Late-Night Hosts Gang Up to Pummel NBC
If NBC was hoping to brush the whole Conan/Leno debacle under the table, they should get ready for a long, hard ride if last night's late-night assault on the Peacock network was any indication. Conan reamed NBC for essentially pushing him out, Jay alluded to it but mostly avoided Conan's situation, and other network hosts chimed in as well.
After the jump, a breakdown of all the 'Tonight'-gate commentary on Tuesday.
Conan's Colossal Day
Hours after releasing a statement saying that he had no interest in manning 'The Tonight Show' if it was bumped to 12:05 am -- marking perhaps the biggest middle-finger letter from employer to boss we've ever seen -- Conan didn't hold back during his Tuesday monologue. He joked: "I've been giving the situation a lot of thought. When I was a little boy, I remember watching 'The Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson and thinking 'One day, I'm going to host that show for seven months.'"
Perhaps the biggest NBC barb was when Conan said of the current situation: "NBC said they were planning on having the late-night situation figured out before the Olympics start. And let me tell you something, when NBC says something, you can take that to the bank."
As the one that many are considering the person who was the most royally screwed during this whole ordeal, Conan fans had reason to celebrate. He ripped the network that is pushing him out while still showing a good deal of tact and classiness for not totally freaking out.
Jay Jokes, But Ignores Conan
Aside from a joke or two about the overall hairiness of the situation he's at the epicenter of, Leno stopped short of directly addressing Conan's statement released earlier on Tuesday. Instead, he focused on smaller barbs towards NBC, saying: "The folks here at NBC, they don't handle these things well. They don't have a lot of tact. After they canceled the show, they told me if I gained 10 pounds I could join 'The Biggest Loser.'"
Perhaps in job preservation mode at this point (PopEater's Rob Shuter
reports Leno may be out at NBC as well), Leno avoided any him-versus-Conan taunts.
Dave Doesn't Hold Back
David Letterman has never been one to bite his tongue. By far the most ornery late-night host, the NBC mess is a dream come true for Letterman, who still has an axe to grind with his former network and Leno himself.
"You know what this means -- that's right, I knocked off another competitor," he joked in his monologue, referring to Conan O'Brien's decision Tuesday to leave NBC if they move 'The Tonight Show' to 12:05 a.m. Letterman repeatedly referred to his old and soon-to-be current foe as Jay "Big Jaw" Leno and mocked the "geniuses" at NBC programming who devised his move to prime-time.
Kimmel Gets in Leno's Shoes ... Literally
Over at ABC, consummate prankster and impersonator Jimmy Kimmel used the 'Tonight' firestorm to bust out his fantastic Jay Leno impersonation, complete with prop chin (naturally).
Kimmel, as Leno, said in his monologue: "Hello, hello, my name is Jay Leno and let it here by be known that I'm taking over all the shows in late-night," he quipped, referring to the recent dustup at NBC. He went on to joke that "It's great to be here on ABC," he adds. "You know what ABC stands for? Always Bump Conan."
Another shot was lobbed directly at Leno with the joke: "Conan O'Brien, today, announced that he is leaving NBC. He released a statement today saying 'I won't participate in the destruction of 'The Tonight Show.'" Fortunately, though, I will," Kimmell says.
Fallon Forgets to Talk About It
A somber looking Jimmy Fallon dodged getting involved in 'Tonight'-gate entirely, as his place at NBC following all of this drama is still unknown. His first two jokes were about Sarah Palin and 'Jersey Shore,' skating around the 800 pound elephant in the NBC offices.
With Conan likely out, there's no word where Fallon -- whose current show begins at 12:35 a.m. after Conan's 'Tonight show' -- will land. Whether it was a conscious decision by Fallon to stay out of it or network executives told him to back off is unknown, but one thing is for sure -- there was certainly some strange energy going on.
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I watch Leno every night, and he is still funnier than the lot of them. Since he moved to ten, I have been watching Letterman, but only because watching Conan is too painful. He is just not funny. I wouldn't watch Letterman if Leno moves back.
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Leno,Obrien, and Letterman all have severe mental illness. It's a question of which sick mind do you prefer and which should go. Leno is a harmless burnt out substance abuser. Obrien has an unpredictable shizoid anti-social personality with a sprinkling of psychotic delusion. Letterman is really a danger to society, because his psychosis has advanced to total megalomania and unmanageable delusions of grandeur. Add to this his sexual sadism and you have a dangerous man who really needs hospitalization. Therefore, get rid of him and put Obien in his slot. Society must be protected.
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Jay made a pretty big deal early on about retiring in 2009. He should have actually "retired". If he still wanted to remain in show business... he could have toured each year as the opening act for the KISS Farewell Tour for the next 10 years.
