Tuned In

Leno Invites O'Brien to His Farewell, Before Not Actually Leaving

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | May 14, 2009 | +

In a conference call with reporters today, Jay Leno announced that his final on-air guest on The Tonight Show will be his replacement, Conan O’Brien. Leno will welcome O’Brien to the show he will begin hosting June 1—a debut that, of course, has totally been overshadowed by Jay Leno’s staying on to do a 10 p.m. E.T. show starting in the fall. NBC may be giving Jay the limelight, having him compete with Conan for bookings, and generally relegating what should be the pinnacle of O’Brien’s career to an afterthought—but at least Conan will get a chance to congratulate Jay for it! 

Seriously, Jay had praise for O’Brien on the call, and said he considered him a friend. And the move suggests, if nothing else, that NBC recognizes it still has an interest in keeping O’Brien’s Tonight Show a viable asset. 

On the call, by the way, I asked Leno about Ben Silverman’s assurance to advertisers, at the NBC infronts earlier this month, that Jay was so “advertiser friendly” that he was willing to do in-show commercials. Was he? “Ben is very enthusiastic,” Leno said. “If it were up to Ben, I would be out there wearing a McDonald’s hat.” So the answer is…? “We’ll look at it and we’ll see. But I’m pretty much an advertiser-friendly guy … It’s one of those things that’s open to discussion. It’s somewhere between Ben’s enthusiasm and ‘no.’”

Related Topics: nbc

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  • beerbaron

    Oh shut up, Leno. You’d do the show dressed as the Hamburglar if Ben Silverman offered you another million bucks to spend on cars.

  • http://www.simonvinkenoog.nl/beeld/Yogi%20-%20Annelies%20Rigter.jpg yogi

    Well it could have been worse, Leno could have invited Carson Daily to the last show.

  • van68

    Leno has become The Houseguest That Won’t Leave. Yes, his ratings have been consistently strong and NBC must be happy to have him, but he’s never come close to honoring the legacy left behind by Johnny Carson — and now, with O’Brien waiting to do the kind of show that David Letterman would surely have done had he taken over in 1992, the network seems ever more determined to further subvert Carson’s accomplishments. First they devalued the show by installing a substandard host; now they’re devaluing it even more by making the show itself irrelevant. Way to eat your own, NBC.

  • Rorschach

    It’s so fashionable to take a shot at Leno, but the fact is, he’s out there every bloody night with fresh material! And he’s charming!

  • van68

    The charm is arguable, Rorshach, but I wouldn’t deny that many people see that in him. As for his work ethic, you’re absolutely right: Setting aside the quality of his comedy, I would assert that Jay Leno probably is the hardest working man in show business. (Apologies to James Brown.) Trouble is, I can’t set aside the quality of his comedy. Leno, to me, is the entertainment version of McDonalds: Cheap, tasteless, and staggeringly popular. He seems by all accounts like a genuinely good guy, and I don’t fault his ambition. But The Tonight Show took a big step backward when Carson stepped down, and now NBC seems set on tarnishing it further — all to champion Leno.

  • jimmycrack

    Uh, van68, I believe Rorschach is cribbing from Family Guy. At least Jay has Stewie as a fan.

  • lostepic

    That’s great. I am looking forward to watching Conan on The Tonight Show and Leno on The Tonight Show. It’s great to have two Tonight Shows a day. Yay…. I like Leno. But it seems that it’s subverting Conan. I know not everyone loves him, I love him. His dry wit is more my style. But to say to Conan…”You have done great in the late show. Leno is stepping down and we want you to helm the Tonight Show. What do ya say? Sure. Great now that Leno is stepping down we are going to grant his request to have his own show right before yours so its really like your still on the late show but earlier and we really never had Leno step down but move.” All said while thumbing their pretentious noses to Conan.
    .
    @jimmycrack: Yeah I saw that right away. Its practically a direct quote. If that was not Rorschach’s intention….”golf clap” he still gets kudos.
    .
    Yeah Carson was the man. Leno isn’t as good but he is better, in my opinion, than Letterman. But to do this to Conan is criminal. It’s like the switch never happened. Some of you are saying NBC took a step backward when Leno replaced Carson, I say this action to keep Leno on in his own “so-called” variety show while still maintaining Conan on the Tonight Show is demeaning, foolish and poor business strategy. One of the shows is going to tank and I assure you it won’t be the Tonight Show.
    .
    Oh…I am sorry. Perhaps I should clarify due to the overwhelming confusion of NBC having two different Tonight Shows. The one that isn’t going to fail is Conan O’Brien. Leno’s actions, and the execs for that matter, will cause Leno’s spot to get scrubbed.

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