The Late Night War Part II - Jay Leno vs Conan O'Brien

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome back i want to elaborate on the announcement made earlier today you may have uh heard about this uh that uh i'm gonna leave the show in 009 okay all right let me let me explain let me explain how these things work uh about six months ago i sat down here with the folks in nbc and they said we want to re-up and i said okay what do you want to do because i don't have a manager an agent i i like the people i work with they're nice folks and they said and this is a high-paying job oh it's a great thing so they said listen we would like to do five more years i said great i'd love to do five more years and that was six months ago and then time went by uh there's all talk about conan o'brien will he go to abc will he go to one of these other networks and and they came to me and they said we don't want to lose conan o'brien i said okay what does that mean and i said well um we think conan would be a good replacement as i do conan is a gentleman funny the hottest late-night guy out there excellent and i said you know something i don't want to see conan go anywhere else and i'm proud to say this show has been number one we will keep it number one and then at 0-9 i'll say conan it's take it over it's yours because you know when i took this show over boy there's a lot of animosity between me and dave and who's going to get it and quite frankly a lot of what i thought well good friendships were permanently damaged and i don't want to see anybody ever have to go through that again because this you know this show is like a dynasty you hold it and then you hand it off to the next person and i don't want to see all the fighting and all and who's better and nasty things back and forth in the press so right now here it is conan it's yours see you in five years buddy okay nbc studios in new york this plate fight with code and o'brien the final episode you know of course we're headed out to la to take over the tonight show which is very exciting a huge thrill for me uh i'd like to say something about mr jay leno jay leno is from day one uh has called me uh constantly uh and and offered his support every night at the end of the tonight show jay leno says stay tuned for conan o'brien he has done that since 1993. uh i owe that man a great deal and so my thanks to jay leno for all he's done for me what they've really accomplished in this move is you know the a peaceful transition of power you know which is rare in television good luck next week my friend jay thank you for everything [Music] so last night a jay gave his state of the network speech let's start in 2004 2004 i'm sitting my office an nbc executive comes in and says to me uh listen uh conan o'brien has gotten offers from other networks and uh we don't want him to go so we're going to give them the tonight show and i said well you know i've been number one for 12 years they said we know that but we don't think you can sustain that i said okay how about uh until i fall to number two then you fire me no we made this decision i said that's fine i said at the time okay i'll retire just to avoid what happened the last time the tonight show with conan o'brien that's right conan o'brien makes its debut [Music] when nbc said to jay you know what conan conan's gonna take over your job in five years that's when you say okay fine no hard feelings you call abc you call fox you try to get my job you leave you don't you don't yeah hey okay but i'll be in the lobby you know if you need don't hang around okay but i'm leaving before my contract is out about six or eight months early so before i could go anywhere else uh i would be at least a year or 18 months before i could go and do a show somewhere else i said nbc would you release it from my contract they said no we want to keep you here i said well oh okay uh what are your ideas i said well how about prime time i said well i'll never work i said no no we want to put you on a 10 we have done focus groups people will love you at 10. well i don't know it didn't seem like a good idea there but i said all right i said can i keep my staff there's 175 people at work here i stay said can i keep my staff said yes you can okay let's try it we guarantee you two years on the air guaranteed now for the first four or five months when you're against original shows like csi you'll get killed but in the spring and the summer when the reruns come that's when you'll pick up okay great i agree to that so they said uh sure conan you can have uh the tonight show in 2009 2009 was that what they said he could have it yes and so they went to jay big jaw leno and they said uh jay uh we're we're taking your show away from you yes and jason yeah okay yeah i was going to suggest that so jay now uh decides he wants to go on at 10 p.m and then he says uh you know what i'd uh uh i'm having trouble staying up this late does that happen is that how it happened that's exactly what it happened i see he said it's ruining my home life so i can't right he said is there any chance you could put me on a little earlier so they put him on at 10 p.m with a fantastic variety show [Music] and we're now just four days away from the debut of the jay leno show just how different is it really going to be from what you did all those years on the tonight show well i mean i i think that'll be different is there'll be a lot more comedy in it we're losing the desk you know when you inherit the tonight show you inherit all the tradition that goes with it the desk and the setup and the way it's done we're losing the desk it's the jay leno show [Music] nbc always considered the jay leno show here a bit of an experiment in prime time but after only four months they've decided to end that experiment he goes on at 10 o'clock at night he bombs there the late night shake-up comes say executives after nbc's affiliates began crying foul despite leno's repeated plugs starts right now those local newscasts are suffering down on average 30 percent in the ratings since leno became their leading they then say the affiliates are not happy the affiliates are one that own the tv station they're the ones that uh sort of make the decision they're not happy with