Jay Leno tells Oprah, 'I was devastated'
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Jay Leno admits that his public reaction to NBC's "Tonight Show" succession plan back in 2004 amounted to "a white lie," and in private he took the news a good deal harder than he let on."It broke my heart. It really did -- I was devastated," Leno says on Thursday's (Jan. 28) "Oprah Winfrey Show." "This was the job that I had always wanted, and this was the only job that ever mattered in show business -- to me. It's the job every comic aspires to. It was just like, why?"
The roots of NBC's current late-night situation can be traced back to that time, when NBC announced it would hand "The Tonight Show" over to Conan O'Brien in 2009. When it became clear Leno would still be on top when he left, the network tried to devise a strategy to keep both him and O'Brien -- and you know the rest of the story.
As for Leno's lie? "I did tell a white lie on the air," Leno says, per The Watcher's Mo Ryan. "I said, 'I'm going to retire.' It was just maybe easier that way." He also says he "assumed" that when he left "Tonight," he'd end up at another network.
The interview also touches on Jimmy Kimmel's takedown of him on "The Jay Leno Show" ("I got sucker-punched. ... I could have edited it. But I said, 'No, no, put it out there'"); whether he talked to O'Brien about the now-scrapped plan to move "The Tonight Show" to midnight ("It wasn't my place to call Conan"); and the hit his nice-guy image has taken in recent weeks ("I think it's a little unfair. And I'm going to work hard to rehabilitate that image").
Leno also had some less-than-kind words for NBC -- "NBC could not have handled it worse. From 2004 onward, this whole thing was a huge mess" -- and what seemed like genuine wishes for O'Brien to find a new gig soon.
"I hope Conan gets a job somewhere else," Leno says. "I hope he gets on at FOX or somewhere, and we all compete together. And it raises the level of interest. And you know what happens, the best one wins. Maybe I'll get my butt kicked, maybe we'll win."
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Unbelievable. How about an acknowledgement that you took Conan's job from him?
It will be good to see Jay back where he should have been all along.
He didn't take it, he just let NBC give it to him...because he's a corporate monkey - and a businessman. He stopped being a comic years ago - he doesn't even know what comedy is anymore, to him it's making fun of people.
He's a politician, and a punk and the "Tonight Show" is now dead to me.
By..."making fun of people" I of course mean stupid people, case in point his (read in ironic sarcasm voice) AWESOME Jay-Walking sketches.
He didn't take Conan's job and he didn't let NBC give it to him either. NBC decided ON THEIR OWN to make this decision. NBC is the the one that is at fault here and if you want to blame anyone ... BLAME NBC!
Re: the "Jay WAlking" segments ... they have to get those people's permission before they put them on air, so it's up to that person and if they're stupid enough to agree to it then they're stupid enough to be "made fun of" (which let's face it ... making fun of people is part of his, Dave's, Conan's, Jimmy's, etc ... job ... that's what they get paid for).
Didn't Conan take the job from Leno? I don't watch either of them, but I don't know why people are upset at either one of them. They both wanted the Tonight Show. NBC decided to go with the one that got better ratings (Leno).
little miss - conan could have also used that scapegoat to take jimmy fallon's job, but instead he took responsibility for how his actions would affect someone else. Jay should have said no to NBC because he would know that his action of saying yes took Conan's job and then Conan would be in the position of losing his job completely or taking someone else's job. Conan was the big man in all this. Jay was the little weiner.
NBC is run by idiots & Jay Leno is a jerk for having made comments about Conan that suddenly...now that he got his job back...is suddenly sorry for! Jay's a total fraud who, now, is going on Oprah to try to ease the hit his "show" is likely to take! He actively bashed Conan & was instrumental in all the behind-the-scenes B.S. but now wants us to believe he is remorseful & wishes Conan well? What a load of crap! Don't fall for it America...join me in the hopes that Leno fails so that both he & NBC get what they so richly deserve!
Ah Yes the last resort know as crying on Oprah.