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Jay Leno Reflects On Conan's Farewell: "I Hold No Ill Will Towards Conan, It’s a Business"
Posted on 9/20/21 at 10:57 am
Posted on 9/20/21 at 10:57 am
quote:LINK
Asked about Conan O’Brien’s farewell on TBS, where his nightly talk show ended in the spring, he mused, “He’s very good. People get mad at me because somehow I …. It’s a network decision,” he said, alluding to the high drama a decade ago around the NBC late-night block. O’Brien was anointed by NBC as the successor to Leno, but the network reversed course, leaving O’Brien without a network home (but with tens of millions of dollars for his trouble). “They take the show away and then they go, ‘Will you come back?’ And you go, ‘Really? Is that what you want? Fine.’ I certainly hold no ill will. It’s a business.”
12
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:00 am to Bench McElroy
Neither are at fault.
It’s all on the assholes at NBC
It’s all on the assholes at NBC
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:00 am to Bench McElroy
Lol, good to know it wasn’t personal for Leno.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:01 am to JetsetNuggs
NBC - same geniuses who fired Norm MacDonald.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:04 am to Bench McElroy
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:11 am to Bench McElroy
Why would Jay hold ill will towards Conan? Conan was the one that got fricked.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:12 am to Bench McElroy
Letterman responds to Jay Leno saying, "Don't blame Conan." (YouTube)
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:20 am to jlovel7
Exactly. Leno got Conan's job. I don't blame Leno for taking it. That's too much money to pass up. But shouldn't Conan forgiving Jay be actual news?
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:30 am to Bench McElroy
I never really paid a ton of attention to all this but it’s easy to take the high road when you’re the one who benefitted from it 
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:36 am to jlovel7
quote:
Why would Jay hold ill will towards Conan? Conan was the one that got fricked.
This all day. Holding ill will toward Conan would make Jay a complete a-hole. Like someone else said, Conan holding no ill will toward Jay would make more sense.
And if it went down like Jay says...where they reverse course and THEN ask Jay to come back...then he's good. But if he meddled and helped get Conan fired because he wanted his old gig back, then that's a little more involved and dirty obviously. Who the frick knows what actually happened though.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:40 am to Bench McElroy
While I like Conan more than Leno, I just don't think Conan could have ever succeeded at The Tonight Show.
The Tonight Show is a legacy late night franchise. Conan's brand of comedy was a sarcastic deconstruction of that model the Tonight Show pioneered.
Conan was already compromising his brand of comedy by toning down the more outrageous bits from his Late Night show.
Fallon is much more of a company man than Conan ever was. Less sarcasm, less self-deprecating humor. You need someone like that to helm the flagship of late night.
The Tonight Show is a legacy late night franchise. Conan's brand of comedy was a sarcastic deconstruction of that model the Tonight Show pioneered.
Conan was already compromising his brand of comedy by toning down the more outrageous bits from his Late Night show.
Fallon is much more of a company man than Conan ever was. Less sarcasm, less self-deprecating humor. You need someone like that to helm the flagship of late night.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:41 am to CocomoLSU
Leno is a snake. Johnny Carson knew it, Letterman knew it, and Conan knew it. He's always played this aww shucks thing while he slithered around making his moves. The fact that he thinks he actually has ground to have any ill will toward Conan where he would actually try to act like it's classy for him to say he has no ill will is proof he's the same guy.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:42 am to CocomoLSU
I don't know if Conan would have been a success as Tonight Show host without being repeatedly undermined by JL. But if Jay wants to acknowledge his part honestly that would be a bare minimum at this point. Jay destroyed the strength of Conan's lead in with his shitty show instead of Conan getting his chance with a ER or somesuch.
He's still such a weasel.
He's still such a weasel.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:45 am to molsusports
quote:
I don't know if Conan would have been a success as Tonight Show host without being repeatedly undermined by JL. But if Jay wants to acknowledge his part honestly that would be a bare minimum at this point. Jay destroyed the strength of Conan's lead in with his shitty show instead of Conan getting his chance with a ER or somesuch.
Well, this was also around the time that NBC was floundering. They had great shows like Parks & Rec and Community, but most of their other content from 2008-present was lackluster.
They decided to give Leno a crummy hour-long variety show at the 10e/9c time slot, MTWTF. It was really a ratings dump and, yes, really killed the lead-in for the Conan-era Tonight Show.