your performance and conan is not doing well at 11 30. and you know and there was all kinds of talk about our ratings not being very good but they were pretty good all summer sure and then our lead-in changed right and they didn't they weren't so good anymore it's very hard i would think to have a lead-in for a a nighttime talk show that is a nighttime talk show yes you know jay was told five years ago that it was his turn to give up the driver's seat right right that is not his bus that's a 60-year bus that's been driving around the country that tonight so and if you're lucky enough to get to drive it when they say hey you're done you give the keys back and you say thank you you don't flatten the tires or the guy who comes next j completely sabotage by going on at 10 o'clock they gave jay all the best guess right they took away all of conan o'brien's excitement and thunder right and then there's no but there's also no lead in between 10 and 11 because their audience is gone absolutely we guarantee you two years on the air guaranteed four months go by we don't make it okay so they come and they go listen this show isn't working uh we want to let you go can i get out of my contract they go no you're still a valuable asset to the company how valuable can i be you've fired me twice how valuable can i be i said what's your idea they said well look how about you do a half hour show at 11 30. now where i come from when your boss gives you a job and you don't do it well we i think we did a good job here but we didn't get the ratings okay so you get humbled i said okay i'm not crazy about doing a half hour but okay what do you want to do with conan we'll put him on it midnight or 1205. he keeps the tonight show does all that he gets the whole hour i said okay you think conan will go for that yes yes almost guarantee i said okay shake hands that's it i'm not i don't have a manager i have an agent that's my handshake deal assuming all sides agree nbc's plan would be to move jay leno back to where he was winning at 11 35 conan o'brien would pick up at 1205 followed by jimmy fallon at 105. they'd like to keep them all the question is how do you keep these guys all happy so now they pull the plug on jay they pulled the plug on him yes and they said okay your show is cancelled you're going back to 11 30 and conan's going to 1205 to do the tonight show which as somebody pointed out really at 1205 is no longer the tonight show no tomorrow it's the next day show so now everybody says what will conan do will conan stay and do the tonight show at 1205. and then what's his name lonnie donegan what's his name yeah the guy jimmy fallon jimmy fallon gets pushed back to when does he start he would start then at one yeah and then and then two the other guy first daily yeah this show would have started at two and i called nbc and they said well we've never heard of carson daly so there and carson daly this is kind of you know he here's a kid who had a show at what would it wouldn't the show go on 1 30 yeah having a show at 1 30 is almost exactly like not having a show the difference between having a show and having one at 1 30. like that hey what about me hey what about i'm i'm pluto remember me i i used to be a planet you think connor will go for that yes yes you want me to move the tonight show to 1205 forget it i'm not doing it go to hell there is breaking news now on fox news channel conan o'brien has just announced he is leaving nbc he will not do the tonight show at what is at 1205 after the new jay leno proposed program this is actually the words of conan o'brien a pretty bitter uh end to this david he's saying that he's suddenly been put in a very public predicament and he said he's worked very long and hard to get the opportunity passed up far more lucrative offers since 2004 and he spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future and he says in this statement it was my mistaken belief like my predecessor i would have the benefit of some time this cockamamie compromise that nbc cooked up was never going to fly harry it was inevitable that conan would walk he waited five years to take over this prime real estate at 11 30 and now to be evicted by the very guy he replaced and i want to tell you something a lot of people criticize these executives at nbc but don't kid yourselves if they didn't know what they're doing they wouldn't be there so see my people have said conan's people have said hey nbc said they wanted drama at 10. now they got it now they got it everybody's mad exactly i've been given the situation a lot of thought you know this is true story when i was a little boy i remember watching the tonight show with johnny carson and thinking someday i'm going to host that show for seven months in a statement released this afternoon o'brien said 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 next thing i see conan has a story in the paper saying he doesn't want to do that they come back to me and they say if he decides to walk and doesn't want to do it you want the show back i go yeah i'll take the show back you know they say to jj would you go back on at 11 30 and we'll put conan on at 12. and jake goes yeah well i guess i do that only if conan's okay with it so was conan okay with it no he said no i'm not okay with that i don't want to leave at 11 30. and what does jay do jay takes the job i mean i had a show my show got cancelled they weren't happy with the other guy's show they said we want you to go back i said okay and this seems to make a lot of people really upset because they're taking sides just the mere mention of jay leno's name makes me want to vomit i'm friends with uh jay and i'm friends with conan and i'm friends with dave i mean i'm friends with all those guys i'm telling jokes and making fun of jay leno over and over and over relentlessly mercilessly simply for one reason and that is i'm really enjoying it it's i don't know it's just fun [Laughter] i'm watching the competition shooting themselves in the foot and just laughing my ass off you're known for pranks what's the best prank you ever pulled the best prank i ever pulled was i told the guy i told the guy that five years from now i'm gonna give you my show and then when the five years came i gave