Leno Talks To Oprah

Jay Leno is doing some damage control after his role in the Great Late Night War of 2010. He went on Oprah today to talk about taking back the The Tonight Show from Conan O'Brien, saying he doesn't regret anything, because the decisions made weren't his. He told the daytime host, "Anything they did would have been better. If they had come in and shot everybody, it would have been, ‘Oh, the people were murdered.’ But it would have been a two day story.”

Both Oprah and Leno hope to have O'Brien on their show in the future—for now, he declined Oprah's request (likely because of the departure deal which was rumored to include a clause about him not being able to do interviews until September). As for Leno, he says he'd like to have O'Brien on The Tonight Show as a guest (awkward!), noting, “He will have a successful show and we will compete again. And may the best man win." Here are some more choice quotes from the late night host.

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By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on January 28, 2010 5:17 PM

Comments [rss]

MKenrich

Conan should go on Letterman's show which is convienantly on the same time as Leno. The ratings would be so lopsided, maybe even a 1 week special guest in Letterman. Now that would be bitter sweet revenge.

mzungu

god Leno is so gross. i find his attitude repellent. blatantly spouting lies and trying to make himself look like the hero. barf.

Snoopy

People actually watch these two fools? Make that three fools.

jaja007

Ironic, isn't it? As shown by this article (and unfortunately for Mr. Leno and his bosses at NBC), the basic story of their programming fiasco just won't go away. And their endless stream of carefully worded explanations - much less, soul-searching interviews on 'Oprah' - don't seem to be helping much, either. I think a big reason for that is the tightly entwined histories of Leno, the network, and The Tonight Show, itself.

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For any readers too young to recall (or maybe just not interested in late night TV, at the time), it might help your perspective on the current Leno vs O'Brien mess to read some background on the original Leno vs Letterman feud. Here's the full story of how Jay Leno took over the 'The Tonight Show' hosting gig from long-time host Johnny Carson, way back in 1993.

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http://bit.ly/6FjAQq (complete article - NY Times; 1994)

Spirit of 76

Yeah, I'll bet Conan would be delighted to appear on Leno's Tonight Show. The knife in Conan's back hasn't been twisted enough times yet.