NBC Gives Conan O’Brien $45 Million Exit Deal – The End : Comedy News

It’s official, Conan O’Brien is leaving NBC after almost 20 years as a late night host while Jay Leno returns to The Tonight Show starting March 1.

NBC has confirmed that it had finally “…Reached a $45 million exit deal for [Conan] O’Brien” with “Jay Leno [to] resume his Tonight Show hosting duties, while O’Brien is leaving the network“.

According to the official press release “Under terms of an agreement that [were] signed earlier today, NBC and O’Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O’Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after September 1, 2010″.

This means not only will Team Coco take home a hefty sum of cash, he is almost certain to return to airwaves (reportedly Fox) before the year is out. Also positive is the news that the exit package also includes “severance and contract buy-out packages” for the entire Tonight Show staff (many of whom moved their families from New York to LA for the new show).

According to Variety, as part of the exit agreement “O’Brien will get more than $33 million… the rest will go to his staff in severance”. O’Brien’s manager, Gavin Polone declared “In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket”.

Jay Leno - Damage Done?

NBC can also expect to fork out a significant payout to O’Brien’s executive producer, Jeff Ross, as well as  The Tonight Show’s other major players (largely Andy Richter and members of “Max Weinberg and the Tonight Show Band”), while everyone (from “the show’s writers and all the way down to the janitorial team”) will receive a “severance package… more generous than the company’s standard exit agreements”.

With Conan O’Brien gone, NBC now has the task of trying to salvage what is left of the Jay Leno brand before his return (whose contract at NBC would have required a massive payout had big chin been bumped from 10 pm and not given a “more desirable home” – believed to have been even bigger than what NBC is paying O’Brien).

NBC announced Leno’s return, saying “We’re pleased that Jay [Leno] is returning to host the franchise that he helmed brilliantly and successfully for many years… He is an enormous talent, a consummate professional and one of the hardest-working performers on television.”

He will also now be regarded as one of the most hated men in comedy or show business too… they forgot to mention that bit.

Ironically, this whole ordeal saw The Tonight Show’s ratings increase by more than 50%, more than doubling CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman. O’Brien  will now host two more episodes of The Tonight Show concluding his run on January 22. The Tonight Show was already set to go on hiatus next week, with NBC  to run repeat episodes until Feb. 11.

Meanwhile, Jay Leno will host his final episode of the dud primetime show that started this whole mess – The Jay Leno Show – on Friday February 11, returning to the 11:35 slot after the Olympics on Monday, March 1.

It is going to be almost as sad to see Conan go as it will to see the end of what has been, arguably, one of the most fruitful times for Late Night comedy.

Never has there been such blanket coverage, gags and skits relegated to one event. There have been some truly classic moments, from Conan’s barbs at Leno & NBC, to Letterman’s barbs at Leno, Leno’s stealing of day old Colbert jokes, to Jimmy Kimmel’s amazing appearance on The Jay Leno Show. It’s been phenomenal.

So as sad as it is to see The Tonight Show legacy die – you have to admit – it’s been a great month for comedy.