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 papam11

Vote down Vote up Report this

So where are all my friggin posts going?

By Richard

Glad I'm not the only one.

By dcnashinsc

I don't see mine either. Sometimes they show up later for some reason.

By steve

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who gives a rats ass. isn't there a real war going on ?

By Sam Macdonald

Really, what value does he bring to the planet?

By Geo

It looks like the AARP is on here strong in support of Jay Leno. People that don't get Conan are uptight and moody(

By Leno Fan

I think the idiot who thought up this switcheroo, with Leno on at 10 pm and Conan taking over the Tonight Show, should be fired. Havent we all heard the saying: "if it aint broke, don't fix it!"

By Laura Linda

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Thank goodness Conan is gone....wondered what NBC was thinking 5 years ago....I can't stand him...he is not funny!! He was always so scripted, never spontaneous. Can't wait til March 1 to resume watching the Tonight Show.

By Cathy Benneth

This is outrageous! 45 million for being a first class schmuck! Wow, this is a screwed up deal. He wanted out and got a boatload of cash just to shut the F up. I'd never watch his red headed ass again.

By john

it's pretty stupid that people find this kind of stuff amusing with so many people out out work NBC ,Leno and Conan should be ashamed . I have worked or was until everything crashed and now unemployed and can't get any help from my country because i make to much on unemployment . Conan ,Leno and NBC throughing around millions like it's no big deal when people like my self would be happy for the rest of my life with 1 million . Heres an idea next time NBC want's to do something like that give me acall i will do it for for a quarter of the cost , feed up

By sunflower

the tonight shows ended when JOHNNY CARSON passed away. now that conan has left there's one down and two more to go.

By rae

I just feel sooo sorrry for all of them with their egos and pockets and pockets of money.
PLEASEEEEEE, I cant find a job or pay my bills and now why should I care about these people???????

People that dont get Conan are people who have a 3 digit IQ and have progresssed beyond the stupid and childish things that amused them when they were 10 yrs. old.

By Maureen

I forgot to add that, IMHO, Craig Ferguson is by far the best of them all. As much as I enjoy Letterman, Craig blows them all out of the water.

By Rich Bemben

I think Conan O'Brien is a joke - He's funny in the snippets, but in person, he's terrible....and he thought NBC should just give him the show?
I like Jay Leno; the 10:00pm time slot sucked! I could never remember to watch him There's a reason that Carson gave him the show (or do you all just think that NBC just liked the name?)
Sometimes I like David Lettermman, sometimes I don't....he can be REALLY trying sometimes.
NBC's always done the right thing (well, almost always - the 10:00pm Jay Leno was a major goof.)

By Janet

Say what you want about Howard Stern He nailed it on the head 3 years ago and was right. NBC took a chance and Leno tanked in Prime Time. Carson was very powerful at NBC and it seems Leno got himself in the same position and can do what he want's. The only one who has any class is Obrien. 45 mil to go away plus another 12 mil for his staff. You watch...Obrien took the money and will bide his time and he will get the last laugh.

By DJ Jayito

I don't get it. Conan isn't even FUNNY! This is WORSE than paying a .240 batting average baseball player 10 million a year. I never got CONAN'S appeal! STILL DONT / NEVER WILL

By legeagle2

The tasteless, gap-tooth pervert, Letterman, yips and yaps but quivers at the knees because he knows his short stint as number 1 late bight show is done and stinking once Leno returns. It was a nice ride, Pervert, but, back to second fiddle, where you belong!!!

By Mark A. Johnson

AmazonRipper here, most of what is on TV anymore sucks royally. Just pop in some good DVDs and be done with it altogether.

By David Ortiz

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I will miss La Bamba in the year 3000, Cody the depressed vampire, the Werewolf & the Avatar guys, to me that was fun to watch, sorry guys!!! : ), David from the World of Mouse

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