Conan O'Brien, NBC Agree on $45M Divorce Deal

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 21st 2010 07:42AM

Following several days of often tense negotiations, NBC and Conan O'Brien inked a deal early Thursday to end the host's short tenure on 'The Tonight Show,' NBC has confirmed. This paves the way for allowing Jay Leno to return to late night from his unsuccessful run at 10 p.m.

According to the network, O'Brien will receive $33 million and his staff another $12 million. The sticking point in O'Brien's complex exit negotiations with NBC had involved his employees. It's also believed the agreement includes a provision that would bar O'Brien from appearing on other shows.

► O'Brien (Intentionally) Wastes NBC's Money | Stern Warned Him Years Ago

His final show will be Friday, when his guests will be Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell (O'Brien's first guest on 'Tonight'). Leno will return to his old gig on March 1.

"In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket," his manager, Gavin Polone, told The Wall Street Journal. "Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible."

The proposal allows O'Brien, who would exit 'Tonight' less than a year after taking over from Leno, to start work on a competing network as early as September. But he would be barred from making NBC the butt of jokes. Speculation that the Fox network might court O'Brien for a late-night show when he leaves NBC prompted a monologue joke Tuesday.

Listing things he might do with "all my new free time," O'Brien concluded with "Make a big move to Fox. Megan Fox."

The fate of characters developed by O'Brien and his staff was also part of the negotiations. Since they are technically the intellectual property of NBC, O'Brien deemed it the right time on Wednesday's show to bring out an old friend, one last time:

The negotiations became heated on Wednesday, with NBC brushing back criticism from O'Brien's camp.

O'Brien was "dug in" on getting his staffers a good severance package, but NBC fired back in a statement, saying "it was Conan's decision to leave NBC that resulted in nearly 200 of his staffers being out of work."

Adding: "We have already agreed to pay millions of dollars to compensate every one of them. This latest posturing is nothing more than a PR ploy," the network said.

O'Brien asked to be released from his contract, which has about two-and-a-half years left, after rejecting NBC's plan to push him and 'Tonight' to 12:05 a.m. EST to make way for a half-hour show with Leno at 11:35 p.m.

The network, hit by poor ratings for its prime-time experiment, 'The Jay Leno Show,' and for O'Brien's 'Tonight,' was trying to keep both comedians on board.

O'Brien has seen his viewership jump in recent days. Ratings for Leno in the same window, however, remained flat.

The dispute has repeatedly spilled on-air, with jokes aplenty made about it by Leno, O'Brien and hosts at other networks. CBS' David Letterman has been especially brutal on NBC and Leno, whom he has dubbed "Big Jaw" during several scathing monologues.

A pro-O'Brien fan protest held Monday outside Universal Studios, one of several such big-city rallies, included a mock martial arts fight between a man wearing a white Leno wig and one in a red O'Brien wig. The fake O'Brien won.

The crowd was rewarded with a studio rooftop wave from O'Brien and a few words from his 'Tonight' sidekick, Andy Richter, who thanked them and said it's been a tough time but also a "really fun" one.

"The lawyers won't let me say anything else," Richter added.

Tags: conan obrien

Comments

(116)

Thursday 21 January

By tinman7seven

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wheres Johnny

By Mike Smith

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DEAD!!!

Saturday 06 March

By melanie

Thank You! Thank You! Jay Leno is back!!!!!

By ken houser

Dave Letterman, The near bald gap toothed ugly not funny pervert.
This is a jerk who should critize someone else.

By lynn

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you took the words right out of my mouth!!! ditto!!! the darkest room wouldn't be enough to share with Letterman!

By lan

Letterman is jealous of Leno he wanted the tonight show and didn't get it.Poor poor Dave.

By Patick Fitzgerald

If Conan is the one that wants out of his contract, why the hell is he being paid 45 million dollars??? IF I quit my job, my boss is just going to kick me out and hre someone else... I don't think Conan is worth 45 million.. this is a good racket, can i have some of this gravy?

By C

He's owed that money, because NBC broke the legal contract between they and O'Brien. It should also be noted that 12 million of that, is going to O'Brien's staff, as part of a severance package that NBC won't give to them, despite the fact that they moved from one coast to another, with a promise of a four year contract. That money went from O'Brien's pocket, to his people. That's classier than anything I ever heard Leno do.

By lk

if obrien goes to fox tv they'll cancel him 6 weeks 2 words chevy chase.please fade away.not funny never was never will be

By JDJD

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I believe Chevy Chase was cancelled in the first week!!

By Bonita

U R correct. Conan is NOY funny, never has been.

By glyns220

so what if conan goes away, he's awful! I quit watching after the first week. I'm not a Letterman fan but he's better than conan!

By Ed

These really rich people piss me off! 45 million !!! are you kidding? I am losing my home and get a dime or a job. This Country is really a mess....

By Samuel

Leno is the worst thing to happen to this Earth since Hitler. Go away!

By Mavis

I have never cared for Leno and Conan is just weird. I have always liked Letterman, but he is going over board on this. It's not even fun to watch his show for the first half hour or so. I flip channels until his monalog is over.

By Libby

You know, I loose my job because of poor preformance, they don't say, "Hey we are going to move you back to nights because you were better there". They Fire my butt and send me packing!!
I personally say cancel em all ...Gilligans island is starting to look better to me than these guys..

By Frank

Hey Samuel, not even Conan should be referred to as Hitler. Shame on you .

By Lucy

Your an azzhole. Remember he lasted 16 plus years with the Tonight Show.

By glenn

this is a test!!

By Tippy Todd

Hey everybody, First thing you got to remember is that both Jay and Conan don't need the money in the first place!None of us needs that much money if you or me got good health. Yes money would be nice but remember your so called freinds are they really your freinds when you got alot of what I call evil money!!! Money makes you do some good things, but mostly "EVIL" things. lIKE TO YOUR FREINDS + FAMILY. As to both Jay+Conan nobody is worth that much money to entertian anyone, you or me.And thats the way it is. God rest his sole!!!

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