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It really is a pity that this is all happening, that is, why was it assumed that because Jay Leno was canelled that the Tonight Show had anything to do with that? Jay was given so much time to make the tonight show work after Carson, it is so amazing that NBC seems to think Jay is more valuable so if their attempts to keep him in primetime fail they can just dump Conan and put back Jay! Conan was given that job, and if he has not succeeded it may be in part to the fact that the infamous lead-ins were partly to blame, but he also has not had enough time to get into his groove, which I think would be hard for him, to find a kinder gentler Conan who can work the former Leno crowd. Yes, indeed, Conan is the one to suffer here. I also think it is admirable that he would rather hand the show back to Jay than have it go to midnights, and to lead to the demise of the great institution. It is like the Bible story where the baby will be cut in half, but the person who loves him more agrees to give him up. But, hey, Carson was there when they shortened the show to an hour from an hour and a half....it may not be the show itself, but rather the host..too bad Conan could not see his way clear to just make the tonight show his own, regardless of the time.
Jay going to 11:30? Seems a little needy, maybe he should just wait for the next big thing and go to stand-up. He is always going to land on his feet anyway!
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Conan should be happy just to move back to NY and do the show at 12:35AM like he did before. When Jay finnally retires then he should be happy to get the Tonight Show, he is no Jay Leno or David Letterman or the late Johnny Carson.....
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It's ok I just switched to Letterman
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It would probably have been better if Jay had not been in such a rush to hand over his crown, and the decree he made that he would retire started this whole mess. Yea, the ones who should be fired, for sure, are the NBC program people, they are the worst ever, and they clearly are keeping their jobs because they just keep screwing things up more and more. What would NBC do without Law and Order and Biggest Loser!
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Conan is the best since Johnny Carson. Jay needs to do the right thing and retire from all tv PERIOD!
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Always watched Leno, but not in the new time slot. I forget to watch.
Conan has lost something and I enjoyed watching his show. Probably after cleaning up some segments like Triumph and the masturbating bear. Now it's just him & his hair and it's not too special.
Fallon puts alot into his show, it's entertaining and different. Fallon is not into himself and he's genuine. Put him into the Tonight Show slot. I think alot more people need to see his show at a reasonable time to appreciate it.
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Letterman is a real horses ass. His top 10 list Really sucks!
He thinks he's so funny insulting Sara Palin every night plus constantly bringing up Bush and Channey. Lenno has CLASS like Carson.
Letterman doesn't know the meaning of the word!
another old timer
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Fallon has alot of class....let him replace all the prima donnas
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Where is Craig Ferguson in all this? I don't hear a word about him and he's the funniest one of them all! Put Craig on the Tonight Show and lets stop the whining and get back to laughing.
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Why didn't the writer of the article mention Craig Ferguson?
I used to like Leno, and would watch the first part of his show every now and then.
At 10pm, everyone is still watching their shows on ABC and CBS.
Now, I only watch Craig Ferguson. I do put it on Letterman, just to have it on the right channel. But he usually ends up being put on mute, or turned off until it's time to watch Craig.
I think they are, as usual, making a huge deal out of this, and making people pick 'sides'.
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All this idiotic banter about talk shows. I rather watch QVC/HSN or, better yet, sleep.
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I think they're all way overpaid and way under talented. None of them could shine Carson's shoes.
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The truth is, they ALL SUCK! None of them are superstars. Letterman is mean and snotty, Leno is only mildly funny and does poor interviews, Conan is hard to look at and his jokes are usually pretty raw, his interviewing skills are nil.
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Letterman has no knowledge of being "mean and snotty". When a man suffers from paranoia, a severe delusional psychosis, bouts of uncontrolled megalomania,and uncontrollable delusions of gandeur and sexual grandiosity, then he remembers nothing and intends nothing. He is just a very,very mentally sick man. Respect his illness please.
Johnny Carson and Ed Now that was a class act we may never see any thing like that ever again There reruns would be a step up and and a lot better then the crap thats on
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Totally agree. I'd rather watch Wanda Sykes. She's way funnier and watching her interview someone like Lady GaGa, as Leno tried the other night, would really be funny.
To tell you the truth i dont care about watching any of them now they are just doing this for ratings and now it seems like to me jay and conan got greedy and makes me not to watch them anymore the only ones i can prob stand to watch now is david letterman and jimmy fallon jimmy has been good about the whole thing and what about poor carson daily dont you remember him haha im sorry i use to be a conan fan but with all this stuff they are doing making them greedy and such now i loose respect for both of them jay and conan hey just get rid of both of them find someone new that deserves the tonight show cause i had no idea conan went up to nbc few years back saying he wanted jays job and they force jay to retire the nbc network is all about greed
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