Late Show UK

Conan O’Brien has put forward his version of The Tonight Show for this year’s Emmy nominations. This means The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien will go head-to-head with The Tonight Show With Jay Leno for the award of Best Variety Show.

Gawker – “Conan O’Brien Makes Tonight Show Run Against Itself In the Emmys”
Los Angeles Times – “Emmy battle of the ‘Tonight Shows’: Conan vs. Jay…”

President Obama made reference to Jay Leno during his talk at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this week.

When talking about his approval ratings, Obama said Jay was “the only person whose ratings fell more than mine” and he pointed to Leno in the crowd, and said “we’ve all seen what happens when someone takes the timeslot after Leno’s”.

Jay was the host for the Correspondents’ Association dinner this year.

Click here to watch

Conan O’Brien is currently ranked at number 1 in The 2010 TIME 100 Poll. Stephen Colbert is at number 12, Jon Stewart at number 13 and Jay Leno is ranked at number 72. Vote for your favourite now.

The final episode of The Jay Leno Show aired on NBC last night. The failed 10pm show wrapped up last night with host Jay Leno saying NBC had allowed it to end early “for good behavior” – “This show was supposed to last two years, but my sentence was reduced to five months for good behavior”.

During his final monologue he said “We were on the air five months – it seems like just yesterday I was telling NBC this is not going to work”. Ashton Kutcher, Gabourey Sidibe and Bob Costas were the guests on the final show, with Donald Trump appearing as a special guest via satellite.

MTV report the show ended quite abruptly for the NBC news programme. MTV report “before the talk-show host could give any closing comments to the gathered audience, the feed ended abruptly and transitioned directly into NBC’s scheduled news program… the show’s unceremonious sendoff offered a stark reminder that Leno’s departure from the airwaves is only temporary”.

Leno will go head-to-head with Letterman in the ratings war when he returns to The Tonight Show at 11.35pm from the 1st March. On the penultimate Jay Leno Show on Monday, Jay talked about the Super Bowl commercial he filmed with David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey, saying there was no animosity between Dave and himself.

NBC have now officially closed the website for The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien – www.thetonightshowwithconanobrien.com now just redirects to www.nbc.com.

TV Guide – “NBC Ends Jay Leno Show Early “For Good Behavior”"
MTV – “‘The Jay Leno Show’ Comes To An End”

Click here for to watch Leno talking about the Super Bowl commercial

David Letterman and Jay Leno have appeared together in a Super Bowl commercial with Oprah Winfrey. Reportedly they wanted Conan to appear as well, but he didn’t.

I think this is the first time Letterman and Leno have been on TV together in many years since the high-profile Tonight Show debacle of the 1990s. Jay and Dave used to be quite good friends and Leno would make appearances on Dave’s talk show from time to time.

The commercial which aired during last night’s Super Bowl on CBS showed David Letterman, Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey sitting on a couch watching the Super Bowl (in a similar scene to Dave & Oprah’s previous Super Bowl commercial a while back) with Dave saying “this is the worst Super Bowl party ever” and Leno replying “you’re only saying that because I’m here”.

Very unexpected to see them sitting on the same couch after all this time. Also even more unexpected to see Leno in the commercial which has a promotion strap for the Late Show With David Letterman at the end considering he’s back on The Tonight Show next month.

The commercial was filmed in the balcony of the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York and it’s reported Leno arrived in a disguise to avoid being noticed by people outside.

Click here to watch the Super Bowl commercial

Jay Leno was interviewed on a special edition of Oprah Winfrey’s talk show last Thursday. Jay was questioned about whether taking The Tonight Show back is the right thing to do, and what he thought about the whole NBC mess with Conan O’Brien walking off the job after refusing to move to 12.05am to follow The Jay Leno Show which NBC planned to air at 11.35pm. You can read the interview transcript on Oprah’s official website.

Speaking about The Jay Leno Show, Oprah asked “was it against your better judgment to do the primetime show?” he said “well, I chose to do it, so I take full responsibility… I did it because it’s an interesting challenge”. The Jay Leno Show’s ratings were the main reason for its cancellation – Jay said “I felt bad for everybody on the show, and I felt bad for our affiliates”.

Talking about when NBC approached Leno about the move back to 11.35pm he said “it would still be The Jay Leno Show, and I would still do a monologue and a comedy piece, and I thought: “Okay, I’ll do a half hour at 11:30. Conan will do an hour.” And I remember saying to one of the executives, “Do you think Conan will go for that?” “Oh yeah, no problem. We are 75 percent sure Conan will take this deal.” I said okay, [and] shake hands. Again, I’m not a big contract guy. I shake hands. I’ll do a half hour, Conan will take an hour, we’ll see what happens”.

