Jay Leno Keeps It Civil in First Post-Conan Show

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 26th 2010 07:03AM

Over the past two weeks, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien traded barbs and insults at each other in the run-up to Conan's eventual dismissal from 'The Tonight Show.' And, now that Conan has been forced out, Jay seems to have forgotten about the rivalry altogether, making essentially no mention of Conan or the scandal in his monologue save for one joke against NBC executives.

Leno's monologue was almost entirely politically-based, perhaps as a sign to viewers and NBC that the feud is over and things can go back to a sense of normalcy. Following jokes about John McCain, John Edwards, George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, Leno's only reference to 'Tonight'-gate was when he was talking about John Mayer's recent Rolling Stone interview in which he talks about how masturbating got him out of many bad situations. "I think he has what it takes to be an NBC executive," Leno joked.

The easy route could have been a tie-in to Conan's "masturbating bear" skit, but with O'Brien out of his way, Leno kept things civil.

As part of his termination deal, O'Brien was forced to sign a non-disparagement clause, which prohibits him from talking negatively about NBC. So, maybe Leno doesn't want to hit a man who can't hit back?

Tags: conan obrien, ConanObrien, jay leno, JayLeno

Comments

(22)

Tuesday 26 January

By Dani

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Has it not occurred to you that the reason Conan failed is because Jay's lead in left Conan without an audience?

Wednesday 27 January

By truth traveler

Mike, Jay Leno did not retire. He was forced out by NBC in 2009, after having been informed in 2004 that he would be replaced in 2009 by Conan. Conan did not seem to have any problem with that underhanded move at the time, so it's hard to understand why his fans are so aggrieved now. Only one explanation: they aren't very well informed, and refuse to read up a little bit and get the facts before making wild claims and statements.

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