One of the messiest succession plans in late night television history fell apart on Jan. 12, 2010, when Conan O’Brien publicly refused to back down for Jay Leno.
After 16 years of hosting NBC’s Late Night show (which aired at 12:30 AM), O’Brien took over the network’s flagship The Tonight Show (which aired at 11:30 PM, before Late Night) on June 1, 2009.
This was the fulfillment of a promise the network made to O’Brien five years earlier. But it also left Jay Leno, the longtime host of the still top-rated Tonight Show, out of a job earlier than he would have liked.
About 20 years earlier, NBC had endured another unpleasant transfer of Tonight Show power, as Leno took over for Johnny Carson, leading to then-current Late Night host David Letterman feeling passed over and jumping ship to CBS, where he went head-to-head against his friend turned rival Leno at 11:30.
Eager to avoid another costly defection, NBC offered Leno an hour-long nightly talk show at 10 PM. Although he was dubious the talk show format would work at such an early hour, Leno says he took the job when he was promised his staff would be paid for two full years regardless of the show’s success.
O’Brien’s ratings dipped early in his Tonight Show run, falling behind Letterman’s rival Late Show – although he made big gains with the younger-aged viewers that advertisers most desire. Leno’s 10 PM ratings also took a drastic hit. NBC knew this would happen to some degree, and had counted on the relatively low cost of running a talk show (as compared to more expensive dramas or comedies) to keep the show profitable in the new spot. But they had not considered how badly Leno’s lower ratings would hurt those of the local 11 PM news broadcasts, and by extension O’Brien’s show.
The angry local affiliates pressured the network to fix the situation, and on Jan. 10, 2010 NBC announced that it would pull Leno’s show out of prime time, with the goal of getting him back onto the late night schedule. The plan they proposed was for Leno to return to his 11:30 spot for a half-hour show before making way for O’Brien at 12:00, with Late Night (then hosted by Jimmy Fallon) moving to 1 AM.
Watch Conan O’Brien Mock NBC on ‘The Tonight Show’
Given a “take it or leave it” offer with no advance notice, O’Brien struck back with a public statement on Jan. 12:
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.
The mature, measured tone of that statement went out the window when a clearly pissed-off O’Brien returned to the airwaves that night. “Hosting The Tonight Show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me,” he declared. “And I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Yeah, yeah… unless Jay Leno wants to do it too.”
The die was cast. O’Brien would only host eight more episodes of the Tonight Show, but he made the most of his on-air time with countless barbs aimed at NBC. That included a farcical nightly bit where he tried to spend the network’s money as foolishly as possible, such as “buying” a one-of-a-kind fossil from the Smithsonian and using it to spray Beluga caviar on an “original” Picasso.
Watch Conan O’Brien Waste NBC’s Money
David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Howard Stern Quickly Painted Leno as the Villain
Several of O’Brien’s famous peers quickly took sides against Leno. Letterman had a field day dryly mocking Leno’s attempt at damage control: “He said that we should not blame Conan for what’s going on… ‘Don’t blame Conan for what’s going on.’ And I said to myself, ‘No one is blaming Conan.'” He went on to critique Leno for trying to hold onto his show instead of finding another job, as Letterman did when he was passed over by NBC.
Watch David Letterman Respond to Jay Leno’s ‘Don’t Blame Conan’ Speech
ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel did Letterman one better, repeatedly making fun of Leno for his role in the messy situation during an appearance on Leno’s own 10 PM show. When asked about the greatest prank he ever pulled, Kimmel quipped: “I told a 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.”
Watch Jimmy Kimmel Roast Jay Leno on His Own Show
The King of All Media, Howard Stern, echoed Letterman’s sentiment about what Leno should have done: “I was fired by NBC many years ago. You know what I did? I didn’t sit there like a lap dog and take it. I got up, I brushed myself off and I went on a competing station and I buried NBC into the ground. That’s what you do.”
Stern also pointed out that Leno’s 10 PM show played a major role in O’Brien’s downfall. “Jay completely sabotaged him. By going on at 10 PM, they gave Jay all the best guests, they took away all of Conan’s excitement and thunder. The bottom line is this: Jay is also a thief and that’s what gets my goat the most. Jay takes and lifts bits directly from my show, directly from Dave’s show… they don’t have an original thought on that show.”
Watch Howard Stern Fillet Jay Leno
Ironically, and naturally, all this drama brought O’Brien and The Tonight Show a big ratings boost. But his reign as The Tonight Show host ended on Jan. 22 with a farewell monologue in which O’Brien expressed thanks, focused on the positive and asked his viewers not to give into cynicism: “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.”
Five weeks after Conan’s last Tonight Show aired, Leno returned for a second run as host, which lasted four more years before he peacefully handed the desk over to noted hack Jimmy Fallon. O’Brien started his own late night show on TBS as soon as his non-compete clause expired. The Conan show lasted until 2021, at which point he began focusing on his podcast and the international travel series Conan O’Brien Must Go.
