Conan O’Brien Interviewed On 60 Minutes

O’Brien’s First Interview Since Leaving NBC

Last week Conan O’Brien had his first televised interview since his very unexpected, very unpleasant departure from NBC’s The Tonight Show, which he hosted for only seven months before being forced by the network to relinquish his timeslot to former Tonight Show host Jay Leno. O’Brien’s severance deal with NBC legally prohibited him from giving interviews until May 1, so O’Brien’s appearance on the CBS news program 60 Minutes was his first opportunity to share his thoughts about his departure from the network for which he worked for most of his adult life.

The interview, which was conducted by Steve Kroft and has since been broadcast online via digital video transfer, helped CBS win the night in viewership as 14.1 million people tuned in to see what Conan had to say. True to form, O’Brien was funny and likable, but he didn’t try to deflect the real questions with jokes. Though he is still legally prohibited from excessively “badmouthing” NBC and Leno, Conan didn’t seem to be hiding anything. There was a frank sense of disappointment in O’Brien’s expression when he explained that he never expected to be pushed out of his host chair after only a few months, and he clearly indicated that Leno’s reclaiming of the Tonight Show throne did not happen on the friendliest of terms. “If I had surrendered The Tonight Show,” he said, “and handed it over to somebody publicly and wished them well, and then — I don’t — would not have come back six months later. But that’s me, you know. Everyone’s got their own, you know, way of doing things.”

But Conan made it clear that he is doing fine, and doesn’t feel that he got “screwed” in the ordeal. “I didn’t get screwed,” he said. “It just — it didn’t work out.” The interview’s lighter points included some footage from a digital video transfer of Conan’s live comedy tour – wittily entitled the “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour” –  in which Conan and his house band perform musical numbers with lyrics about Conan’s sudden removal from NBC’s lineup. Conan also seemed hopeful when discussing his plans to host a new show on TBS later this year.