Who Will Triumph? Conan's Custody Battle With NBC

As Conan O'Brien's last week as host of The Tonight Show is upon us (he'll film his final show on Friday), word is that his departure deal may be agreed upon today. While it's already been reported that the host will likely be able to go live on another network as early as September, and will receive a hefty financial payout — the stall seems to be surrounding the characters Conan has created while on the network.

TMZ just reported that the remaining negotiations seem to involve a custody battle over characters like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the Pimpbot 5000 and the Masturbating Bear. While they are all legally the property of NBC, Triumph may actually go to Conan, whose rights are tricky because he was originally created by Conan's friend Robert Smigel. Allegedly the network is willing to hand over all of the characters, if Conan will just do one little thing for them. They want him to concede to a non-disparagement clause in the deal, which would stop him from trashing NBC.

Meanwhile, last night at the Golden Globes, Tina Fey, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts all trashed NBC. Fey declared, "It's not rain, it's just god crying for NBC."

In New York, Conan fans took to the streets today and protested outside of 30 Rock, chanting things like: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Jay Leno has to go,” and, "We want Coco the chin has got to go go.” There were also protests in LA and Chicago.

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By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on January 18, 2010 4:31 PM

Comments [rss]

pimpbot5000

Conan wasn't created by Robert Smigel, Triumph was! Please check your grammar/comma placement.

"While they are all legally the property of NBC, Triumph may actually go to Conan because the insult-slinging dog was originally created by Conan's friend Robert Smigel."

sakebalboa

I hope Shoeverine stays with Conan. That character cracks me up.

mellow_fellow

Jay Leno made a statement in his own defense on tonight's show. Unfortunately, he did not address why he (apparently) hasn't suggested to NBC execs that The Jay Leno Show go on sometime after The Tonight Show.

NannyState

Check out the Hulu clip of leno and look at the tags below. Hilarious!

GarryD

It won't be fair if the network is going to let the other one go. Besides, both of them are good. Because of the protests, we are able to see that Team Conan is far larger in ranks than Team Chin. So I guess, the network should do the best they can for that issue.

Darrell

Does he need the characters? I mean he abandoned them for the tonight show.

mellow_fellow

I've seen Triumph, at least, on The Tonight Show.

russ

NBC is the best network in the world....

FOR ME TO POOP ON!!!!

mellow_fellow

If this is Conan's last week, how are they gonna fill the 11:35 PM time slot in the two weeks before the winter Olympics?

NannyState

Agreed. He should sign the non-disparagement clause and keep all the fuzzy wuvable characters that populate his crazy world. It's unprofessional to keep sniping at NBC ( as much fun as it has been ) and it's time to move on without looking back. Comcast will deal with Ebersol and Zucker anyway. They're corpses, and it isn't much fun mocking the network dead.

NannyState

-response to #3.

allthewine

I miss Coked Up Warewolf!

glen glenn

He was a regular wearewolf until he got bit by a cokehead.

art

i say let him keep them all. work product created while being paid by an employee is always a tricky thing to resolve. i say that while he was being paid by NBC, the characters are much more associated with Conan. I don't see any other hosts using his creations. and the amount of money paid by NBC during the creation process has long been paid and repaid. Conan has made a lot of money for NBC throughout his almost 20 year career with them in front of the camera, to say nothing of all the writing he did for SNL before that. Give him his MORE than ample severance, and let bygones be bygones. time for EVERYONE to act like an adult here.