When asked about his thoughts on The Tonight Show and the effects on the ratings after Conan O’Brien took over, he said “if you look at where the ratings were, it was already destructive to the franchise”. Jay revealed he hasn’t yet spoken to Conan since the debacle – “maybe let things cool down and maybe we’ll talk”. But he said he watched Conan’s final Tonight Show saying it was a “great show, good performer and good comic. And a good guy. There’s no animosity there”.

Oprah asked him if NBC could have done anything differently to have made it good for everyone involved – Jay said “anything they did would have been better than this. Anything. Anything they did. If they had come in and shot everybody. I mean, it would have been, “Oh, people were murdered.” But at least it would have been a two-day story. … From 2004 onward, this whole thing was a huge, a huge mess”.

“I regret that it wasn’t handled better… I’m just not sure what I could have done differently… the key is not to be bitter”, he said.

The final episode of The Jay Leno Show airs on the 9th February and The Tonight Show With Jay Leno returns on the 1st March.

Oprah.com – “The Tonight Show Controversy”
Oprah.com – “Jay Leno on Conan O’Brien’s Last Show Video” (video clip)
Oprah.com – “Jay Leno 10 @ 10 Video” (video clip)
Oprah.com – “Oprah Talks About the Tonight Show Video” (video clip)

Jay Leno will present this year’s Correspondents’ Dinner at the White House in Washington on the 1st May. Leno has presented the event in the past – in 1987, 2000 and 2004.

Popcrunch – “Jay Leno White House Correspondents Dinner 2010″

Jay Leno will be a guest on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show this Thursday. It’s also thought Oprah’s trying to get Conan O’Brien to appear on her show as well.

Seattle PI – “Oprah Winfrey to Interview Jay Leno; Possibly Conan O’Brien”

The final episode of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien aired on Friday night. Steve Carrell, Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Neil Young all appeared on the last show. Click here to watch highlights from the final few shows. In his final monologue Conan said “we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio”.

Highlights of the final show included another “World’s Most Expensive Sketch” to use up the remaining portion of the budget for The Tonight Show, Conan asking what will happen to the almost-new Tonight Show studio he’s leaving behind (“leave the studio cold and empty and rename it the world’s largest metaphor for NBC programming”), Steve Carrell conducting Conan’s NBC “exit interview”, Tom Hanks coming out to greet Conan wearing sunglasses and plying him with alcohol and Will Ferrell’s song to to close the show (with Conan on guitar and Max on the drums).

Conan has been using some expensive music throughout the final week of The Tonight Show and will be sending the bill to NBC to pay for the rights for that – including Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones and Lovely Rita by The Beatles.

Conan’s final speech on The Tonight Show was emotional. He said “every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and for seven months I got to… I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I’ve had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-Eleven parking lot we’ll find a way to make it fun… I don’t want to do it in a 7-Eleven parking lot”. There wasn’t one mention of Jay Leno throughout the entire show.

NBC officially confirmed The Tonight Show will return on 1st March with former host Jay Leno. Conan will be able to start a new talk show from September if he wants to – Fox are rumoured to be very interested.

Conan’s final Tonight Show will air on CNBC at 11pm tomorrow night – the usual CNBC 30-minute cutdown version. Reruns of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien will air on NBC next week.

NBC – “NBC Announces That Jay Leno Will Return To Host ‘The Tonight Show’”
NBC – “Statement From NBC and Conan O’Brien”
BusinessWeek – “O’Brien thanks fans, NBC on final ‘Tonight’ show”
NY Daily News – “Questlove: Use of Beatles’ ‘Lovely Rita’ on Conan O’Brien’s last ‘Tonight Show’ cost NBC $500k”

Conan O’Brien will be able to join another US TV network from 1st September. His exit deal with NBC states he’s not allowed to sign up for any other US network until that date. Conan is examining his options – he could go to Fox, Comedy Central or Fox-owned channel FX.

Another detail of the NBC deal has been revealed – he won’t be able to bring his old characters like Triumph The Comic Dog and the Masturbating Bear with him to another network as NBC have claimed them as intellectual property. This reminds me of when Letterman left NBC and they wouldn’t let him take his segments like Viewer Mail – Letterman always joked that the word “intellectual” isn’t usually something you’d associate with NBC.

