Conan O'Brien: Divorce from NBC is Ugly and "Crazy Expensive"

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed)
Jan 22nd 2010 at 2:20PM

If you can't beat them and you are leaving anyway, why not spend all their money?

That seems to be Conan O'Brien's philosophy this week as he embarked on a series of skits and extraordinarily expensive props to put on the appearance that he intended to blow through the Tonight Show budget in one week.

On Wednesday he trotted out a Bugatti Veyron, a rare and pricey sports car that costs as much as some private jets. O'Brien unveiled the Bugatti Veyron, showing the million dollar car embellished with mouse ears and whiskers. O'Brien claimed to have purchased the sports car.

Last night, he upped the ante by bringing out Kentucky Derby winning racehorse Mine That Bird adorned with a mink "Snuggie" and by showing restricted Super Bowl footage. This "crazy expensive" skit, he claimed, cost NBC $4.8 million.

But did O'Brien really spend millions of NBC's money? Our sources reveal the Bugatti is owned by Bob Petersen of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and was loaned to the show for free. Conan did authorize to pay for its transportation costs to and from the show. It is already back at the museum where it may end up being moved to the Hollywood Wing, where important cars from movies and TV are displayed.

Likewise, the identity of the racehorse and the authenticity of the Super Bowl footage has since been disputed. As our sports-loving friends at FanHouse point out, that footage was actually a 1984 USFL game between the Tampa Bay Bandits and Houston Gamblers. A quick look at the horse on the Tonight Show and at Kentucky Derby winner reveals that while the two share some markings including a white smudge on the forehead, they are not the same animal. Mine That Bird is a bay with a darker mane and a smaller white marking than the horse that appeared on the Tonight Show (which was a chestnut). And while it is hard to tell from a television screen if the horse is wearing real fur, the thinness and drape seem to indicate that the horse is not adorned in real mink.

To be sure, there were some costs involved with the jabs at NBC. Our sources say that O'Brien may have actually purchase the rights to use the master copy of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" which played while he unveiled the Bugatti. O'Brien claimed the skit cost NBC $1.5 million in expenses to air, which includes securing the royalty rights for the music. This may explain why, as Mashable reported, the network took down the clips of the Veyron sketch from Hulu and NBC.com to avoid fees associated with replaying the song each time. The clip remains on YouTube.

O'Brien's antics became more fantastic since he put "The Tonight Show" up for sale last week on popular website Craigslist offering a barely used show "guaranteed to last for up to seven months." The posting was later pulled but Conan used the ad as a launching off point for what he called "crazy expensive" comedy bits.

What set O'Brien off was a decision NBC made earlier this month to move "The Jay Leno Show" to the "Tonight Show's" slot at 11:35 pm beginning in March, and shift O'Brien's show to 12:05 am. Leno, who's show is floundering in its current 10:00 pm slot, is supportive of the decision. O'Brien, on the other hand, is outraged. O'Brien is livid that he passed up "far more lucrative" offers to have the opportunity to take over "The Tonight Show" in June 2009. "I sincerely believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting."

O'Brien only has one more chance to pull another fast one off on NBC. Earlier this week, the comedian reached a deal with NBC to step down as host of the "Tonight Show", reportedly pocketing a $32 million payout, with his staff receiving a severance package worth another $12 million to $13 million. He is prohibited from going back on the air until September of this year. O'Brien's final show as host of the "Tonight Show" will air this evening. What should Conan trot out tonight? We're hoping for some serious bling. Maybe he'll wear Lil John's record setting crunk necklace or something similar.

We'll see what he has in store for us.

Tags: bugatti veyron, BugattiVeyron, conan obrien, ConanObrien, jay leno, JayLeno, kentucy derby, KentucyDerby, Mine that Bird, MineThatBird, nbc, nbc universal, NbcUniversal, rolling stones, RollingStones, Super Bowl, SuperBowl

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 15)

bbroad431 Jan 22nd 2010 2:19PM

Doesn't matter how much he spends, he's still not funny. Bye-bye, Conan.

gorich1134 Jan 22nd 2010 9:56PM

who cares

gorich1134 Jan 22nd 2010 9:59PM

GO GO GO GO

derekfl008 Jan 22nd 2010 2:23PM

O'Brien is an old, immature child. He should be happy with his money and walk away happy. The more childish antics he displays, the more adolescent he appears to be.

suzanneadvnc Jan 22nd 2010 2:26PM

That is silly. Don't you folks know that was not Mine That Bird?
But I do think Conan is funny and endearing and I know he will have another show somewhere.

