At the start of the interview (which has not yet been posted in its entirety on Mr. Leno’s official Web site), Mr. Kimmel’s answers were merely snarky. He said that his impression of Mr. Leno was equal parts Curly Howard of the Three Stooges and the cartoon characters Sylvester the Cat and Scrappy-Doo. And when Mr. Leno asked, “Besides impersonating me, what’s the worst idea your writers have ever pitched you?”, Mr. Kimmel replied, “Actually that was my idea.”About half of that video is here, and here and here are more compiled highlights from last night's shows. Among other things, Dave's enjoying this and Conan's putting the show for sale on Craigslist. Meanwhile, NBC's Dick Ebersol has finally tried to turn the PR war in their direction, stating that O'Brien is “chicken-hearted and gutless to blame a guy you couldn’t beat in the ratings" and that “what this is really all about is an astounding failure by Conan" to maintain the Tonight Show's ratings.
But as the interview progressed, Mr. Kimmel’s responses became more scathing. Asked what was the best prank he ever pulled, he answered: “I told a guy that five years from now, I’m going to give you my show. Then when the five years came, I took it back almost instantly.” And when Mr. Leno inquired if there was anything Mr. Kimmel wanted to host but hadn’t yet, Mr. Kimmel replied, “Oh, this is a trick, right, where you get me to host the ‘Tonight Show’ and then take it back from me? Listen, Lucy, I’m not Charlie Brown - I don’t fall for that trick.”
Even when the interview appeared to be over, Mr. Kimmel made one last appeal on behalf of himself and Mr. O’Brien. “Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children,” he said. “All you have is cars. We have lives to lead here. You have $800 million. For God’s sake, leave our shows alone.” Mr. Leno could not do much more than awkwardly thank his guest and go to a commercial break.
added: Via NYMag (via Fark), a 10-23-92 NYT article in which Leno explains what he would do if NBC tried to bump him backwards from his 11:30p slot. "I am disappointed," Mr. Leno said. "I feel like a guy who has bought a car from somebody, painted it, fixed it up and made it look nice and then the guy comes back and says he promised to sell the car to his brother-in-law."
Duck Fick Ebersol. He was part of the team that almost killed SNL in the early 80's and now he's out to kill The Tonight Show as well? I'm at the point of boycotting NBC for EVERYTHING, even if their Thursday comedy block is better than it's been in a decade.
ReplyDeleteModern Family, huh? I think I'll catch up hulu, check that, ABC.COM, this weekend.
http://www.youtube.com/v/_FNmWFD4oWg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
ReplyDeletei saw some of Jay's monologue after 30 Rock last night -- how in the hell is HE making jokes at NBC's expense? And his crack about helping Conan's ratings? What is wrong with him?
ReplyDeleteActually, Dick, what this is about is a spectactular failure on the part of NBC and Jay Leno to produce ratings at 10:00 sufficient to appease the affiliates.
ReplyDeleteWhat's truly shocking is that NBC and Leno let the pretaped Kimmel segment air. That's how nasty it was.
ReplyDeleteI am generally dismissive of Kimmel and his now-fourth-place show, but I think, of the late-night hosts, he's really making the most hay with this situation (yes, even more so than Letterman). A 12:05 Tonight Show is a huge benefit to him, as it would give the twenty-six people watching Leno a chance to switch over to JKL at midnight.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that Conan is close to Lorne Michaels, and Michaels and Ebersol have had a difficult relationship pretty much since SNL started in 1975. I'm sure that's in the background here.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers don't really support Ebersol: http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/real-dick-zucker-pal-dick-ebersol-blasts-conan-13009 Ultimately, Conan's right: Leno got over 18 months to try to beat Letterman at the start of his Tonight Show run and only managed it with strong prime-time lead-ins to the 11 pm news shows. Conan didn't get any of that.
ReplyDeleteI've never watched Kimmel, but I admire the fact that if you poke him or his friends, he is not afraid to fight back.
ReplyDeleteWell, that video is the only 10 minutes of The Jay Leno Show that I've ever watched and, based on that, it's the funniest show I've seen in a while.
ReplyDeleteThat Kimmel was crazy and SOOOOO MEAN! And yet, awesome. I love when Kimmel said he wanted Jay to be his guest because he had some questions he wanted to ask him. I want him to ask Jay those questions. I want somebody to!
ReplyDelete>><span style="">“Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children,” he said. “All you have is cars. We have lives to lead here. You have $800 million. For God’s sake, leave our shows alone.”<<</span>
ReplyDeleteWTF? I can't much care about the politics of this situation -- i haven't watched a late night show of any stripe for years -- but I can't muster a lot of sympathy for Conan or Jimmy Kimmel's family pressures.
TPE, with you 100% on that.
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ReplyDelete<p>Based on the piece at the Wrap, Conan's Tonight Show is out-performing Leno's Tonight Show in overall ratings when adjusting for the fact that Conan has a far far crappier lead-in. The local news is getting hammered to the tune of 20-30% but Conan is only down about 10% over Jay. If Conan was following 11 PM news that followed a less nauseating 10PM hour, would he be down at all from Jay?
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<p>But the Ebersol quote is nasty. Coming from the guy who expects to lose $200 million on the Winter Olympics, were I Comcast, I'm not sure how much faith I'd have in Zucker's management team in general, and not just in their choice to keep Jay but buy-out Conan. http://rr.com/entertainment/topic/article/rr/9006/9995440/Ebersol_NBC_expects_to_lose_money_on_Olympics
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If I had to guess, the point to that coment was more a dig on Leno's life choices (he is often portrayed as a workaholic trying to win the "public's" affection, but without any strong person ties) than a plea for pity for Jimmy and Conan's kids.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can't say I was too thrilled with the "we have children, so we're more worthy of pay" bingo there.
ReplyDeleteBut otherwise, holy COW for this.
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ReplyDelete<p>The first post there is from the same New York Times blogger who thought Jimmy Kimmel was going to be fired last spring after his upfronts presentation, unaware that THIS IS WHAT JIMMY KIMMEL DOES. And he still seems not to be able to tell when Kimmel is being off-the-cuff and when he's playing his Jimmy Kimmel role.
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<p>Leno knew exactly what Kimmel was going to do and say. The most interesting question, one that's barely being asked, is WHY Leno chose to self-flagellate on-air last night. What was the gain for him? He thought getting abused on TV was a good bet last night. Why?
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<p>-Daniel
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My best answer for that question is that Leno knows that he's seen as the heel in this scenario, and that letting himself get bullied around muddies the waters enough to help him.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, my best answer is that they didn't know Kimmel would go that far, but that axing the piece would make him look like even more of a bully.
Kimmel did a FULL show as a merciless Leno parody. And has never shied away from tearing into his actual bosses. Speaking truth to power is his gimmick. Leno's people may not have *known* how far Kimmel would go, but they sure could have guessed. Easily. It's what he does.
ReplyDelete-Daniel
Oh, and Conan's people say that there is a time slot provision, namely, an addendum that defines the "tonight show." http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/exclusive-team-conan-responds-zucker-er-ebersols-slam-13031
ReplyDeleteI was totally on Conan's side here, but hearing Ebersol call him chicken-heated and gutless really made me think twice. NBC suddenly seems a lot more sympathetic.
ReplyDeleteJake, why would Ebersol's comments make you more sympathetic to NBC. On the contrary, I found Ebersol's comments to be completely over the top - so much so, it made me dislike NBC even more. It is unnecessary to send out a hit squad on Conan right now, he is the one whose dream has been compromised. NBC made a series of bad decisions, they need to own them and try to move on.
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