Argo Online

By Shonte Daniels

Who knew the late night kings of comedy could have as much drama as teenage girls? As soon as the David Letterman fiasco died down and everything was forgiven, a rivalry between Conan O’ Brien and Jay Leno broke out. At first, people felt bad for O’ Brien because he only had The Tonight Show from June to January before Leno demanded his show back. Others looked at the fact that Leno had more viewers during his original time slot than in his new one. Leno also had more viewers than O’ Brien’s did, for “The Tonight Show.” However, let’s look at the facts first before picking which comedian reigns supreme. Whose fault is it really? Who wins in the end?
Before hosting “The Tonight Show,” O’ Brien held his spot on “Late Night with Conan O’ Brien” from 1993 to 2009. When he took the helm of “The Tonight Show,” O’ Brien, his crew and his family happily decided to leave their New York home to go to Universal City, California. They altered the theme song, changed the name of the band (Max Weinberg and “The Tonight Show” Band), and were ultimately ready for their new lives with their new show. Meanwhile, Jay Leno, with an NBC expired contract, stayed on NBC and merely changed his time to 10 p.m eastern time/ 9. p.m central. Even with the times changed, Leno was still lovable, big-chinned, Leno.
O’ Brien started with a bang during his first episodes. The first episode’s ratings beat ABC’s “Nightline” and CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” combined. This didn’t last forever, however. Letterman started to beat O’ Brien over and over again. O’ Brien’s ratings lowered dramatically. Lower than when Leno hosted “The Tonight Show.” Leno, on the other hand, had mediocre ratings as well. They weren’t tremendously lower than usual, but the ratings weren’t as great as the producers of NBC had expected. NBC had a dilemma on their hands. Their choice of what to do created a huge conflict between team O’Brien and team Leno.

NBC decided to move Leno back to his original time slot, kicking O’Brien out of the 11:35 p.m. time frame. Leno would start at 11:35 while O’ Brien slipped back to 12 a.m. O’ Brien declared he wouldn’t stay with “The Tonight Show” if he had to change times because of Leno, so NBC bought O’ Brien contract, after his two decade relationship with the channel. The last episode of “The Tonight Show” with O’Brien ended with a bang. O’ Brien started with a speech proclaiming his faith in nice people getting what they want in the end, and never giving up hope. He along with Will Ferrell, his wife, Billy Gibson, Ben Harper and Beck all sang “Free Bird. “Leno is now happily in his old time slot.
Yes, this all makes O’ Brien seem like the good guy, but many people, including comedians, support Leno all the way. They accuse O’Brien of being non-cooperative when he originally agreed to letting Leno get his old time back. They called all the people giving Leno harsh criticism heartless and terrible, and support Leno’s purely professional character. Conan fans, also known as Team Coco, find disappointment when it comes to Leno. Leno agreed to let Conan have the show without any conflict, telling Conan he’d see him in five years. People like Rosie O’ Donnell called Leno and bully and unfair. With their teams distributed fairly evenly, it seems like the feud will never end.
To say who really is to blame is a difficult task. They both have faults but both have valid points as to why they’re not totally to blame. Leno and O’Brien have had tons of work leading up to this debacle, and really have nothing to worry about. They’re both rich, they both have their fans and to be honest, this has created more attention for each comedian. Now, with all that information under your belt, which team are you for?