14 DAY TRIAL // Jay Leno got The Tonight Show back from Conan O’Brien after only a few months with Coco at the helm, but that’s not to say he’s happy with the way NBC handled the entire situation. On the contrary, he believes both O’Brien and himself got the short end of the stick with the switch, the New York Daily News informs.
Speaking with Joy Behar about the scandal of a few months ago, when audiences separated into two different and opposing camps, Leno revealed that, though it might look like he got what he wanted, in reality, things were not actually like that. Neither he nor Conan got what they wanted, he said. Fortunately, at the end of the day, they both know that this is showbiz and this is how all the big matches are played, and their case was certainly no exception.
“Conan got screwed and I got screwed. This is TV. The reason [this] business pays a lot of money is, when you get screwed you have something left over. I think Conan will come back and he’ll be strong. And we’ll all compete against one another. It should be me against [David] Letterman, against Conan, against [Jimmy] Kimmel – and then you see who wins,” Leno said.
“I don’t quite get why I get beat up over it. I know people don’t really understand sort of how this business works. It’s all numbers. You know, the affiliates wanted us back, so we came back. All comics are friends, [but] when you go on stage your job is to blow the other guys off the stage. I get it. That’s the way it works. You don’t impede somebody else’s opportunity, but when you go out there that’s what you do,” the talk show host further explained.
In saying all of the above, Leno basically confirmed a report dating early January, before O’Brien’s departure became official, which said that NBC was the only “villain” in the dispute, if people wanted somebody or someone to pin the blame on. Business is business – and Coco’s simply did not generate the anticipated response, so the network simply rid itself of him.