Preface

Today’s article is the second part of a two-part blog series chronicling the two major controversies that took place in The Tonight Show’s history. Last week’s article was about the tension between Jay Leno and David Letterman and the events that ultimately led to Jay Leno taking over the show after Johnny Carson’s retirement. If you have not read last week’s article, you can read it linked here. This week’s article will be focused on the infamous 2010 Tonight Show conflict, which was also chronicled in Bill Carter’s book “The War For Late Night.” To set the stage, I will need to explain some of the many changes that took place in late-night television after the events of last week’s article. When David Letterman moved to CBS in 1993, he consistently beat Leno in the ratings for the first two years of the show’s run. Through his production company “Worldwide Pants,” Letterman also produced a new late-night talk show, The Late Late Show, to air every night at 12:30. The late-night block that was once completely dominated by NBC now had real network competition. In 2003, ABC launched Jimmy Kimmel Live, which initially aired every night at 12:00 A.M. So, while not a direct competitor to Leno and Letterman, it was another expansion in the late-night television genre. Along with other networks launching their own late-night shows, the rise of basic cable also gave rise to shows such as The Daily Show on Comedy Central. For thirty years, anyone watching television at 11:30 at night was watching Johnny Carson; now the playing field had expanded, and audiences had more options for late-night.

Leno vs Conan

The story of the 2010 Tonight Show debacle actually begins in 2004. In 2004, Jay Leno had been the permanent host of The Tonight Show for 12 years and had been number 1 in ratings for about 10 of those 12 years. Conan O’Brien had been hosting Late Night immediately following Leno every night since 1993, and although he initially struggled, he soon found his footing and became immensely popular. Leno and O’Brien shared a similar audience dynamic to that of Carson and Letterman in the 1980s. Leno was bringing in an older, working-class audience who wanted to watch something light and funny before drifting off to bed, while Conan was snatching younger viewers who were staying up late and wanted something silly. The state of late-night television as a genre had rapidly changed since the days of Johnny Carson, however. With Letterman hosting The Late Show on CBS, he also produced The Late Late Show to air in the 12:30 slot, directly competing against Late Night on NBC. In 2004, The Late Late Show was hosted by Craig Ferguson, one of the most innovative and underappreciated late-night hosts of all time, who will most definitely be the subject of a future blog post. When contract negotiations took place in 2004, NBC knew it had two ratings successes with Leno and O’Brien, so it gave each of them this offer. Jay Leno’s contract would be renewed for five more years, at which point he would step down as host of The Tonight Show and the show would be given to Conan O’Brien, who would serve as the next permanent guest host. On September 27th, the 50th anniversary of when Steve Allen premiered The Tonight Show in 1954, Leno announced the deal on that night’s show, saying, “Conan, it’s yours.”

As 2009 approached, Leno began to take issue with the deal he had agreed to. He was confused as to why he was being forced into an early retirement despite leading in ratings. He began to make fun of NBC more and more in his nightly monologues, using a much more bitter tone than in previous years. With Leno noticeably unhappy, he began to get offers from other networks, including ABC and Fox, who reportedly wanted to make Conan an offer in the early 2000s, leading some to believe that is why NBC made the 2004 deal in the first place. Not wanting to compete against Leno, NBC executive Jeff Zucker offered Leno a nightly primetime talk show to broadcast weeknights at 10:00 P.M., a move that confused many and concerned some within Conan’s circle. One of these concerned friends was radio shock jock Howard Stern. Now, obviously, Howard Stern is a controversial and, in some cases, reviled figure in entertainment, so I will not be going into detail about him (though he may be the subject of a future blog) other than to highlight the role he played in this specific ordeal with The Tonight Show. Stern, who had his own troubles with NBC in his early radio days, warned Conan in an interview on Late Night that he did not trust Leno or NBC and that he felt the deal was shady. Howard Stern was also a longtime critic of Leno in general, not finding him funny, and his opinion of Leno only worsened after this event. 

Despite all the tension with Leno, the initial 2004 deal did go through and Conan O’Brien hosted his first Tonight Show on June 1st, 2009 with Saturday Night Live alumnus Jimmy Fallon taking over Late Night at 12:30. Conan and his crew moved to Los Angeles and his opening sketch featured him running across the country from New York to L.A. in a silly segment perfectly setting the tone for Conan’s iteration of The Tonight Show. The Conan O’Brien era of The Tonight Show was officially underway. In the first weeks of O’Brien’s Tonight Show run, ratings teetered between him and The Late Show. While O’Brien’s ratings were still strong, and he had a similar struggle when he initially took over for Late Night in 1993, NBC began to worry if they had made the wrong decision. On September 14, 2009, The Jay Leno Show premiered on NBC at 10:00 P.M., and the show was instantly a disaster. Audiences and critics alike both noted the little difference between Leno’s iteration of The Tonight Show and this new show, and Leno failed to bring in new viewers. The 10:00 primetime timeslot was mainly reserved for network dramas, for which NBC had strong primetime dramas in the years prior to The Jay Leno Show. Leno’s show was consistently beaten in the ratings, and Leno’s low ratings led to a domino effect that affected the ratings of NBC’s 11:00 news coverage, Conan’s Tonight Show, and Fallon’s Late Night. NBC had a real disaster on its hands. 

