VIDEO: Conan Hasn't Heard From Leno, O'Brien Says In 60 Minutes Interview
Posted on May 03, 2010 @ 08:07AM - 19 comments
Conan O’Brien joked that he keeps a copy of his non-disparagement agreement with NBC in his wallet for quick reference but still found a way to make his feelings about the network and Jay Leno clear in his first post-Tonight Show TV interview Sunday night.
Appearing on 60 Minutes with correspondent Steve Kroft, O’Brien was restrained through much of the interview but left no doubt about his bitterness toward NBC and Leno.
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After telling Kroft that he had not heard from Leno since NBC paid Conan $32 million to walk away and gave The Tonight Show back to Jay, Conan said: “I do not think I will be hearing from him. Will this be a surprise walk on?”
O'Brien recounted the deterioration of his relationship with NBC as events growing “toxic” before joking: “If they wanted me to leave, it worked!”
In general he said the ordeal was, “like a marriage breaking up suddenly, violently, quickly.”
Conan made his feelings about Leno very clear without a lot of rhetoric. When asked if he thought Jay acted honorably, Conan at first said: “I don’t think I can answer that.”
But after a brief pause he added: “I can just tell you how maybe I would have handled it and I would have done it differently if I had surrendered The Tonight Show and handed it over to somebody publicly and wished them well. I would not have come back 6 months later. But that’s me. Everyone’s go their own way of doing things.”
It was a gentlemanly knife to Leno’s heart.
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And that is how Conan handled the situation – killing Leno softly.
“I’m happy with my decision. I sleep well at night. I hope he’s happy with his decision,” O’Brien said, adding: “What I know is what happened, which is that he went and took that show back.”
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The segment showed Conan on his new comedy tour, singing a lyrics-tailed version of I Will Survive. At times CBS’ glee over NBC’s failure seemed a bit too overt with Kroft relishing words like “disaster.”
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But Conan seemed sincere when he said, “I did not get screwed” in answer to public perception that he did. He challenged the notion that his Tonight Show was a failure after six months of bad numbers and bristled at an NBC exec’s condition that the show was losing money for the first time.
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“I honestly don’t see how that’s possible,” Conan said.
As for NBC assertion that the show was a failure, he said: “I don’t think that’s fair or accurate. I think for anyone to say the results were in after six months, that doesn’t ring true to me.”
Kroft made it clear at the outset that NBC had sought to send Conan into “oblivion,” with a non-disparagement agreement and a ban on interviews. When Leno first came up Conan joked that he had the non-disparagement agreement in his wallet and pretended to check it before saying sarcastically, “he’s a fine and good man.”
By the time the interview was done, Conan made his position clear, saying: “I’m fine, I’m doing great. I hope people still find me comedically absurd and ridiculous. I don’t regret anything. I think things happen for a reason.”
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VIDEO: Conan O'Brien Says He Would Never Do To Jay Leno What Was Done To Him
Posted on May 01, 2010 @ 02:03PM - 17 comments
In what is sure to be a blockbuster edition of 60 Minutes Sunday night, Conan O'Brien opens up about Jay Leno, TV's late night wars, and the "toxic" atmosphere at NBC.
Speaking to 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft, a bearded Conan said if he had "surrendered" the Tonight Show to someone else, as Jay Leno did, he would not have returned six months later and reclaimed it. "But that's just me," he said.
Conan O'Brien Says "I Didn't Get Screwed"
Posted on Apr 30, 2010 @ 01:15PM - 3 comments
Conan O’Brien says “I didn’t get screwed,” in the first TV interview Conan O’Brien has given since being booted off the Tonight Show, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The talk-show host who is joining the TBS network in November denies that NBC lost money when he hosted the Tonight Show and that six months wasn’t enough to declare the show was a failure with viewers.
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Conan sat down with 60 Minutes Steve Kroft who reminded Conan that NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker said that after six months, ratings indicated viewers did not want him on the show, O’Brien says, “In my opinion, I don't think that's fair or accurate. But he's entitled to his opinion. I think for anyone to say that the results were in after six months-- that doesn't ring true to me,” he tells Kroft. Also reminded that NBC said The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien was losing money, Conan refutes it. “I honestly don't see how that's possible. It's really not possible. It isn't possible.”
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Following are excerpts from O’Brien’s 60 MINUTES interview:
Regrets?
“I don't regret anything. I don’t regret one decision I made in that week and a half period.” Conan said, “I wish it had ended differently. But, I'm fine. I do believe, and this might be my Catholic upbringing or Irish magical thinking, but I think things happen for a reason. I really do. And I think that this all happened for a reason,” he tells Kroft.
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Was He Screwed?
The biggest thing people come up and say to me in gas stations and restaurants; I have so many people say this to me. “Hey partner, you got screwed.” I don't-- and I always tell them, "No, I didn't. I didn't get screwed. I'm-- I'm fine. It just-- it didn't work out." But I don't want people thinking, you know, that I got screwed. Because it just didn't work out.
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Resolved His Issues?
No, I have not resolved all my issues. I am mostly very happy. I love this tour, it's the most thrilling thing I've done in my career. And so I'm in a really great place in a lot of ways. But I'd be lying if I said I don't-- have my moments of everything, you know, anger, disappointment-- frustration and just confusion.
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The interview airs at 7 p.m. on Sunday on CBS.
