Conan O'Brien Gets $33 Million to Leave NBC, 'Tonight Show'
Credit: Jesse Grant/WireImage.com
Therrrre goes Conan.
NBC confirmed to the Associated Press and other news outlets that it had reached a $45 million deal for Conan O'Brien to leave The Tonight Show. The redheaded comic hosted the late-night show for seven months, but was pushed out of his 11:35 p.m. time slot to make way for the return of Jay Leno, whose new low-rated prime time series was cancelled.
The Associated Press reports that O'Brien will personally receive $33 million for the early exit, with the remainder going to his staff as severance pay. As previously noted, O'Brien's final Tonight bow is Friday, Jan. 22.
Leno resumes his Tonight Show perch (he previously hosted for 17 years) on March 1.
"In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket," his manager, Gavin Polone said. "Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible."
See a hilarious snapshot of Conan and his pals
NBC told the AP that O'Brien is allowed to hit airwaves again by Sept. 2010. Previously based in New York City, O'Brien and his entire staff relocated to Los Angeles for his big Tonight Show debut. Througout the two week controversy, O'Brien and Leno both traded barbs back and forth -- and at NBC.
Look back on this earlier late-night scandal
On Tuesday, Rosie O'Donnell told UsMagazine.com that she blamed Leno for the mess. "Conan moved his family across the country and his entire staff to get a shot at what he worked 17 years for only to get it taken away by the bully on the playground who doesn't want to let go."
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Leno isn't even funny I mean just because his new show was a failure doesn't mean he should bully his way back to the tonight show, give it up you had your time and it ended. Sure Conan got a good deal but still, I will personally never watch Jay Leno again. CONAN FAN FOR LIFE, Long live horny manatee
Jenny: STFU. GO COCO! We will love you foreverrr :D
O'Brien will personally receive $33 million, boo hoo conan
I LOVE COCO...Conan is so crazy funny...and I will follow him wherever he goes
Leno should have walked away and given Conan a fair chance to see how it played out. You cannot call 7 months a fair chance and I'm 100% certain that Leno knew this. He was afraid that if he waited Conan would have got his footing and the show would have been just fine. Now I can't stand to even see Leno's big fat face. He is a jerk It is not a fluke that he has made this same mess when Carson was leaving. He does nor have a life and it looks like he never will.
Jenny - I just tried to watch Jay Leno and I was biting my lip the whole time, wanting to kill myself with how horrible he is. He is not even funny. He says a joke and its not funny at all. Conan had right to the time slot he was given. Jay Leno is just a loser and came back to try and be cooler then Conan. He had no right to steal that from Conan. As you said, "I mean, grow up."
I dont pity Conan at all. I mean, sure its a bummer that he would be moved to a later time, but throwing a big tantrum like that? I think he was jealous because NBC wasn't favoring him. And it's cruel of him to make his poor staff move ACROSS THE COUNTRY only to LOSER THEIR JOBS because Princess Conan refuses to change time slots. I mean, grow up.
I don't pity Conan at all. I mean, its a bit of a bummer that his time slot would have been changed, but throwing a big tantrum like that? I think he was jealous that NBC wasn't favoring him. And it's cruel of him to move his poor staff move ACROSS THE COUNTRY only to have them LOSE THEIR JOBS because Princess Conan refuses to change time slots.
Give Howard Stern a show! The only guy that makes me laugh!
Jay is a bully. I love Conan. Jay is a has been. And when he goes back to his old slot, he'll realise that his ratings that they've just upturned the whole network to get back will never be the same. Bully.
How unfunny do you have to be to be paid so much to leave.
If he gets a show at the same time on a different channel nobody is gonna watch jay lenno lol
LadyB is correct, Conan is beyond a jerk. He came, I left, Leno comes back, so do I. NBC is beyond crazy!!
Conan is awesome. Put him on a channel that I can watch before september PLEASE! NBC you ruined his run and now you dont want him to continue with his AWESOME work? Stop crying and let the man say funny things on my television that will make me ROFL and LOL. Conan is the best talk show host on the tube. period. His hair is mesmerizing
I happen to like both Conan and Jay, but I do feel bad for Conan in this case. I hope the $33 million helps ease his pain! =P
Though not a fan of his I now have tremendous respect for his attention to his staff and crew who stuck with him;-) It must have NBC under the word "Putz" in the dictionary:-0 LOL
First Rosie has a point, except if she were Jay Leno and had done a wonderful job for 17 years and always winning in the rating and NBC kicked her out to give someone else the job she would have gone nuts suing. Jay also has a staff that he wanted to protect, who worked loyally for him for all those years. It was just a mistake by NBC to put Conan in the spot. He was not right for it. He'll do better in another format more like his old late night show on CBS. I don't think we should be hating on either Conan or Jay.
I don't get it. NBC has a winning formula 5 years ago. Jay at 11:30, Conan at 12:30. Conan wants to move to 11:30 so Jay signs a deal to leave in 5 years. He does and moves to 10. Conan doesn't work out at 11:30 and Jay doesn't work out at 10. NBC wants to move eveyone back to where they were 5 years ago but Conan doesn't want to move, so they pay him 33 million? For what, because 5 years before he had a bad idea and NBC fell for it. It isn't like either of these shows are filmed late at night. They are filmed during the day and re-broadcast. I can't see why the time they are broadcast is anything do do with Jay or Conan. They are paid to perform. The time they are broadcast is a network issue.