Leno – who is expected to return to The Tonight Show from the 1st March – said “I don’t believe the iceberg is that big, the biggest ship, this ship will never sink” with a reference to the Titanic. On The Tonight Show, Conan took more swipes at NBC saying one of the things he’s not allowed to do is “make fun of NBC programming… I have to let the programming speak for itself”. Conan’s final Tonight Show will air tonight in the US – you can see it on CNBC at 11pm on Monday.

Reuters – “Conan O’Brien exploring options after NBC split”
NBC Bay Area – “Jay Leno: “I Have Chosen to Stay on the Titanic”"

The final edition of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien will air this Friday – after the 22nd January show Conan will no longer be hosting The Tonight Show.

A deal has now been reached between NBC, Conan and his staffers. TMZ.com report NBC “have reached a $45 million settlement… Conan will get a severance of $32.5 million, regardless of whether he gets another hosting gig”. They also say “NBC will pay $7.5 million to Conan’s “Tonight Show” staff — and our sources believe the network added several thousand more to the pot at the last minute”. In addition to this “NBC will pay a whopping $4.5 million to the executive producer”.

The guests for Conan’s final Tonight Show this Friday will be Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell (who appeared on the first ever edition of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien last year) and Neil Young.

When The Tonight Show returns after the Winter Olympics break, it’s likely Jay Leno will take The Tonight Show back in the normal 11.35pm timeslot. It’s not known when Jay’s final 10pm show will air but it could be as early as the 26th January.

TMZ.com – “Conan O’Brien, NBC Reach $45Mil Settlement”

TransWorldNews says Conan “has reportedly accepted a $32.5 million deal to leave The Tonight Show… according to reports, NBC has agreed to pay O’Brien $32.5 million to leave The Tonight Show and to remain silent about the controversy surrounding the show’s time slot change. Jay Leno will reportedly return as host of The Tonight Show”. Conan is rumoured to be in discussions with Fox for a possible talk show on their network. TMZ say Fox even registered a website for Conan already – they report “the registrant of CONANONFOX.COM is the Intellectual Property Department of Twentieth Century Fox”.

Several well known celebrities have commented on the Leno/Conan debate – Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe Awards ceremony this week and opened with “let’s get going, before they replace me with Jay Leno” and comedian Sarah Silverman (the ex-girlfriend of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel) said “NBC displaced a lot of people by bringing the show here. People enrolled their kids in school and I don’t think six months is enough time”.

It’s not known how much longer The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien will be on NBC – original reports suggested the final episode would air in February before the Winter Olympics start, but the show may end as soon as this week – guest listings aren’t being released very far in advance at the moment which is a sign the show is ending soon.

TMZ.com – “Conan O’Brien Scores $32.5 Mil from NBC”
TransWorldNews – “Conan OBrien and NBC Reach $32 Million Deal”
Hollyscoop – “Celebs Weigh in on Conan-Leno Controversy”
Hollyscoop – “Conan In Negotiations With Fox”

Jay Leno is featured in the updated California tourism commercial. He’s driving the same “10″ car he drove in the adverts for The Jay Leno Show before it started earlier this year.

Click here to watch the advert

Jay Leno appeared on the BBC’s Top Gear programme earlier this evening. He took part in the “Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car” segment and discussed the many many cars he owns, as well as speed cameras and driving in Los Angeles, and having Barack Obama on The Tonight Show after he became President.

Click here to watch Jay Leno’s Top Gear appearance

Jay Leno’s appearance as the “Star In A Reasonably-Priced Car” airs on BBC2′s Top Gear tonight at 8pm

It’s repeated tomorrow at 7pm on BBC2.

Click here to watch the show as it airs live at 8pm

Jay Leno’s appearance as the “Star In A Reasonably-Priced Car” on the BBC’s Top Gear (read more) will air on Sunday 2nd August from 8pm on BBC2. This will be repeated on Monday 3rd August from 7pm on BBC2.

Radio Times – Top Gear (Sunday 2nd August)

The former host of The Tonight Show and the upcoming host of The Jay Leno Show on NBC will be appearing on the BBC’s Top Gear programme soon.

Leno made a previous appearance on the programme in December last year when he showed Top Gear’s James May around his car collection in California.

This time, however, he’s come to the UK for the “Star In A Reasonably Priced Car” segment – Top Gear’s time-trial lap segment. A video posted on his Jay Leno’s Garage website shows him meeting The Stig, Jeremy Clarkson and other members of the Top Gear team. It also shows him recording in the studio.

Leno was primarily in the UK for the Goodwood Festival Of Speed.

The segment will air on BBC2 in the UK – probably in August.

Jalopnik.com – “Jay Leno Meets The Stig”

Click here to watch the behind-the-scenes Top Gear video from Jay Leno’s Garage