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Oprah Invites Jay and Conan to Appear on Her Show

Tonight was Conan O'Brien's last night as host of The Tonight Show. He decided to leave rather than put his show back thirty minutes. His $40 million settlement will no doubt ease some of the pain he's feeling. Jay Leno will move to The Tonight Show after the Olympics, and Jay can count on at least one major fan to help him spread the word: Oprah Winfrey. Oprah has also invited Conan O'Brien to appear, although Conan hasn't responded yet.

Oprah announced on her show today that Jay will be a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Oprah Winfrey said she is set to interview Jay Leno, and her production company said an offer has been made to Conan O'Brien to appear.

Winfrey said on her talk show Friday that she was going to Los Angeles for a "one-on-one" interview with Leno to air on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Thursday. O'Brien's appearance has not yet been confirmed, Harpo Productions said.
Will Conan show up and hug it out with Jay? Will they both cry? All signs point to....yes.

Posted on January 22, 2010
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Report: Leno Back to Tonight Show, Conan Leaves With Big Payday

According to Nikki Finke, the NBC/Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien disaster may be settled very soon. Nikki says there's a tentative deal to put Jay back hosting The Tonight Show at 11:35 p.m. and to pay Conan a lot of money to leave. They had to call in Ron Meyer, the president of Universal to get the parties even to speak to each other.
I've just learned that, for the past 48 hours, Universal Studios President/COO Ron Meyer was secretly drafted during this NBC late night crisis to negotiate a settlement between the network and Team Conan after O'Brien and his reps were threatened by NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker (see below). "Ron is a former agent, one of the biggest in Hollywood. He could get this done, so NBC used him," a source just told me. "No one would talk to each other, and they talked to Ron. He got everybody to talk to everybody."

The deal as sketched puts Jay Leno back hosting The Tonight Show, and Conan O'Brien exiting with a lot of money. But there are still some terms to be worked out -- which is why there hasn't been any announcement yet. But I'm warned that "anything can happen" now that Meyer did his duty, and NBC is back in charge. I can tell you there are definitely people around NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker who want to keep Conan in place at The Tonight Show. "But Zucker is digging in his heels because of the bad press. He's being stubborn," a Team Conan insider just told me.
Jeff Zucker wants Conan gone and he doesn't want to pay him anything. But that's not reasonable, so someone else had to come in to mop up the mess. Nothing's signed yet, so the whole thing could blow up by morning.

Posted on January 14, 2010
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Conan to NBC: I'm Won't Move to New Timeslot

The late night talk show disaster just keeps rolling on. NBC has been pushing Conan for an answer about whether he'll agree to move The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m. Well, the suits got their answer: no way. Here's Conan's statement that he released today:
People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,

Conan
So far NBC has refused comment on Conan's amazingly brave statement. Will NBC cave and allow Conan to stay at 11:35? They've already committed to putting Jay Leno in that timeslot for half an hour with the hope that Conan will roll over and move his show back half an hour. Well, that's not happening. Although Conan says he has no formal offers, there are rumors that Fox wants to lure him away from NBC. In any event, it's not a happy day in the executive suites at NBC today. What a disaster they've created.

Posted on January 12, 2010
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Video: Conan Apologizes to Levi Johnston, Shatner Rides Again

Conan O'Brien was forced to apologize to Levi Johnston for having William Shatner read Levi's tweets as freeform poetry. Levi didn't post those items on Twitter, an imposter did. So Conan made his mea culpas to Levi, then promptly brought out William Shatner again to read some of Levi's writings. Only this time, Shatner used only verified quotes that Levi made to the media in various interviews. It's still hilarious. Take a look:



Posted on November 6, 2009
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Andy Richter Joins Conan O'Brien on The Tonight Show

Andy Richter is joining his old boss and friend Conan O'Brien in his new gig as host of The Tonight Show.
Richter, who was O'Brien's Late Night show sidekick from 1993-2000, has signed on to be the announcer on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien when the new version of the 11:30 p.m. NBC stalwart kicks off June 1.

In between taking on a role rendered iconic by former Tonight Show announcer Ed McMahon and ankling his sidekick gig on Late Night With Conan O'Brien in May 2000, Richter has been involved in several comedy series. Included in that run is short-lived Fox laffer Andy Richter Controls the Universe and also-short-lived Peacock skein Andy Barker, P.I.
It's a good move for Andy and it definitely adds to the new show.

Posted on February 24, 2009
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Jimmy Fallon's First Guests: DeNiro and Van Morrison

Jimmy Fallon is working hard on his guest lineup for his new talk show which debuts on March 2nd. Robert deNiro and Van Morrison will be his first guests.
Fallon replaces Conan O'Brien, who has his final show Friday before heading out west to take over the "Tonight" show in June. Morrison will perform material from his critically praised "Astral Weeks" album.

NBC says Tina Fey, Jon Bon Jovi, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Donald Trump and Serena Williams are among other guests scheduled for Fallon's first week on "Late Night."
Conan's are big shoes to fill.

Posted on February 19, 2009
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Alec Baldwin Channels Joaquin Phoenix

Alec Baldwin was his usually entertaining self when he was a guest on the Conan O'Brien show. Alec came out and did his Joaquin Phoenix imitation in honor of Joaquin's recent bizarre appearance on the David Letterman show. Take a look:



Posted on February 13, 2009
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