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January 15, 2010


"The best prank I ever pulled was I told a guy that, five years from now, I'm going to give you my show," ABC's Jimmy Kimmel said Thursday on NBC, in response to a question from fellow talk-show host Jay Leno. "And then when the five years came, I gave it to him, and then I took it back almost instantly."

If Leno meant to make Kimmel sweat by grilling him in the "10 @ 10" interview segment on "The Jay Leno Show," it was Leno who came away singed from the grilling. (See video above.)

Leno -- whose move from prime-time back to late-night will displace his long-planned "Tonight Show" successor, Conan O'Brien, after just seven months -- presumably had hoped to at least neutralize Kimmel. Two nights earlier, Kimmel had lampooned Leno with a wicked impersonation of him and his show for an entire hour of "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

But Kimmel's jabs at Leno, if anything, became more pointed. He turned Leno's efforts to knock him off his stride right back at the veteran host who's expected to retake "The Tonight Show" in March.

The exchange came amid reports of exit negotiations between O'Brien and NBC, which installed him on "Tonight" seven months ago after promising it to him in 2004. Leno's prime-time show already has been pink-slipped, effective next month. It's expected O'Brien will be done on "Tonight" before this month is out. Right now, it's a question of how much NBC pays O'Brien to go away and how much he's willing to give up to return to TV somewhere else sooner.

The NBC chaos has been comedic fodder for nearly everyone in late-night TV, especially CBS' David Letterman, whose bits have become increasingly hard-edged. Letterman, who left NBC in 1993 after it spurned him for Leno in the "Tonight" job, has enjoyed a ratings surge since O'Brien's takeover of the NBC late-night institution.

While sentiment in the media seems to be heavily against Leno, NBC Universal Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol, an executive with a long history both with the network and in late night, rallied to Leno's defense in a New York Times interview published Friday. He said Leno was returning to late night because O'Brien's "Tonight" ratings flagged.

“What this is really all about is an astounding failure by Conan,” said Ebersol, whose own past includes engineering the botched Deborah Norville-for-Jane Pauley transition on NBC's "Today."  In giving "Tonight" to O'Brien, Ebersol told the Times, "We bet on the wrong guy."

Of the on-air shots Leno has taken from the likes of Letterman and O'Brien himself, Ebersol said it was “chicken-hearted and gutless to blame a guy you couldn’t beat in the ratings.”

Kimmel, if he didn't address Leno face to face, then at least was game to speak directly with him by remote from his own set and Leno looked to needle him by asking the most lap dances he has had in one night.

"Strippers, I don't like in general, because you have this phony relationship with them for money, similar to that of when you and Conan were on 'The Tonight Show' together, passing the torch," Kimmel said. "You know what I'm saying."

Was there a show Kimmel would like the chance to host? "Oh, this is a trick, right?" Kimmel said. "Where you get me to host 'The Tonight Show' and then take it back from me?"

Another of the questions Kimmel fielded cleanly was whether he had ever ordered anything off TV. "Like NBC ordered your show off the TV?" Kimmel said, referring to NBC's cancellation of the prime-time show.

"Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children," Kimmel pleaded as the segment concluded. "All you have to take care of is cars. I mean, we have lives to lead here. You've got $800 million. For God's sakes, leave our shows alone."


What all of this has made me understand is that they are all a bunch of over-paid egomanics. From now on, when I cannot sleep, I will read a book.

Hey Phil,

Didn't the whole exchange seem somewhat scripted? I mean Kimmel is quick, but quick with every single one of those? It's like someone mailed him the questions ahead of time.

And if you think about it, Leno might actually gain from appearing to be beaten up on his own show. It now seems inevitable that Leno will be back, and there are already whispers that Conan is starting to come off as a sore loser. If Leno comes off as the beaten-up-but-still-standing-underdog, it will make his re-transition to the Tonight Show a lot smoother...


Conan was faultering BEFORE this all hit...My girlfriend & I were saying how FORCED, how un-natural Conan was ...if you say "they didn't give him enough took "Late Nite W/Conan" YEARS to get going...Does NBC or any other network have YEARS for a premier franchise? Ebersol is on the right track here...

If it had been scripted, I think Leno would have had better comebacks. Instead, there were awkward silences and Leno seemed staggered by Kimmel's punches.

I do think you're right about Conan though, Graham. His feelings about NBC are clear now, but he needs to dial it down now before he starts looking like a whiner. Just have a great few final weeks in Johnny's chair and then move on.

Letterman never really beat Leno in the ratings, but is CRUSHING Conan.
Any wonder why Letterman is so quick to defend Conan?
Why is EVERYONE bashing LENO?
Does LENO run NBC?