In January of 2010, NBC offered Jay Leno a new deal. NBC would shorten Leno’s self-titled show to half an hour, move it from the 10:00 primetime timeslot to 11:30, pushing The Tonight Show to midnight, and Late Night to 1:00 A.M. NBC’s later programming, which at the time was Last Call with Carson Daly, would be canceled. Jay Leno has always had the utmost respect for The Tonight Show. He has always respected the show’s tradition and its history at 11:30… so he agreed to this deal immediately. Conan O’Brien, on the other hand, refused this deal, rightfully believing that pushing The Tonight Show back would be disrespectful to the show’s history and would also be unfair to Fallon in the Late Night timeslot. Conan also expressed his dismay at NBC’s 2004 deal with him and Leno, despite NBC clearly wanting to keep both on its network. Conan was offered an ultimatum: either agree to move The Tonight Show to midnight, or be fired. Conan O’Brien hosted his last episode of The Tonight Show on January 23rd, 2010, the five-year anniversary of Johnny Carson’s death. 

In the weeks leading up to Conan’s last show, Leno and NBC became targets of mockery and ridicule from critics, audiences, and celebrities across the entertainment industry. In an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Rosie O’Donnell criticized Leno. Howard Stern’s previous dislike of Leno turned into sheer disgust as he made his opinion on Leno very clear.

“The mere mention of Jay Leno’s name makes me want to vomit.” – Howard Stern

David Letterman also took shots at Leno and NBC, criticizing the details of the initial deal since 2004. Perhaps the most vicious and relentless attacks on Leno came from Jimmy Kimmel. After the decision to remove Conan and give The Tonight Show back to Leno, Kimmel hosted an entire episode of his show impersonating Leno. Jay Leno saw Kimmel’s mockery, and as a gesture of goodwill and as a PR move in recognition of the bad press he was getting, Leno decided to invite Kimmel on his show to be part of his nightly “10 at 10” segment in which Leno would interview a person, usually via satellite, asking prewritten questions. Kimmel agreed to appear and spent the entire segment grilling into Leno. He turned every question into a mockery of Leno and his role in this huge debacle. It is easily one of the best moments of Kimmel’s career. Years later, when asked about the situation, Kimmel stated his disappointment with Leno and also claimed that when ABC was offering Leno a show, Leno would frequently call Kimmel, attempting to establish a friendly relationship with him, and then abruptly stopped once NBC offered him the primetime slot. O’Brien spent the remaining weeks of his show mocking NBC, purposely overspending the money in the show’s budget, as well as taking parting shots at Jay Leno.

“To the kids out there watching, you can do anything you want in life. Yeah, unless Jay Leno wants to do it too.” -Conan O’Brien

I want to say something about Jay Leno. When I started this two-part series, I prefaced it by stating in advance my dislike of Jay Leno and his comedy. Leno’s reputation and legacy in comedy were also irreparably damaged after this incident; many comedians and audiences turned their backs on him, and, in some cases, their opinion of him has been forever soured. Many people blame Leno for this massive debacle in broadcasting history, which has left a stain on his legacy. I do believe that it is wrong to put all the blame on Leno. The reality is that, through these two events in 1992 and 2010, Carson, Letterman, Conan, and even Leno himself were all used as pawns in NBC’s ill-advised games. NBC is truly at fault for the mishandling of these scenarios. However, I do believe that Leno’s actions throughout his career do show a glimpse of his character. Leno allowed his agent, Helen Kushnick, to force Carson out of The Tonight Show in the early 1990s, using vicious and unethical tactics to secure the show for him. Then, he defended Kushnick to the NBC executives when she was causing issues for the show, stating his previous promise to her dying husband that he would always take care of her, just to fire her as soon as it became clear that his job was on the line if he didn’t. He agreed to NBC’s 2004 negotiation and promised Conan O’Brien the show. He made a promise to Conan, and he made that promise on national television with millions watching, then he decided to stay at NBC and allow them to railroad Conan’s stint as host of The Tonight Show, all while playing dumb and acting as if he too was a victim of NBC’s mishandling of the situation, despite ending up back as host of The Tonight Show. Comedy is subjective, but one thing is crystal clear. Jay Leno lacks integrity, and that is his legacy. 

After all the jokes and bitterness from Conan O’Brien, in his final message before signing off on The Tonight Show, O’Brien decided to take the high road, acknowledging his years at NBC between writing for SNL, hosting Late Night, and then hosting The Tonight Show, and thanked the network for his years with them. He also thanked the fans and delivered a powerful message about the importance of not being cynical, no matter what life may throw your way.

“Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get, but if you work really hard, and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”

-Conan O’Brien

As part of his deal with NBC, Conan was not allowed to host a new show for seven months. During this time, he embarked on a national stand-up tour, which was the subject of the documentary Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop. He then began hosting a new show, Conan, on TBS from 2010 to 2021.  Jay Leno officially retired from The Tonight Show in 2014, and Jimmy Fallon has hosted ever since. Most of the higher-ups at NBC responsible for this conflict, including Jeff Zucker, were either fired or left the network. Although Jay Leno got The Tonight Show, it is objectively true that David Letterman and Conan O’Brien are more respected and have had a longer-lasting impact on comedy and television than Jay Leno. Since ending his TBS show, Conan has hosted a popular podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, and hosts the travel series Conan O’Brien Must Go on HBO. O’Brien has hosted the Oscars for the last two years and has received praise for his hosting style, and has already been announced as next year’s host as well. O’Brien’s legacy as an innovator in late-night and an adapter to new formats such as podcasting has cemented his comedic legacy, often compared to David Letterman’s. With late night’s declining relevancy, hosts like Conan and Letterman, who leaned into the absurd, took risks, and were innovative and subversive, are needed now more than ever. 

There’s no business like show business.