Madigan Jan 22nd 2010 3:43PM

He is too stupid for words. Am sure glad NBC got rid of him. He is made for Burlesque where he can play with his male nipple to amuse silly people. That is NOT comedy. That is NOT classy. That is GROSS.

wareaglejoy Jan 22nd 2010 4:01PM

I don't think either Conan Obrien or Jay Leno are funny. If either of them get new shows, I will not watch them. They are tired and their stuff is old and mundane and predictable.

arustyal Jan 22nd 2010 4:59PM

if you have 32mil in the bank for 7 months play who cares

Danielle Jan 22nd 2010 5:54PM

I know that made me laugh. Not to mention that the horse on the show is almost certainly a quarter horse, or maybe an appendix. But even though O'Brian is a tall guy that horse looked to be around 15.2 tops and probably not even that tall. Still a wicked cute pony though

WarrenS Jan 22nd 2010 5:58PM

Conan's demise was predictable. He never rose to the level of a talk-show host on The Tonight Show. His strength is writing, ie: The Simpsons. He's a cartoon character himself with spastic movements and incoherent body language. He can now live on the NBC buyout. Hopefully the American people don't have to suffer another TV with him beyond the 8 months or so in his agreement with NBC. I think another network wouldn't be interested, because of his infantile behavior of spending millions of NBC's money as he was thankfully the ex-host of The Tonight Show. If he could spend anything on NBC's tab, perhaps it could have been better spent on a donation to Haiti or education here at home, even a scholarship for comedians here. No, he resorts to nonsense which is indemic to his comediy. No love lost here with Conan, if you couldn't tell.

usermat8688 Jan 22nd 2010 6:13PM

I remember when Leno got his nose out of joint when NBC was making plans for Letterman to take over the show. The story has it that Leno was there in the studio and listening at a partially open door at the meeting. He made his plans from there and beat out Letterman. Conan just got caught up in there long hatered of each other after all these years. I refused Letterman from then on, and now I will refuse to watch Leno - but also because he is a hateful person, and plays on people and their intelligence for humor. After all, the model was cast before Letterman and Leno and neither one of them came close - except Conan. I miss all of those years of humor with Mr. Carson, and now I will have to wait for Mr. OBrien to come back on the air somewhere.

Andrea Jan 22nd 2010 7:30PM

Conan is great, NBC is dead wrong, 7 months isn't enough time for such a long running program, Howard Stern was eerily correct and I will not watch Jay Leno again. I will now wait for Conan to reappear. Jay Leno.. time to retire.

tgmwpm Jan 22nd 2010 2:28PM

I heard that Conan can't appear on TV again until fall due to the contract settlement. That forces him to move his show to MSNBC.

HRHSheeba Jan 22nd 2010 2:28PM

Before Conan took the Tonight show, ratings didn't support him, the ONLY reason they're going up now is because of the drama and this drama is showing how small and petty he really is. 40 million dollars cash payout and he's being an ass, not taking any resonsibility for his on lack of drawing an audience? When so many are struggling like me, he can caterwahl about how he's been so wronged, but with that cash payout, with good investment counciling, and able to do other projects, that if he's so great, he'll go on to make even more money, that can take him nicely through life, 300,000 would be perfect for me and yet Conan, it isn't enough. Conan, you weren't enough for the Tonight show and you should've said no to it because America didn't want you that soon, maybe 10 years later but you came too soon and you crashed.

Spidey Jan 22nd 2010 3:33PM

Sure, Conan's upset. Haven't you ever been promised anything and then have it taken away from you? I bet you were upset about it and I bet it wasn't even your dream job. This was an opporitunity that he waited 17 years for. It was promised to him over 5 years ago. He passed on more lucrative offers from other stations just to host the Tonight Show. He uprooted himself, his family, his staff and their families for this opporitunity and then they took it away from him. I believe you would be upset to. You call Conan greedy? Really? He's paying his staff severence out of his own pocket. He didn't have to that, but he did because he cares about more than himself. Not to mention him posting Ben Stiller's website nightly to help aid the Haiti relief. Conan is a good man. I would be honored to work for a person that took such good care of his employees the way Conan did and so should anyone else. It's just too bad there aren't more people with his morals and priciples in this world.

erjore461 Jan 22nd 2010 2:28PM

Funny.

MIZMPK Jan 22nd 2010 7:09PM

CONAN YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN NEW YORK ...WE GET YOU, LA DOESN'T.

Michael Jan 22nd 2010 2:31PM

I will miss conan and hope to see him on air again in september on a different network... he cant get back to NBC not after all they have done to him and his crew

and most of all... i will miss labomba... what happens to him in all of this?!

intexa2 Jan 22nd 2010 2:53PM

Just what the hell has NBC done to him and his staff. The Tonight show, the move to LA (you can believe they all got good packages to move), seven months only to have him tank the Tonight show ratings (he's just NOT that good), and now upwards of 45 million to shut him up and make him go away. While it is reported he got 30 mil and his staff 12 mil, if he was so concerned about them, as he said, why didn't he give them some of his 30 mil?

I'm sick of him not taking any responsibility for his failure, and that is what it was -- Leno's too but he is the better of the two and had the TS as #1 for many years.

Go back to NY, stay in LA, go to Fox, wherever, but any respect I had for O'Brien is now gone.