It's ZUCKER you morons!
No one said you had to be SMART to be on TV!

Tell me again why Leno would ever be considered the underdog?

Dick Ebersol has single handledly destroyed NBC. Once the number one network for years they're now a joke. And he's going to call out Conan? It's actually a fact that Leno has KILLED ratings for local news affiliates because his 10pm show is awful and truly the reason why NBC's late night rating are in the dumps. NBC is going to pay a big price for this. Conan, my fellow masshole, will make sure to stick it to Ebersol and NBC any chance he can get.

Letterman beat Leno in the ratings for 2 full years, so the guy who said he never beat him has no idea what he's talking about.

If Leno got 2 years of losing why does Conan get 7 months?

Especially when Leno had NBC in it's prime giving him a lead in audience whereas Conan only has Leno's primetime show which is such a failure the affliates threatened revolt!

The question is what sort of ratings Leno would get with the Tonight show, if he had the craptastic 10 PM Leno show to drag down the late evening ratings.

Try a normal slate of 10 PM shows, and then see what Conan's ratings are like.

ahzroc, you are dumb. NBC didn't give Conan any prime time support leading up to his show. Conan was setup to fail. Leno's show was driving away viewers, which is why the affiliates were complaining because that caused them to have a bad lead-in to their local news driving down viewership, which then led to Conan having low viewers.

When Leno started out on the Tonight Show, his ratings were bad, but NBC backed him up with a prime time schedule that kept an audience going into his show, which ultimately led to him having a higher rating. It's not rocket science.

Aside from the obvious, Leno's jokes are old and very boring appealing to an older generation. If thats what you like, so be it. At least Conan has/had a goal to develop the show further and bring it to a new generation, which NBC is now killing. As all the smart people know, NBC execs are driving everything into the ground, which is why they are in 4th place and stay there.

And if you listen to all the affiliates that were complaining, it's about LENO not conan. Funny how now that they are reinserting leno into the Tonight Show they are bringing back a somewhat stronger prime time schedule even if it is a new show by Seinfeld and some reruns. Still better than Leno's show. This goes to show what happens when you try to be cheap - you end up in last place.

Dear Graham & Robbie:

Every tv show is scripted, no one would allow Jay Leno to get that beaten by a guest ON HIS OWN SHOW without pulling the plug first.

With that been said, Leno is no underdog, on the contrary, if he was the underdog, he would accept his defeat and move to some other kind of network that could accommodate whatever it is he wants to do. But instead what he did is pressure nbc to keep him in the roaster or loose all the affiliates that he has pull with.

Conan had a show that instead of having the 1st shot at the news of the day (like the tonite show always did) had the 2nd place... lots of ppl won't stick around to hear the same information told by someone else, what do you think would happen if the 11pm news was preceded by "the 10 o'clock news"... would you stick around for a "different view of the same subjects"... I don't think so.

Conan was brought over from the obscure writing rooms to nbc to take over the late night show (with no previous experience in hosting, mind you) after David Letterman left for getting royally screwed over bylenno.
And now this piece of work guy has managed to drive yet another great host away (who in my opinion has 10 times more class, talent and convictions than Jay) just because his plan of "coming back to tv cuz retirement doesn't sound too good" failed miserably (Jay's show stunk and stinks and will continue to stink, in my opinion).

So yes, this is much less important than all of the other HORRIBLE things that are happening in the world, BUT lets not forget that Conan brought over his WHOLE TEAM from NY to LA, because they have a sense of community and family, and with the change of plans Leno and NBC execs just had, a lot of those people, who bust their a**es behind camera to produce, write and put that wonderful show on the air, will most likely loose A LOT... and to them, I'm sure that is as bad as it can get (specially those with kids, who recently bought houses, etc...)

Jay Leno should be ashamed of his conduct, Conan is using his airtime to express the pain and anger him and his colleagues feel, because that's the only way they can do it...and still he does it in a classy, hilariously witty way.

The world is big, the troubles are many, but lets not undermine someone's problems just because others have bigger/different problems.


A-list talent boycotted the Jay Leno show because they perceived it as a symbol of NBC having little regard for creativity. Why should they come back now that NBC has shown that not only do they not care about creativity, but loyalty or contracts neither? When Leno eventually does wear out his welcome (he's 59 and no one under 40 enjoys him... trust me its coming), NBC will once again have left themselves high and dry with only themselves to blame.

Really? You decided to block a 5 minute bit in my country? The message on the screen isn't that the content isn't available, but that Jimmy Kimmel Live decided to block his content in my country. Must have been top secret stuff. haha

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