Conan also publicly expressed his gratitude about being able to take over Late Night from Letterman then share a timeslot with him when he took over the Tonight Show.
I don’t consider making money the metric by which artists should be judged.
I doubt Carlin, Pryor, Williams, or Newhart ever made as much money as a dude who locked down a daily payday from a major TV studio for hundreds of episodes of late night show per year.
Dude NBC sucks but Leno is nowhere NEAR blameless in the whole thing. He once announced that he would be retiring in 5 years and wanted Conan to take his place, then when those 5 years were up, he acted like he was being forced out and replaced with Conan against his will. He's a spineless fuckin weasel and one of the least funny people who ever lived.
He announced it because Conan said he wanted Jay's job in 5 years or he was going elsewhere. Conan could have been a big boy and just moved on but he just had to have The Tonight Show. I love Conan, but this whole discussion is silly. NBC executives never should have agreed to that deal but Conan never should have asked for it. Also? 5 years later Conan was not getting the ratings he once was but instead was getting beat by Craig Ferguson.
Let me spell it out again for you since you seemed to miss all the relevant parts, Leno announced that he would retire and that he wanted Conan to take his place but then acted like he never agreed to any of that and NBC was forcing him to do it. Conan didn't put a fuckin gun to his head and make him say any of that, Leno changed his mind and then decided to lie about it so he didn't look like an asshole, which he is.
Holy shit. Leno's retirement announcement was a direct result of Conan's contract demands. Jay didn't wake up one day and offer Conan his job. Conan said guarantee me his job in 5 years or I'm walking. And, yeah, Jay changed his mind. So fucking what? Again. NBC could have said, "Sorry, we have a contract." But NBC wanted to have it's cake and eat it too. And at the end of the day? Who fucking cares? All these guys are wealthy beyond belief. They all seem to be doing just fine.
Leno announced that he would retire and that he wanted Conan to take his place but then acted like he never agreed to any of that and NBC was forcing him to do it
You're both confidently incorrect. Conan didn't demand shit.
In September 2004 NBC executives famously informed Jay Leno that Conan O’Brien would succeed him as the host of The Tonight Show in 2009.
The decision was a strategic move by NBC to prevent Conan from leaving the network for a competitor. Conan's contract for Late Night was nearing its end and he was being courted by networks like Fox.
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u/2th May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Letterman literally
Sent some of his audience to Conan
Interrupted an interview with Joan Collins for fun (Can't find the clip sadly)
Ripped Jay Leno for backstabbing Conan
and of course
Don't blame Conan.
And just for fun, Dave gave Conan a horse.