greater than his material and presentation on the earlier version. Sadly, it is worse. Much worse.

The infrequent banter between Jay and Kevin seems forced and only the occasional tangent into ad-lib-land produces anything of value.

The set is reminiscent of a turn-of-the-century Tiffany store and is as bland as the show itself.

Jay's writers haven't done him any favors either - his monologue being about as funny as the latest report from the Journal of American Proctologists. And he still shouts like a rookie comedian in a smokey, other-side-of-the-tracks night club.

Is this what American stand-up comedy has come to? Jay (I don't wanna be here but my ego won't let me quit) Leno, David (I'm trying to keep up with Tiger - the dirty old man) Letterman, Conan (I'm so hip because I say I'm so hip) O'Brian?

Personally I wish all three would disappear and one or more of the "also-rans" would get a shot. They couldn't be any worse.

 

[Nate Wesley]

That's show biz pal. Just ask Benny, Skelton (and many more people much more popular and talented than you).

Who?

 

[cd637299]

Question:

Maybe I am missing something here.....but didn't the $32M that Coco was paid come with a stipulation that he would not make comments like what's in the OP?

Can anyone clear up what Coco can cay and what he can't?

cd

 

[Mario500]

That's show biz pal. Just ask Benny, Skelton (and many more people much more popular and talented than you).

Who?

I would ask a similar question if I were given just the surnames, but I guess the poster was referring to Benjamin Kubelsky (Jack Benny) and Red Skelton.

 

[searadiofreak]

Interesting discussion on how these guys are off the air during breaks. I attended a Letterman taping late in his NBC days, and the man actually got up and paced all over the set with his head down during breaks. Of course, he probably had a lot on his mind during this era!

 

[fybush]

There may be a backup feed going to NYC during the 4 PM PT taping, but that's not the version of the Tonight Show that airs. There's some rush post-production that goes on in a control room at the other end of the Burbank lot (deep inside the "KNBC Building"), and the final version of the show gets fed to NYC at about 7 PM PT. At least that's what I was told during my recent visit to the facility - and it's what I saw, too, watching the production staff hard at work in that control room around 6 PM PT trying to put the finishing touches on the show.

 

[KentBrockman]

That 4pm Pacific live Leno feed has got to be a back-up then.

7pm Pacific/10pm Eastern seems like a short time window to feed a show that runs at 11:35 Eastern (I think it may be 11:34:30 now, LOL) just in case a technical problem pops up.

 

[oldvnewschool]

From watching the show lately it seems that they're trying to incorporate a little bit of the "The Jay Leno Show" flavor into The Tonight Show thinking that audience will follow

him into Tonight ;D

It isn't any better, but it couldn't be much worse than what Conan did in the 6 months he was on.

I actually prefer Leno as host this far is because he has a better pulse to the audience when he does his monologue than O' Brien waiting for 30 seconds or more

after his joke for sympathy applause.

It will be interesting during the summer months to see how the show will go once Eubanks leaves.

 

[LKellerIII]

Question:

Maybe I am missing something here.....but didn't the $32M that Coco was paid come with a stipulation that he would not make comments like what's in the OP?

Can anyone clear up what Coco can cay and what he can't?

cd

I'm not a lawyer, but in my admittedly limited understanding, confidentiality agreements generally involve the details of the settlement itself, or the details of the negotiations that led up to the settlement. I'm not aware of any instance in which a person was prohibited from giving their personal opinion of the people involved. So Conan is probably free to say what he wants about NBC management and Jay Leno.

 

[formeraa]

Liar!