Conan to Take Over 'Tonight' in Five Years
By DAVID BAUDER, AP

   

O'Brien caught a glimpse of his new office space when he recently appeared on 'The Tonight Show.'  
 
NEW YORK (Sept. 27) - NBC announced Monday that Conan O'Brien will take over from Jay Leno as host of the "Tonight" show. But he'll have time to write his jokes - the planned succession won't happen until 2009.

The announcement solves a delicate problem for NBC, which realized O'Brien was getting antsy in his "Late Night" time slot (12:35 a.m. Eastern) and wanted to keep him from jumping to another network.

Leno planned to make the announcement on Monday's edition of "Tonight," a special celebration of the talk show's 50th anniversary.

"In 2009, I'll be 59 years old and will have had this dream job for 17 years," Leno said. "When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor and there is no one more qualified than Conan."

"Plus, I promised Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60," the notoriously workaholic Leno said about his wife.

 
Leno took over from Johnny Carson on "Tonight" in 1992 and after a few years of trailing the man he beat out for the job in the ratings - David Letterman - he passed the CBS star and has been dominant in the time slot.

An unknown at the time, O'Brien had the thankless job of taking over from Letterman on "Late Night," and he was nearly fired after several weeks of painful shows. But he recovered and has been a critical and commercial success.

But O'Brien has openly talked about wanting to move on and, in the late-night world, that means an earlier time slot.


09/27/04 13:58 EDT

good.

its about time.

that's a shame.

And NBC will eventually regret it.

His ignorant crap won't work with the TS crowd.

Conan doesn't amount to a pimple on Leno's butt, talent and personality wise.

TV is the devil.

Conan is 10 times more funny than Leno.

Quoted: Conan is 10 times more asinine than Leno.

There, I fixed it for you!

Conan ain't funny.

I miss Johnny.

Quoted: Conan ain't funny. I miss Johnny.

+1

I can't stand neither of them, Dennis Miller is a lot more entertaining.

i wish they would move it up a few years! conan is hilarious!

I look forward to many more years of Triumph interviewing French people.

Quoted: ...Dennis Miller is a lot more entertaining.

I watch him every night...the best by far.

Personally, I would rather sleep

If you ask me, they should give Conan the job now. Jay Leno is lame and not funny. I bet Conan's show gets about a tenth of the budget that Leno's gets, yet the writing for Conan's show is 10x better. All Leno does is make jokes at everyone else's expense, while Conan often makes himself the butt of the joke. Plus, Conan is clever and his comedy bits cutting edge.

Quoted: Conan is 10 times more funny than Leno.

+1

I wonder if he will suck as bad as Jay?

conan is the best late night comedian IMO.  i like insomniac on the comedy channel too, but that shit wouldn't fly on a major network.

Conan is funny but he should leave his politics at the door.

Will only watch if Triumph the insult comic dog gets the T-Show co-host slot.

Jay was no Johnny

Conan is crass, inane, and in general NOT funny...

Leno is at least entertaining.... And he is an equal-oppertunity political joker, unlike Conan (who shows a heavy liberal bias)... Although Leno seems to be going after Kerry alot more than Bush lately...

A bad move, IMHO...

What next, Carson Daily on the 'Late Show'?

And Triumph is a great act... To use TANNERITE on...

Leno is a great host....FOR ME TO POOP ON!

Quoted: Leno is a great host....FOR ME TO POOP ON!

Leno and his enormous chin are not funny or even mildly entertaining. Conan will be a big improvement.  

I could never hold myself to watch any of them

You guys do realize that Conan has everythign written for him, right??  All of his quaint little "jokes", skits, and one-liners are the products of a team of writers who have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for quite awhile now.

It's not like he sits around all day, thinking this stuff up on his own.

Quoted: i wish they would move it up a few years! conan is hilarious!

+1

That was Letterman's job.

NBC screwed him over HARD!


Sgatr15

Letterman
Conan
Collin Quinn
John Stewart
Dennis Miller

All Funny.


Leno & J. Carson, Not funny.

Conan is the best of the late night crowd hands down.

I love the Cone-Zone
Stay cool my babies....

eta - Conan is Catholic.

eta - Leno is a big piece of crap.  Not funny at all.

Quoted: That was Letterman's job. NBC screwed him over HARD! Sgatr15

Ditto. I'll take Letterman over Conan or Leno anyday.