Conan O'Brien on 60 Minutes in 2010

60 Minute Rewind, very few things in this country galvanize public opinion like someone trying to play with people's preferences in the bedroom. I'm talking, of course, about what you see on late-night television, and NBC found out a few months ago when Conan O'Brien, the newly installed host of the tonight show, resigned after the network announced it was moving the tonight-to-morning show and returning its traditional time slot to O'Brien's predecessor, Jay Leno, which led to a lot of bad publicity for NBC and huge public support for Conan and some of the best late-night jokes in a decade. Conan walked away with a $32 million deal and a new cable show, and NBC did everything it could to push him into oblivion by legally prohibiting him from saying anything false or derogatory. about the network and from giving interviews or appearing on television to now if you're wondering what happened to

conan

o'

brien

and what he thinks about all this you're about to find out so what happened to the beard the first day i woke up and he was no longer the host of tonight's show.

I remember the first thing I thought was that I'm not shaving and that was my small victory. You know, okay, so I missed the show tonight, but I'm going to show them that I'm going to stop shaving. This has been a great year, yes, that's it, we're done. This was so much fun. This year has been incomprehensible, it is still incomprehensible to me. The amount of things that happened in my life in the last year is. It's going to take me a long time to process after leaving the Tonight Show in January and hanging out at his house trying to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life.

He decided the best therapy would be to get out. From home and back to work, he gathered many of his former staff, started a Twitter account that's the tweet, and began planning a nationwide comedy tour, something he'd never done before and one of the few. things he was allowed to do by contract. Things develop, we meet him in Seattle. You must have been miserable for the past few months. I went through some things and got really depressed at times. You know, it was like a marriage broke up suddenly, violently fast, and I was just trying. To find out what happened when we started putting this tour together, I started feeling better almost immediately and then this.

There is no better antidote to what I just went through than doing this every night. You know, do this tour. It's a big milestone for me. This is the first time anyone has paid to see me. Can you believe it? Yeah, oh, they paid for me to go on tour again. It is legally prohibited to be funny on the television tour. He boosted his confidence, kept him relevant, and gave her an outlet to explore his anger, disappointment, and anxiety with mostly self-deprecating humor. My own show again. I can't wait to have my own show again. I would even choose a prime time show.

That's at 10. Anything to have my own After 40 performances in 32 cities in the US and Canada, the tour will end next month at New York's Radio City Music Hall, right next to the headquarters NBC corporate headquarters where this whole late-night fiasco occurred. cooked i just want to say i couldn't be happier you were the only choice you were the perfect choice you have been an absolute gentleman in private and in the press i agree

conan

rox good luck next week my friend jay thanks for less Over a year later After Jay Leno handed over the Tonight Show to Conan O'Brien, NBC decided to cancel Leno's disastrous primetime show and move him back to his old stint on 11 35 Eastern's Tonight Show, which was losing a lot in the ratings to David.

Letterman was to be sent back to 1205 the next morning. It was in the back of your mind that look, if I don't do it right, they might just have Leno come back in. I'm a paranoid person and I think I'm that type. He is a person who can come up with many negative scenarios, but I remember thinking that seemed like an exaggeration, that was an exaggeration even for me. What followed were some unpleasant arguments with NBC's West Coast bosses. I just felt that the tone disappeared very quickly. time we understand that this is a difficult decision for um, you know, come on, you know, and that probably helped me a little bit to feel like you know what this environment doesn't feel right and I've been around these people for a long time and I don't.

It's not that I really don't like how this is going and when it started to get toxic and I started to feel like I'm not sure these people really want me here, I just, I just can't do it. Do you think they wanted you to leave? Yes, that crossed my mind. I don't know how thoughtful this whole thing was, but if they wanted me to leave, it worked. This was very, very difficult for him. It was seeing someone's heart broken. Liza O'Brien Conan's wife was one of his closest confidants and advisors during the debacle. Did you approve of everything he did?

Yes, you thought he should have left. What do you think of the way he was treated by NBC from my perspective? I felt like they never gave him the job, they said we'll give you this job in five years and they kept him with the company and, you know, he said, "I'm not going anywhere else and I'm still working for you and I'm in this for the long haul." deadline and I felt like they lost the courage to really make a change and that was a shame, it was a shame because it would have been great to see what I could have done if I had had their full support and had more time.