This post was edited on 9/20/21 at 11:46 am
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:56 am to Big EZ Tiger
Sandler’s appearance on Late Night in Conan’s run comes to mind.
Sandler had his contract for the final year of SNL in 1995-1996 bought out by NBC, despite him wanting to be on television. His agent told him that NBC stands for “Nothing But Cocksuckers.”
Sandler had his contract for the final year of SNL in 1995-1996 bought out by NBC, despite him wanting to be on television. His agent told him that NBC stands for “Nothing But Cocksuckers.”
Posted on 9/20/21 at 11:59 am to UndercoverBryologist
quote:
While I like Conan more than Leno, I just don't think Conan could have ever succeeded at The Tonight Show.
The Tonight Show is a legacy late night franchise. Conan's brand of comedy was a sarcastic deconstruction of that model the Tonight Show pioneered.
Conan was already compromising his brand of comedy by toning down the more outrageous bits from his Late Night show.
Fallon is much more of a company man than Conan ever was. Less sarcasm, less self-deprecating humor. You need someone like that to helm the flagship of late night.
I definitely agree with that. I always liked Conan, but admittedly never was a religious watcher of his show. And his bran of comedy isn't suited for "old people," who are the main market for a show like LN. And unfortunately for Conan, I'd guess that the younger crowd that comprised a lot of his fan base just doesn't watch much late night TV, especially talk shows.
However, I do wish Conan would have been given more time to try to succeed though. Sure, he can't still do all of the same bits he did on his show, but he's a smart and funny guy that could've found his niche there and rolled with the stuff that worked. I think he could have built up his audience to an acceptable level at least.
And someone like Fallon, he's just a puppet who will do whatever it takes to keep the network happy. And all he has to do is set up the guests with their talking points and laugh at/freak out about everything.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 12:07 pm to Bench McElroy
Posted on 9/20/21 at 12:16 pm to CocomoLSU
Leno’s variety show originally tanked. He then went to NBC and specifically asked for the time slot in front of Conan’s show. When NBC moved him there, everyone knew Conan’s numbers would suffer, especially Leno. When they did, NBC went to Leno and asked him to take over.
As Letterman has said numerous times—-if you are out , get out. If you want to compete, go to another network and compete. If you want to scheme behind the scenes to get more money and do so by screwing others , then FU. There is a reason Leno is not well liked by his peers. Evidently he was notorious for similar behavior during his road days doing standup.
As Letterman has said numerous times—-if you are out , get out. If you want to compete, go to another network and compete. If you want to scheme behind the scenes to get more money and do so by screwing others , then FU. There is a reason Leno is not well liked by his peers. Evidently he was notorious for similar behavior during his road days doing standup.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 12:20 pm to michael corleone
Right, there is way too much smoke around "Leno is an a-hole and fricked over Conan" for there to not be at least some fire.
And that clip BilJ posted above kinda shows that. You can tell by Conan's reactions to Norm that he agreed with it but was trying to "play along with the joke." Only problem was that Norm wasn't joking.
And that clip BilJ posted above kinda shows that. You can tell by Conan's reactions to Norm that he agreed with it but was trying to "play along with the joke." Only problem was that Norm wasn't joking.
Posted on 9/20/21 at 12:24 pm to CocomoLSU
Well, it's well known that Jay didn't agree (at all) with the Tonight Show handover to Conan and that NBC wanted to keep both of them.
That's where the crummy primetime variety show comes into play. It was the genius idea NBC cooked up to keep Leno from going off to another network.
What you're seeing in the clip with Norm and Conan and Conan's body language is that the toll the fight between Team Leno and the Team Coco was already taking on Conan during the 2004-2009 period when the handover was announced and NBC was trying to negotiate a way to keep Leno instead of giving full support to Conan as the new face of their late night line-up.
That's where the crummy primetime variety show comes into play. It was the genius idea NBC cooked up to keep Leno from going off to another network.
What you're seeing in the clip with Norm and Conan and Conan's body language is that the toll the fight between Team Leno and the Team Coco was already taking on Conan during the 2004-2009 period when the handover was announced and NBC was trying to negotiate a way to keep Leno instead of giving full support to Conan as the new face of their late night line-up.
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