People of Earth:
In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over the Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of the Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

O'brien, letterman, kimmel and Ferguson giving s*** to leno/NBC execs

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/01/14/2010-01-14_conan_obrien_still_has_a_job_but_is_already_receiving_offers_from_porn_company_a.html

http://www.canada.com/news/More+shots+fired+Leno+Conan+Brien+late+night+network+reportedly+strikes+deal+giving+Leno+time+slot+updated/2441864/story.html

This is disgusting, Conan o'brien is funnier in every single way compared with leno. He's a washed up wannabe who couldnt make his own jokes.

So is Conan saying he'll walk if the change goes through? It certainly sounds like he's hinting at it but not actually saying he will.

I find Conan and Leno equally amusing so am a bit bemused by all the talk about this.

Leno is soo not funny, his jokes are soo scripted and he says them out like that too... Ofcourse conan's jokes are scripted etc but he's just so natural and fluid at it that it looks like he just makes everything up on the spot. He even looks like a funny rooster lol.. leno looks like, f*** I don't know what he looks like. Conan is a f*****g funny legend, only thing good about leno is his car collection..

Also the other thing about leno's show that annoys me is that black dood, laughs at every single one of leno's jokes, all you hear is "harr harr harr" in the background.. why did anyone give that annoying bastard a microphone :/

Jay Lenno f***ed him, is how I'm seeing it?

Conan rocks.

No really Leno should have just f***ed off and retired once he passed on the show to Conan, instead he hung around and wanted his own show.

Stick to cars and stuff and take you hundred of millions and retire

and they are all essentually the same thing, just with different hosts... no change in late-night formula because noone wants to watch anything different.

i'm a conan fan myself, and it sucks to see this happen to him because from watching, you know he wanted to take leno's spot so badly and then he gets shutdown only after 7 months of production.

another interesting thing i read - shamelessly repeating from reddit - is that conan's fanbase are the younger generation who watch his stuff on the net, while leno's are older people who just use televisions (i.e more ratings and money!!!!).

pretty cool reading about the legal issues that all this has started, as well as the controversy.

Jay Leno is smart and amusing
Conan is a stupid smarmy f***head who i want to punch in the face

YOU'LL NEVER KNOW MUHAF***A

leno is awful.

conan > leno.

Conan is awesome, he just seems way more natural and less tryhardish than any of the others. NBC's loss if it happens.

I don't mind any of them. Letterman was loving this the other night fyi, giving it to them in his typical awesome style. He will take any chance to give NBC a serve.

hahah Jimmy Kimmel lays the smaq on Leno's show





last edited by HeardY at 11:05:22 16/Jan/10

I can't believe they have half a dozen comedy talk shows on every night, and we can't even get one a week.

Don't worry 7:30pm project to the rescue... (or maybe not)

leno,conan, kimmel,letterman et al are all poor Johnny Carsons......

lewd..that's a nice funny..

O'brien and letterman are the two best right now, but i prefer conan due to be funnier..

For me the problem with these shows is that they're on daily, so they have to constantly pump out content and a lot of the time it's cookie cutter crap that isn't funny, or bashing each other. And that's what makes it hilarious to me, when hosts attack other hosts.

Leno is a mad car fan so he's about the only one I'd ever watch. The rest do 0 for me.

Yeah Letterman is a native of Indiana and mad fan of Indy car racing. He started out as a pit reporter in the Indianapolis 500 many moons ago.

http://www.hou2600.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/golf-clap.jpg

HAHAHA

F***en BOOM!!

Love it.

But ultimately NBC are winning as they have more and more and more people watching to see what Conan is going to to which equals more ratings...

Damo you just posted the best link of 2010.

Letterman is loving it.

Jimmy Kimmel is now a legend. That interview is pure gold.

The Bugatti Veyron mouse, that is awesome :)

Might have to grab the last couple of Conan's shows, looks like hes going out with style.

haha, thats a great clip CTD.

that really is, a large sum of money.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/entertainment/2010/January/entertainment_January58.xml§ion=entertainment