Reply With Quote
Did you just try and compare the genius of Larry David to.... Conan o ing brien?
LOL you are so lost
1.5 million for a 1 minute segment
Did you just try and compare the genius of Larry David to.... Conan o ing brien?
LOL you are so lost
Maybe during the closing credits on Friday's show, Conan will take a dump in his desk drawer.
Not likely. He came to an agreement with NBC for a $45 million buyout. Tomorrow is his last show.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100121/...v_leno_o_brien
Sucks because all the angry humor that made the last week and a half amazing will be gone, but he got things settled quick with that Bugatti sketch.
I just hope he somehow walked away with the intellectual property rights to Triumph, The Masturbating Bear, and Pimpbot 5000.
I don't think the $1.5M thing is legit - expenditures that size would have to be approved first. That said, looks like Conan got a few mill more for his staff:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/televis...inalized_N.htm
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
It's official: Conan's gone after Friday's show.
Seven months after taking the reins at The Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien reached a settlement agreement with NBC late Wednesday. The deal is said to be worth around $45 million, with roughly $33 million for O'Brien and another $12 million in staff severance payments.
"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," Gavin Polone, O'Brien's manager, told The Wall Street Journal. "Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible."
Predecessor Jay Leno ends his prime-time perch Feb. 11 and reclaims Tonight on March 1, after the Winter Olympics.
And O'Brien walks, ready and willing to set up shop elsewhere, as soon as Sept. 1, when he's allowed back on TV. He and his writers may need the time to come up with new comedy bits since the intellectual property rights for trademark sketches like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog won't be going with him.
His most obvious new home is Fox, which, despite the messy split, provides a better fit for his brand of quirky humor.
"He actually has a TV tonality more appropriate for Fox than he did for NBC, which was part of the problem on The Tonight Show," says John Rash of ad firm Campbell Mithun. "He was not as mainstream as Jay Leno."
Fox has expressed interest in O'Brien, but had to wait for him to confirm his exit from NBC, stalled by negotiations over severance payments for his staff and legalese that may prevent him from trash-talking about his soon-to-be-former employer, following a nightly barrage of anti-NBC jokes.
At Fox, a major issue is getting stations to give up their profitable late-night block of syndicated reruns that follow local newscasts.
As a result, it's likely a Conan show would not air nationally at first, though it would air in most major cities; Fox owns 17 of its 205 affiliated stations. And the show would probably start out at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT — not at 11 following local 10 p.m. newscasts — to allow local stations to continue their lucrative syndicated reruns, such as Seinfeldand The Office. That would slot Conan in head-to-head compe ion with both Leno and David Letterman, though the intention would be to ultimately move him to 11.
Fox also would seek to produce the show at a lower cost than NBC's hefty Tonight tab, much as ABC does with Jimmy Kimmel.
While Fox is the most obvious home, Rash says cable would offer more freedom. "Although it would be a smaller stage, he would really have a broad canvas to paint on if he were on Comedy Central or a similar basic-cable network," he says. "Instead of having to rein it in, he could have more of his quirky comedic sensibility come out."
But Comedy Central would have a harder time paying the tab and already has a successful late-night block with The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
The settlement caps an intense two-week war over the struggling NBC's late-night talent that started with NBC's decision to cancel Leno's failed prime-time series and move him back to 11:35 p.m. ET/PT.
O'Brien refused to allow his show to be bumped a half-hour later and follow Leno yet again. In an impassioned public statement last week, he expressed "enormous personal disappointment" and added, "I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is (Tonight's) destruction."
Leno's return to late night is expected to instantly boost Tonight's ratings: O'Brien's audience of 2.5 million is half of what Leno commanded. CBS' Late Show With David Letterman has climbed to No. 1 for most of this season, with about 4 million viewers.
But O'Brien's ratings increased sharply in the past week as viewers embraced the spectacle — and as O'Brien's fans mounted an Internet campaign to save his job.
Even fellow comedians took sides: Leno pal Jerry Seinfeld last week said O'Brien's lower ratings were a bigger culprit than Leno's prime-time failure: "I don't think anyone has done anything to Conan," he said. "They can't hit the ball for you. They can only give you the bat."
Louis CK, a former writer for O'Brien, said he never understood why he wanted Tonight, which "was like what old people watched. It's hurting him inside because he wants to be the host of The Tonight Show. And it's a little presumptuous for me to tell Conan that his dreams are misguided. But they are."
In recent shows, O'Brien implied he knew the end was near but continued to mock the network and Leno: "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. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too."
He'll end his seven-month tenure with the same guests that began it —Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell.
Maybe, but perhaps they gave his show a budget and an account that he was authorized to use, maybe for a full calendar year or something. I don't know how any of show-business works though, so I'm just speculating. Still, the pieces fit that NBC would end the drama quickly when Conan's threatening to blow huge money every night.
I illustrated the vast difference between Conan and Leno.
I'll say it again. Give it up. You might as well be comparing the merits of Home Improvement over those of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
In fact, rubes who like Leno shouldn't even be allowed to watch a single second of anything a real comedian like Larry David has ever done. Your cable company should just restrict the option lest you get in over your head. Good comedy isn't for Leno rubes. Go watch some Rosanne re-runs.
Last edited by balli; 01-21-2010 at 11:04 AM.
you like lame ass i love lucy... i like the rosanne show, maybe cause i grew up on it but i still watch it.
Amen to that.
I was gasping for air after that segment last night. The sketch was funny, whether they actually spent $1.5 million or not. I doubt they did as well, the car was probably loaned or rented rather than purchased, but still. The concept was hilarious.
And big props to Conan for fighting for money for his staff and supplementing it from his own pocket.
Last edited by easjer; 01-21-2010 at 11:28 AM.
That Sandler interview was great - "NBC - Nothing But s!" LMFAO
I thought it was NBC, nothing but suckers...
speaking of stern
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxcAAb60lik
If he had just agreed to do the show 1/2 an hour later, they would all still have jobs.
I'm sure wherever Conan goes in the next 8 months, he'll be sure to take his staff with him. Why wouldn't he?
The Masturbating Bear is going to remain out of work even then.
Allegedly, NBC still owns Letterman's bits. He just renamed them, and continues to use them. Victory, the Insult Comic Dog, anyone?The Masturbating Bear is going to remain out of work even then.
Didn't he have to fight like to keep the Top 10 lists?
Even though they beeped it out, through lip reading it didn't appear he came close to saying as many syllables as in suckers. It looked just like s to me.
No I know it was s...I was just offering up another acronym..
And if he's just moved back, he would be hosting the Late Show again, not the Tonight Show.
Glad he's leaving. I'll watch wherever he goes. I will never watch Leno again. I'm trying hard to think of a single thing I watch on NBC at this point, and I can't think of anything but local news. Good riddance.
Even if he did, something tells me Conan's up for the fight.
The only thing left I'm sad about is that gorgeous set. It's so beautiful and is most likely going to be dismantled. Such a shame.
Smigel still does work for SNL occasionally, doesn't he? Isn't it his bit?
I know that NBC would probably hate it but I think now would be the best time for Conan to host SNL again. They probably wouldn't let him do it but I bet it would be hilarious.
'Eh, that Kentucky Derby winning horse in the mink snuggie watching licensed NFL super bowl highlights wasn't nearly as funny as Buggati mouse.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
