conan quits

[Natrix]

Conan's bit last night about NBC messing with the the Winter Olympics was classic!

"NBC executives have been making some changes to improve the Olympics. … Here are just some of the changes NBC is implementing. It is pretty cool: Move the Winter Olympics to summer but still call them the Winter Olympics; replace the Olympic theme with Subway’s 'Five Dollar Footlong' song; have all event judging done by Paula Abdul, David Hasselhoff and for some reason, Flavor Flav; attempt to boost ratings with new event featuring obese people on sleds called 'The Biggest Luger'; replace the flags on the giant slalom course with breached NBC contracts; reserve the right to cancel ski jumps mid-jump; move the Bronze up to Gold's place, Silver stays where it is and add a new medal for fourth place called the 'NBC'"

 

[Michael Crawford]

The Conan love/Leno hate amazes me. You do realize this is all Conan's fault in the first place, right? People are quick now to bad mouth Leno, yet Conan is the one that threatened to quit five years ago, forcing Leno out of HIS job, and yet no one seems to have an issue with it.

Leno had the top ratings for late night, and has had them for years. Whether you like him or not (he's not my favorite), he's the leader. He was forced out of that slot because NBC didn't want to lose Conan. They didn't want to lose Jay either, so they hatched this scheme. It failed (predictably) and now NBC is still trying to keep both.

If I were Jay, I wouldn't move back to the Tonight Show. Not because of Conan - his time is done there either way, since he simply can't pull the ratings he needs to, and with Conan's actions screwing Leno in the first place, I can't imagine Jay has much love for the guy. No, I'd skip it because NBC is in implosion mode right now, and it would be better to simply step back and take a break while the upper management there collapses.

Likewise for Conan. He'd be a fool to stay at the midnight slot, since it's guaranteed to fail as well. This isn't about Conan being high and mighty in his refusal - he's looking out for number one, just like Leno is. None of these guys is a hero or saint here - they've just gotten themselves embroiled with a huge corporation that currently has completely lost it's way.

 

[LChinoz]

Jimmy Kimmel OWNS big chin.

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[pixletwin]

That was pretty good... I can't figure out what Leno sees to gain from it though since clearly he was anticipating the jabs.

 

[Kuzeh]

I guess he was trying to look like a Good Sport...

 

[Dusty]

Jay IS a pretty good sport. Both of them are pawns in an evil NBC game. Jay is a nice guy and probably one of the last of the 'classic' stand up comedians. But still, a good skill is to know when to bow out gracefully. Nothing about this has been graceful. They should BOTH leave NBC, IMO.

 

[Gruson]

Conan rocks! He was really funny in the late 90s. Still good though. Jay is a good guy too.

They should have never changed a thing...oh well.

 

[LChinoz]

That was pretty good... I can't figure out what Leno sees to gain from it though since clearly he was anticipating the jabs.

I gotta be honest, I don't think Jay knew what Jimmy was going to say. Jimmy surprised me because a lot of what he said, no way Jay would have green-lit. I think it was one of those things where Jay had to laugh, but inside he wanted to retaliate back but couldn't think of what to say. Jay was probably hoping to show he was a good sport, and that Jimmy would lay off. The stuff Jimmy said was harsher than his entire show mocking Jay. Especially the last bit about Jay not having kids to support.

 

[Matt S]

Personally, I prefer Leno and Conan to Letterman anyday...now, that guy comes across like an angry, old man

 

[Valfar]

Jimmy Kimmel OWNS big chin.

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LMAO!! That was grrreat!! Kimmel's show is way better, he is actually funny.

 

[Deckard]

Conan is all set to leave NBC with a 30 million dollar settlement, and could start his own show on another network as early as September. Excellent news.

 

[The Ween]

Jay will probably get Tonight back and Conan will be gone......
https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100116/ap_en_ot/us_tv_conan_leno

 

[Darklord Dave]

<object width="512" height="328" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="https://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="key=216365ffd6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed width="512" height="328" flashvars="key=216365ffd6" allowfullscreen="true" quality="high" src="https://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><div style="text-align:center;width:512px;"><a href="https://www.funnyordie.com/videos/216365ffd6/leaked-nbc-ceo-jeff-zucker-s-vociemails-for-conan-o-brien" title="from TubularGoldmine">Leaked! NBC CEO Jeff Zucker's Vociemails for Conan O'Brien</a> - watch more <a href="https://www.funnyordie.com/" title="on Funny or Die">funny videos</a></div>

 

[Darklord Dave]

No one posted this yet - talk about holding a grudge...

NO JOKE: Jeff Zucker Had Conan Arrested
By NIKKI FINKE | Category: Uncategorized | Thursday January 14, 2010 @ 11:10pm
It's just been brought to my attention that, while they were Harvard undergraduates, Jeff Zucker '86 called the cops on Conan O'Brien '85. (I never saw previous reports about this.) According to articles in both the Harvard Crimson and Yale Daily News, Zucker, then president of the university's Harvard Crimson daily newspaper, dispatched the police to the Harvard Lampoon office after O'Brien, who was president of the campus humor magazine, organized a prank on his college rival -- stealing an entire print run of the Crimson before it could be distributed. "He only forgave me when I gave him The Tonight Show," Zucker told a Yale gathering back in 2005. The Harvard Crimson described the incident this way in a 2004 article about Conan landing The Tonight Show courtesy of Zucker: "O’Brien cut his teeth in comedy as president of The Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine. In fact, O’Brien first met Zucker, his current boss, one day when O’Brien and the Lampoon editors stole all the copies of that morning’s Crimson. Zucker, then Crimson President, called the police and met O’Brien face to face while he was being arrested." In 2001, Conan told The New Yorker this about the incident: "College pranks are supposed to be clever, but our rivalry with the Crimson had degenerated into us stealing something, Jeff calling the police, and the police making us haul it back," said O'Brien. (Other Lampoon pranks on Zucker included "a fake phone-sex ad with Zucker’s dorm-room phone number. Zucker did not find any of this particularly hilarious.") So what's to glean from this Harvard history lesson? Yes, Jeff Zucker was a thin-skinned prick who didn't understand comedy or know how to handle creatives even back then.

 

[Dally]

I like Leno, but I think that he should step down and either retire or leave NBC.

 

[DarthNeil]

Leno's not funny. Period. End of story. I tried watching his show last night and it was almost painful how lame and out of touch his comedy is... He even made a joke about the Haiti situation (referring to Pat Robertson's blaming their situation on their pact with the devil to defeat the French... you don't need a pact with the devil for that, anyone can defeat the French on their own) which was just whereas Conan's promoting Ben Stiller's website about sending aid and the I'm with Coco rally in LA is working in conjunction with the Red Cross to raise more funds for Haiti... oh, and Conan's actually funny. His "bits" are fresh (loved the part about getting to work and having a gunfight from his car to the building with NBC). NBC have made a ton of boneheaded moves since the glory days of Must See TV-- but this debacle (with the millions that they'll lose with the Olympics) might just push them towards extinction.

At this point it'll be refreshing to see Conan take his act to FOX and then slaughter Leno head to head.

Dave?... He's fun (once in a while)-- but more and more he seems like he's tired and ready to retire.

 

[tomandshell]

Look what site has been registered:

www.CONANonFOX.com

 

[LChinoz]

I'm with COCO!

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[LOTRFan]

I hope he can take Triumph with him.

 

[Kuzeh]

Apparently he can't...