it to him and then i took it back almost instantly very good friend very good friend i think he works at fox or something now yeah i got you what the hell is going on over that nbc what does nbc stand for nobody backs conan who would have imagined that the mexican talk show host would have the most job security all right i'm not going nowhere same channel same time just weeknights 11 only on tbs and so and so now all of a sudden comes this outpouring of anger directed at jay and i keep saying to people well what what has he done wrong he's just kind of doing what the network tells him to do you know they say jay go to 10. yeah okay not a bad idea right [Applause] so they they say they say jay all right jade the 10 o'clock didn't work come back to 11 30. okay if that's what you want right who wouldn't take that job though who wouldn't do that you said you would have you wouldn't have taken the job if the situation had been reversed you wouldn't have come back on the tonight show i'm on record as surrendering the tonight show because it didn't feel right to me to keep it under certain circumstances so had if i had surrendered the tonight show and handed it over to somebody publicly and wish them well um and then i don't would not have come back six months later but that's me you know is it true that you made this prediction you told conan that this is exactly what was going to happen i went on conan o'brien's show and i turned to him and i said you don't really think you're getting the tonight show and then i read in the paper that conan is going to replace jay leno thank god i think what do you think that's really going to happen do you know i think it's about a 40 chance that's going to happen i think most people think you got screwed i mean jay leno thinks you got screwed jay leno thinks he got screwed how did he get screwed [Laughter] you know i've been number one for 12 years my show got cancelled we guarantee you two years on the air guaranteed you fired me twice conan o'brien has joked about the pending late night shuffle here at nbc but last night he really took the gloves off hosting the tonight show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me and i just want to say to the kids out there watching you can do anything you want in life yeah unless jay leno wants to do it too [Applause] i think the longer we just sit here the more uncomfortable it will make jake you know jay's watching right now it's stunning how jay leno outfoxed you again yeah he's good you think like everybody's like oh hi jaylan out they do the voice meanwhile he's the shrewdest guy he outfoxed you're in good company he had fox johnny carson david letterman every 10 years some red-headed rube shows up i'm like some clown off the bus with cardboard suits gee golly this is going to be great yeah you can have it after me you go hey thanks jay yeah so that's the phone call you got yeah yeah oh your agent's like there's good news and bad news you are doing the tonight show it's true but remember that discussion where we had where you said i'll never have to follow leonardo yeah now that jay leno is going back to his old time spot the big question is will david letterman go back to his old intern [Music] 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 don't blame conan o'brien nice guy good family guy he said that we should not blame conan for what's going on don't blame conan don't blame conan for what's going on and i said to myself no one is blaming god i know a lot of you people think that conan pushed himself out of a job well don't blame him he's not that kind of guy he would never do that to himself will conan o'brien end up at another network assuming he leaves nbc i think the major complications of this contract are is he owed a lot of money because they the contract has been breached so now nbc has to do something about it and they have to do one of two things they have to either pay him an enormous sum of money i mean i mean how much money do you think we're talking about 40 40 million dollars about in that neighborhood my friend just about in that neighborhood i would have rooted for that uh bobblehead leno to stay longer and you could have got the 40 mil for nothing right wasn't that your deal you would have got 40 million dollars right no i don't think so 40 billion dollars not to work yeah oh sweet i got to look into that is that a possibility and that's big doe that's big deal because this whole mistake over there at nbc has cost them hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars as debacles go in network television where does this rank it ranks slightly behind new coke they just want conan to quit and go away and do a show in his basement that's what they want that's exactly what they want but he's a smart kid he's not going to do that he want he's in there for the cash or they waive his non-compete clause so he can go to fox or come here and take my job now everyone this is i guess it's all over the internet people are talking about the terms of my settlement and what's it all about and the terms of my settlement i'll be honest with you say that i can't host another show for seven months that's what it says hey so ladies and gentlemen next week look forward to the andy richter show with his sidekick me well our time here at nbc is is just about up but uh and i've been saying this uh all week this is interesting until this last show ends we can pretty much do whatever we want and nbc has to pay for it so all this week we've been introducing new comedy bits that aren't so much funny as they are crazy expensive wednesday night we debuted a new character the bugatti veyron mouse which was yeah it was accompanied by the original master recording of the rolling stone satisfaction that little beauty cost nbc 1.5 million dollars last night we introduced another great new purchase 2009 kentucky derby winner mind that bird wearing a mink snuggie there he is there he is watching restricted nfl super bowl footage total price tag for that one 4.8 million dollars yeah well tonight for our last show we went all out all right well uh things are wrapping up uh around here and uh i've just been informed that i have to undergo uh this is weird an exit interview all right let's