Conan Obrien lit up NBC again and again. Watch out for Optimus Prime and the Bad Guy from Avatar, they are some serious attorneys.
The show rolled on with another supremely expensive piece of material, Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird wearing a mink coat and watching restricted NFL footage. Williams followed, spending his entire interview segment ripping on NBC. “It was seven months, so it’s kind of like an annulment,” Williams told O’Brien. “Except it can’t be an annulment because there was sex involved: You got screwed.” He wrapped up the show by singing his traditional “End of Show Song,” which is not normally aired on TV.
The highlight of the show for sure was the new Tonight Show charachter. $4,500,000 for 1 comedy bit.
Conan O’Brien spent $1,500,000 on one comedy bit by using a Bugatti Veyron as a prop and dressing it up as a mouse. He then set the bit to the ROlling Stones, “Satisfaction” to add adittional issues if NBC ever wanted to replay the bit online as it would cost tons of money for them to do so.
Conan had Artie Lange on The Late show November 11, 2008. Artie was so right.
This is probably my eighteenth appearance and I’m very sentimental about this,” Lange said. “You’re leavin’ You’re going out to do The Tonight Show.” Conan responded with “I’m going out to Los Angeles, yeah,” which ignited Lange’s response: “It sucks. What am I supposed to do, have witty conversations with Jimmy Fallon? What the hell..”
Conan: “Yeah. He’s very funny. You’re gonna love him.”
Artie Lange: “I love Jimmy; he’s not you. You’re a writer..I’ll just totally throw you under the bus. Good luck man. I don’t know. I think it’s a bad move.”
Conan: “Well. What are you gonna do.?”
Artie Lange: “I would have rooted for that bobblehead (Jay) Leno to stay (on The Tonight Show) and you could have got, what? $40 million? Right? Wasn’t that the deal? You would have got $40 million dollars?
Conan: “No, I don’t think so.”
Artie Lange: “Yeah”
Conan: “$40 million not to work? Sweet. I gotta look into that. Is that a possibility?”
Artie Lange: “I read it in the TV Guide.”
Conan: “You read it in the TV Guide!”
Artie Lange: “Cheers to Conan!”
Conan: “Cheers to Conan.”
Artie Lange: Cheers to Conan for taking the $40 million and not working.”
Conan: “Let’s get that deal!”
The deal that Conan O’Brien agreed to will pay him $33 million and $12 million to his executive producer and his staff as severance. Artie Lange was right: Conan O’Brien’s getting $40 million for not working.