Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien share an intriguing connection, and it’s not simply because they’re both famed talk show hosts. In 2010, they were engaged in a highly publicized dispute involving NBC’s The Tonight Show. The situation brought negative publicity to the network at the time and, since everything went down, some have been under the impression that O’Brien and Leno aren’t on good terms. So over a decade after the late-night TV drama, where does their relationship stand? Well, an insider dropped some alleged details on the matter.
Conan O’Brien, who’d been the host of Late Night since 1993, was ultimately named Jay Leno’s Tonight Show successor and formally took up the position in 2009. All in all, reviews of O’Brien’s turn at the big desk were mostly positive. At the same time, execs sought to keep Leno in the fold and did so by giving him an eponymous talk show that aired after TTS. Because neither show received strong ratings out of the gate, the powers that be sought to fix that by bumping Leno up to 11:35 p.m. ET and O’Brien back to 12:05 a.m. ET. The latter was displeased with that move and, ultimately, he and his staff reached a settlement to depart the program in 2010. O’Brien would move to TBS, while Leno would be reinstated as the Tonight Show host.
What Did The Insider Claim About Conan O’Brien And Jay Leno’s Relationship?
If a source is to be believed, the former Conan host still isn’t happy with how the matter panned out. The person – who claimed to be a friend of the SNL alum – told Radar Online the business decision still “still sticks in Conan’s craw to this day.” They say that the star allegedly feels that time slot switch-up was prompted not by ratings but by another purported factor:
Conan’s convinced Jay went behind his back after Jay had second thoughts about leaving the late-night platform, and he feels he never got the chance to show what he could really do. Conan has never forgiven Jay and has never talked to him in all the years since. He’s got a dart board at home with Jay’s face on it.
These sentiments should be taken with a grain of salt. Jay Leno has never actually admitted to having had second thoughts about exiting his former show. Considering what’s been alleged here, one can’t help but bring what both media personalities have said on the matter more recently.
What Conan O’Brien And Jay Leno Have Said About The Tonight Show Debacle In Recent Years
The former host of Late Night opened up about the controversy during an interview with Adweek in 2022. Conan O’Brien explained that he viewed the “screwed-up” and “unjust” situation as being “important” to him. He also opened up about the public outcry that emerged at the time, which saw a number of people coming to his defense:
I will admit to you, I am not a seer. I'm not a tech visionary. I'm not a revolutionary thinker. Talk about luck: I happen to exist at a time when the internet at that point, 2010, is really starting to flex its muscles. There was this explosion online, and that took me completely by surprise. I didn't see it coming. I remember at the time, there were people at NBC that—I always picture them in their black tower, going: [shocked indignation] 'How is he doing this? Release another falcon. Stop him!'
He didn’t aim to mention his fellow talk show alum by name during the chat, though the now-73-year-old Jay Leno did mention Conan O’Brien while reflecting on the situation near the end of 2022. He shared his thoughts on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast. During that chat, Leno denied the assumption that he “deliberately sabotaged” O’Brien:
Oh, Leno deliberately sabotaged his show to try and get The Tonight Show.' No, that doesn't work, it doesn't work that way. You try to do the best you can, and it didn't work. And then they said, 'How about coming on at 11:30?' I said, 'Look, I don't want to go through this again.' [NBC’s Jeff Zucker] goes, 'If Conan moves back to 12, would you do a half-hour at 11:30?' I said, 'Talk to Conan. If he'll go to 12, I'll do a half-hour, just do a monologue and one guest.' And, of course, Conan didn't want to do that, and that's when he wrote the letter. And they put me back in, and we became number one again.
Jay Leno, who doesn’t miss hosting on late-night TV, eventually departed The Tonight Show for good in 2014, and Jimmy Fallon took over hosting duties. On the other side of the equation, Conan O’Brien’s self-titled series on TBS ended in 2021 with a series of shows featuring major guests like Mila Kunis and Martin Short. We can’t say for sure if there’s still any friction between the two men, but what can be agreed on is that they both managed to move on to other prime professional endeavors.
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Erik Swann
Senior Content Producer
Erik Swann is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He began working with the publication in 2020 when he was hired as Weekend Editor. Today, he continues to write, edit and handle social media responsibilities over the weekend. On weekdays, he also writes TV and movie-related news and helps out with editing and social media as needed. He graduated from the University of Maryland, where he received a degree in Broadcast Journalism. After shifting into multi-platform journalism, he started working as a freelance writer and editor before joining CB. Covers superheroes, sci-fi, comedy, and almost anything else in film and TV. He eats more pizza than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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