Jay Leno: Conan O'Brien 'Got Screwed' by NBC

By PopEater Staff Posted Mar 31st 2010 05:25PM

While backstage at 'The Tonight Show' with Joy Behar, Jay Leno confessed his true feelings about the late-night shake-up at NBC, in which he reclaimed his position as the 'Tonight' host.

Leno candidly admits on camera that he and Conan O'Brien were both "treated terribly" by NBC. "Conan got screwed. I got screwed. This is TV. The reason show business pays a lot of money is so when you get screwed you've got something left over," Leno said (via CNN.)

Lending his support, Leno believes O'Brien will actually come back bigger than ever. "I think Conan will come back and he'll be strong," Leno said to Behar. "And we'll all compete against one another. It should be me against [David] Letterman, against Conan, against [Jimmy] Kimmel -- and then you see who wins."

O'Brien is bringing a "half-assed" live comedy show to cities across the U.S., while rumors continue to swirl about his alleged late-night gig at FOX. His manager, Gavin Polone, said the show is far from a done deal, because NBC's $40 million contract buyout stipulates that O'Brien can't appear on television until September.

Since the late-night showdown, Leno has continued to stress how Conan -- who many feel took the brunt NBC's decision making -- was a class act.

"Through all of this, Conan O'Brien has been a gentleman. He's a good guy. I have no animosity towards him. This is all business. If you don't get the ratings, they take you off the air. I think you know this town, you can do almost anything. You get ratings they keep you. I don't get ratings, he wants. That was NBC's solution. It didn't work so we might have an answer for you tomorrow. So, we'll see. That's basically where it is," Jay said during his show in January.

The rumors of animosity aren't keeping Leno down though. "All comics are friends, [but] when you go on stage your job is to blow the other guys off the stage," he told Behar. "I get it. That's the way it works. You don't impede somebody else's opportunity, but when you go out there that's what you do."

Tags: conan obrien, jay leno, joy behar

Comments

(30)

Wednesday 31 March

By bstill

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Will somebody please screw me and give me 30 million dollars. When I've been screwed they didn't even use vaseline. In fact I got nothing.

By pnut166

Everybody seems to forget that Jay said all the same "nice guy" shlt back when he was stabbing Dave in the back behind closed doors.

Quit watching the DIPWAD and let him screw himself!

By Mike

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Jay doesn't have a clue. HE is the one who got screwed by NBC AND Conan.

By Paul

Television programming is controlled by viewers - if they don't watch a particular show and the ratings are poor, sponsors will leave. Conan just didn't "click" with the 11:30 crowd - it is just fact. NBC was forced to bring back Leno or sacrifice the time slot to the other networks. Some good shows never catch an audience, while some marginal shows are hits. I don't know how NBC could have handled it where Conan could have kept the Leno numbers. I don't consider what was done as a mean act as much as an attempt to win-back the time slot.

By Lita

Actually, it was Leno's numbers that were far worse than anticipated. Sure, NBC didn't expect him to have the same numbers he drew at 11:35. What they didn't expect is that they ratings would be as low as they were.

By Caroline

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NBC wasn't forced to do anything - they gave Leno a lot more than 7 months when he wasn't pulling in the ratings at the beginning of his stint as the host of the Tonight Show. And hey, maybe Conan's ratings would have been higher if he didn't have such a poor lead-in 5 nights a week that was ultimately canceled. They screwed Conan, plain and simple, and Jay is still trying to do damage control because he lost so much by showing America the jack*** that he really is.

By wreckonice

Jay, finally decided 2 fess up but he still is playing like he also was wronged. I absolutely know that he could have talked NBC into not doing what they did by simply and graciously leaving quietly. He has a huge ego. He doesn't need the money but he let NBC wrestle with Conan and stole the show back. Now we R supposed to believe it was an accident??? I am sick of Jay. I miss Conan but don't feel sorry 4 any of them. It is life in the fast lane. Que sera, sera................

By Greg

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Watch out for that nasty winch Joy she's the one that will put the screws to you. ignorant woman. how the heck did she get a show with her crazy lunatic ideas. go home and do the laundry you may know what your doing there. maybe

By Bill

Shut up Jay. We all know you are a phony. Just admit you stabbed Conan in the back.

By Manny A

Jay has always done thing in a very snekey way did you ever hear the storie of him listening to the conversation between david letterman and johnny carson when johnny wanted some new to host the tonight show? he hid in the closet to ease drop on their conversation , he's a snake and totaly screwed over conan because he was a failure at prime time, he not conan should have gotten the ax for taking the chance to go there.conan I miss u bro iv'e been watching you from day one and me and pimpbot wait your return ...and for jay ,I'll never watch him again ..trying to play all inoccent and such!what a SNAKE!

Thursday 01 April

By Susan

Oh please, it's show business and its a dog eat dog world..NBC wanted Conan out. Plain and simple. If a position at your work place opened up because someone was fired, would you not take it, if offered.. How do we know what really happened. It's all hearsay or so someones opinion!! I dont' believe Conan is standing on any umemployment lines but I guess his tour will sum it up as to how far his fans will go to see him..

By harry

sorry manny, if i wanted to warch pee wee herman i would tune in saturday mornings.

By grace

I must be missing something, how did Jay Leno get screwed?

Besides bending over for them.

By ali

leno is a snake. he could have taken the high road and gone to Fox. people would have respected him then. now he continues to act like a snake, trying to change the message regarding him and conan. conan deserved to have a few years to build his tonight show, just like leno had a few years to build his tonight show. i'll never watch leno - can't stand his empty persona and his nasty jokes and skits. they're not even funny.

jay is funny, conhan is juvinile.......can you say pee wee herman..............

By JBaer

This fiasco is OVER. Why is anyone still talking about it?

By Donna

Give it a rest - both got millions and we are supposed to veel sorry for them. Put on your big boy underwear and get a life.

Friday 02 April

By Not Donna

When it's your craft and you've been perfecting it for decades then it's more about money. Imagine you got fired from a job you wanted forever [i.e. Conan] and millions of people knew about it, how would it feel? So a one dimensional argument doesn't always work.

By Ezeestreet

Conan got millions of dollars from NBC.Nobody is worth so much money.
Get a life

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