I don't look down on it. Do you have a copy because I haven't read it in a while? I keep coming back somewhere. I keep one in my wallet every time people come up to me. Hey, so what's the deal with Jay Leno? Wait a second, he's a good man, let's put it aside. Can I assume that this interview would take a different tenor if that agreement didn't exist? No, I don't think it's the most important thing for people to come and tell me in the conversations. gas stations and restaurants. There are so many people who tell me this.

Hey, buddy, you got screwed. I don't, and I always tell them no, I did it. No I didn't get screwed, I'm fine, it just didn't work out well, you did get screwed, you think I got screwed good, 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? It's like it's not a part of me I'm sorry Jay has the show tonight I have a beard an inflatable bat and I'm touring from city to city Who's to say who won and who lost?

I'm laughing because crying would be sad, the story will continue after Jay has contacted you no, no calls, no, no, I don't think I'll hear from him, we should get him here, we should see if he's going to be there. It will be a surprise, no, no, okay, but he would call if we know his number or can. I'm sure he would come. Maybe he has caller ID. He won't answer. I think Lena would say. Look, I was at the top, I was number one and I was still number one when I left and Conan made this deal with NBC and NBC said, "Okay, Jay, we'll take you off the air in five years, regardless of whether are you number one or number two or what did he think, it felt like NBC forced him out at a time when he was a strong number one and they pushed him out the door, that's their argument, it's hard for me get into his head and discuss his side of this whole thing um, I was, this is what I can say, I'm happy with my decision, I sleep well at night and, you know, I hope he's happy with his decision, do you think That Jay pushed for this?

I don't know but what I know is what happened, which is that he went and got that show back. Do you think he acted honorably during all of this? No, I don't think I can answer that. I can only tell you how I would have handled it and done it differently. You wouldn't have come back to tonight's show if I had resigned from tonight's show and given it to someone publicly and wished them well. uh, he wouldn't have come back six months later, but that's me, you know, everyone has their own way of doing things, what would you have done? with NBC, the company where he worked most of his adult life, and with NBC universal boss Jeff Zucker, whom he has known since they were classmates at Harvard.

Did sugar call you? No, um, you haven't talked to Zucker since they made you this offer, that's true, you know at some point I'm sure I'm going to run into these people and you know I'm not sure we're going to be hugging and drinking. beer and singing old Irish fight songs because I don't think they know anything, but you know, I wish this was crazy. I hope these people are well. Zucker. Jeff Zucker was quoted as saying at the end of the day that viewers voted and didn't like Conan as host of On the Tonight Show, can I take back what I just said?

Do you disagree with that? In my opinion, I don't think it's quite accurate, but you're entitled to his opinion. I think anyone can say that the results came after six months. It doesn't ring true to me oh, they said that for the first time in history tonight's show was losing money uh, I don't see how that is, honestly, I don't see how it's possible, it's really not possible, it's not possible. Did you expect NBC to absolutely give you more opportunities? Yes, do you feel like it was a failure? My program tonight. No, absolutely not. Conan agrees with NBC's comments that it was a business decision motivated by money and acknowledges that Leno had the most expensive contract and it would have been even more difficult to let him go; some people have reported that NBC would have had to pay him $150 million. of dollars, yeah, so if you look at it that way and you're working, let's say I don't know.

You're working for general electric and you tell them, you know, there's this to make that guy go or there's this, that's the decision, it's probably pretty clear and I think, honestly, I think everyone knows that's what happened, They did what they had to do and that's fine, I understand it and the only thing that bothers me is when people later say: well, you know Conan was losing money and you know he was actually murdering cats. What do you know, last month, Conan finally pulled the trigger on his future. Some were surprised to sign up to do an 11 o'clock show for the PBS cable channel and not with a broadcast network.

I don't look down on cable and I think anyone who does is not paying attention to television these days because this world is changing very quickly, you have 30 million dollars that you didn't have before, you have a very lucrative new gig on tbs that has a very young audience, tailor-made for you, it wasn't. all wrong that's the point I keep making it's crucial to me that anyone who sees this takes away something from this okay I'm doing great I hope people still find me uh comically absurd and ridiculous and um I and I don't I don't regret anything I believe and this could be my Catholic upbringing or my Irish magical thinking, but I believe things happen for a reason, I really do.

I thought Lutherans believed that, oh my God, Lutherans are fine, I guess I do experience some joy. In life I'll go to hell, that's what I believe and, uh, but you understand, they kicked me out, it happened fast, they said, please don't let the door catch your freckled Irish ass. I was all over the house eating frosting out of a jar. I got really into Gossip Girl and sleeping in my car. Yes, I have so many programs to give. I will Survive. I will Survive.