On Monday, Jay Leno decided to tell his side of the NBC late night debacle involving him and Conan O’Brien.

Key among Leno’s words were: “Don’t blame Conan.”

Well, David Letterman, who has yet to hold back during this entire “brouhaha”, decided that once more, he had a point to make about things.

Here, then, is Letterman’s rebuttal to Leno’s State of the Network speech:

(Thanks to Warming Glow for the link!)

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A few weeks ago, the Taiwanese news network NMA gained some viral steam by providing a new look at the Tiger Woods scandal with computer animation.

They’ve struck again — this time, they explain the Jay Leno/Conan O’Brien situation with animation and, um, superheroes.

It’s in Chinese, but trust me, you don’t need to understand it:

Jay Leno may be back soon at 11:35; Conan O'Brien probably won't be back 'til 2011. (AP)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that NBC will pay Conan O’Brien nearly $40 million to walk away from The Tonight Show.

O’Brien’s exit agreement could be set as soon as today.

According to the Journal, O’Brien wouldn’t be permitted to bad-mouth his former bosses, nor can he work on another TV show until the year is out.
Read the full story

Update: Reports have O’Brien, staff getting $40 million

Reports from various news sources say Conan O’Brien will pull in $30 million as he is freed from his NBC contract and clears the way for Jay Leno to return to The Tonight Show.

The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman (via AOL’s PopEater) is reporting the figure, saying O’Brien just needs to sign the deal. The site reports that Universal Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer brokered the deal after talks between O’Brien’s camp and that of NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker came to an impasse.

Hollywood gossip site TMZ adds that the deal, while sweet monetarily for O’Brien, prevents the funnyman from trash-talking NBC, among other strings. The network will also insist O’Brien not take on another hosting job for a set period.

Related stories: Kimmel slams Leno — on Leno’s show!

Report: Leno to host ‘Tonight Show’ again

Rosie O’Donnell is no fan of Jay Leno. She didn’t like his previous stewardship of the Tonight Show and she’s not thrilled with reports that Leno will bump Conan O’Brien and move back to his old time slot.

According to US Weekly, here’s what Rosie had to say on the matter during an interview Thursday:

“I think he should walk away. If you’re privileged enough to drive the bus, you should say, ‘Thank you’ and drive it to the best of your ability, and when it’s time for them to hire a new driver, you should say ‘Thank you for allowing me to drive this as long as I did’ and pass the keys to the new guy with red hair, and not try to flatten his tires before he even gets going.

“I think shame on [NBC President] Jeff Zucker and really, shame on Jay Leno. I think he’s forgotten his roots and what stand up comedy is about, and graciousness has never been his No. 1 quality. … I think it would serve him well to think about what might happen if he were able to let go and grab on to whatever the next rung is.”

As usual, Rosie took the whole thing one step too far, when asked if she’d want to be a late-night host. “That question today is like asking if I’d want to have a vacation in Haiti. While I hear that’s an enjoyable place, this isn’t the time to go.”

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Photos: Late-night talk show hosts through the years

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The Washington Post is reporting that Jay Leno is going to return as host of The Tonight Show, if Conan O’Brien doesn’t have a last-minute change of heart.

NBC is now willing to let O’Brien leave the network, and even develop a show with another network, according to the Post.

O’Brien had announced he was unwilling to host The Tonight Show at 12:05 a.m. after NBC announced plans to move Leno from his flagging 10 p.m. show to the 11:35 p.m. spot.

However, the network isn’t letting O’Brien go without a final jab. According to The New York Times, NBC Universal Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said the various moves the network has made in late night are as a result “an astounding failure by Conan.”

Meanwhile, it appears instead of the Leno half-hour at 11:35, NBC will likely have the more traditional schedule of The Tonight Show at that time, followed an hour later by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35.

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You’d think on a week where there is such tragedy dominating the headlines that the late-night poobahs of NBC might stop their internal squabbling.

You’d think wrong.

In Wednesday night’s monologue, Conan O’Brien went after rival Jay Leno, who could be taking away his 11:30 p.m. “Tonight Show” time slot.

“Hosting The Tonight Show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me — and I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it too.

“According to a new TV Guide poll, 83 percent of voters want me to stay at 11:35. When he heard this poll number, President Obama asked, “How can I get NBC to screw me over?’” said O’Brien. Read the full story

So now that Conan O’Brien has made his stand, not agreeing to NBC’s move to shift The Tonight Show to after midnight to make room for Jay Leno, it’s made his show must-see TV.

According to Zap2It blogger Rick Porter, O’Brien’s first show since the announcement handled things with varying degrees of success and bitterness. One of the brighter moments came when O’Brien got some career advice in a unique way from Howie Mandel:

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During his wild run of popularity during the last decade, comedian Dane Cook was a frequent guest of both Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien.

As the situation with NBC’s late-night schedule comes to a head, Cook is as interested as anyone watching what’s happening.

“In both their cases, they deserve to thrive and win,” Cook said in a phone interview. “They have such different comedy approaches.”
Read the full story

Conan O’Brien isn’t exactly taking the high road after finding out about NBC’s late-night shuffle — with Jay Leno heading to 11:35 p.m. and O’Brien’s show likely heading to 12:05 a.m. (should he decide to stay, more on that in a moment).

Here’s his monologue from last night, which includes several barbs directed at the network:

Now, is Conan going to stay? Well, that may not be happening. Variety‘s Michael Schneider is reporting that O’Brien is meeting with officials at Fox, where the long-time late-night host had a good run as a writer on that network’s comedy juggernaut, The Simpsons.

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