begin uh let's begin first question would you describe your experience here at nbc as positive very positive or extremely positive positive we'll go with positive that's the three choices i have positive did anything trigger your decision to leave [Laughter] yes kind of yeah yeah kind would you consider working for nbc again in the future [Applause] i don't know i i can't say at this time i'll circle back to that okay yeah i am going to need your id badge oh my id all right okay no this is just how it worked they're booing steve carrell [Applause] uh i think we're done i think we are done here steve carell everybody thank you so much between my time at cynonet live the late night show and my brief run here on the tonight show i've worked with nbc for over 20 years yes we have our differences right now yes we're going our separate ways but this company has been my home for most of my adult life i am enormously proud of the work we've done together and i want to thank nbc for making it all possible every comedian every comedian dreams of hosting the tonight show and for seven months i got to do it and i did it my way with people i love i do not regret one second so to all the people watching i can never ever thank you enough for the kindness to me i'll think about it for the rest of my life and all i ask is one thing and this is i'm asking is particularly of young people that watch please do not be cynical i hate cynicism for the record it's my least favorite quality it doesn't lead anywhere nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get but if you work really hard and you're kind amazing things will happen jay leno's back in the tonight show the monday after the olympics here on nbc well jay leno's back in a very familiar spot hosting the tonight show it's the tonight show with jay leno i'm jay leno your host at least for a while gotta admit i'm a little bit nervous not because it's my first night back because i know dave and oprah are watching that's right that's right man you want me to move the tonight show to 1205. i don't care who you were get a job i'll call the police you're very good-looking you don't really think you're getting the tonight show what's his name lonnie donegan what's his name [Music] don't do it conan larry king i'm your guardian angel but you're not dead never mind that i have two words for you basic cable basic cable conan i think you'll find our terms very [Music] attractive i think we have a deal [Music] well looks like everything's gonna be okay welcome to tbs and really welcome to basic cable it's throwing basic cable wow i never heard basic cable get shrieks of excitement first watch conan all new weeknights at 11 then an all new lopez tonight at midnight last wednesday steve coonan who is the head of tbs flew from atlanta to burbank sat in my office and said i have something that sounds really crazy he said what would you think about conan o'brien coming to tbs and taking the 11 o'clock spot and you going to midnight conan o'brien only wanted to know that he could do the type of show that he wanted to do and his biggest concern was that he was not going to do to me what was done to him he did not want to get as they say on twitter leno'd i am not getting leno'd i welcome [Applause] coming to conan from warner brothers [Applause] [Music] studios [Music] [Applause] hey [Applause] [Music] well i want to drop by show my respects you know well you know for you to bring a a basket commemorating sort of the the the tough situation i'm in is really nice yeah well that's not what that is what is this basket for oh this is an older basket i uh i procrastinate as you know and uh this is a basket i got you back in june well there's a card also yeah i see that it says congrats on it that's that's terrific well i don't know if can i read it yeah why not congratulations conan i'm finally securing your place as permanent host of the tonight show [Applause] that's something they can never take away from [Music] late night television losing a legend arguably uh tonight jay leno will say his final farewell we think i mean he's gone through this once before this has been the greatest 22 years of my life and i'm really excited for jimmy fallon you know it's fun to kind of be the old guy and sit back here and see where the next generation takes this great institution [Applause] welcome to the tonight show i'm jimmy fallon and i'll be your host for now of course i wouldn't be here tonight if it weren't for the previous tonight show host so i want to say thank you to steve allen jack parr johnny carson jay leno conan o'brien and jay leno very very nice amazing i got a call from my mom today she says well david i see you didn't get the tonight show again yeah you gonna do mom this is the part i don't understand i mean you're still well number one i think because you have talented people only wait so long before they get other opportunities you don't want to lose that opportunity that makes sense to me and i thought jimmy's been extremely gracious and polite you said all of the same things exactly about conan huh did i say the same thing yeah probably well maybe i did yeah i don't know why these guys care about time slots or everybody just puts their things on tivo i can watch anything without commercials these guys are living in the 50s where 11 30 is important i heard 30 important i heard conan say that that is well said norm well i don't know why it's important it's a number like you know do people take that though do people take the tonight show or they just kind of watch it when they go to the bed i tape it yeah i tape it too i just tape everything i don't even tape anything i just see it on youtube what are you doing here you know i was uh back in new york and i decided i want to come by check out my old studio yeah yeah that's right you were here for 16 years 16 years yeah and then then what what happened [Laughter] don't you worry about that you're a young guy

Channel: FanboyFilms

Views: 5,016,313

Keywords: Late, Night, War, Tonight, Show, Leno, Conan, Letterman, Fallon, Kimmel, Ferguson, O'Donnell, CBS, CNN, Stern, NBC, Fox, MSNBC, King, Lopez

Id: vBV-mm84rSI

Length: 32min 55sec (1975 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2018