General Leno: Untold stories of the tonight show

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oblongo

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Aug 13, 2024
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I never understand why the Conan thing was so personal for Kimmel. I never understood why Jay and his producers couldn't see it wasn't a bit, it was personal and this is exactly what would happen if they had him on the show.
 
C

CuddleBug

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Nov 18, 2023
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Good for him to leave it in, everything else is so fake about those shows at least that unpleasant jackassery was real. It's a nice change from oh now tell me another scripted story that you worked out with the producer that makes you look good or like a real human being and I'll act like it's interesting or funny.
 
kvr28

kvr28

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Nov 22, 2015
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oblongo said:
I never understand why the Conan thing was so personal for Kimmel. I never understood why Jay and his producers couldn't see it wasn't a bit, it was personal and this is exactly what would happen if they had him on the show.
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IIRC the whole late night wars from years previous with letterman/leno. Letterman was supposed to take over from Carson and then Leno got it. Leno did the exact same thing to Conan when he promised him he would get it, then came back after 7 months and kicked Conan to a later slot and then Fallon ended up with it.
 
O

oblongo

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Well, Letterman had always assumed he would get it. But NBC had never promised it to him. And Letterman acted like it was a lock. He wouldn't do the annual affiliates meetings. But when Leno was on the road, he always made a point to stop at the local NBC station and promote his show, so you had every staton owner calling NBC to make it Leno. Leno outworked and outhustled Letterman, who acted like he was owed the show.

The way I understand it is that when NBC gave Leno (what they thought) was his final contract they told him this would be it and that Conan would take over in five years. But four years later, Leno's still going strong, Conan has slipped to second in is time slot and CBS is waving big money at Leno to do his show there. NBC panicked gave Leno 10 p.m. and everything fell to pieces.
 
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oblongo

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Joe Rogan and Louis CK did a great interview talking about what a great guy Leno is and how all the criticism of him is unwarranted.
 
MountainMedic

MountainMedic

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Sep 28, 2017
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Letterman and Conan for me.
Ferguson is up there too.

I remember being in Jr high and staying up late most nights to watch Letterman when he had certain guests, he always had the best bands and stand ups. Definitely had an impact on my sense of humor.
 
kvr28

kvr28

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Nov 22, 2015
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MountainMedic said:
Letterman and Conan for me.
Ferguson is up there too.

I remember being in Jr high and staying up late most nights to watch Letterman when he had certain guests, he always had the best bands and stand ups. Definitely had an impact on my sense of humor.
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One of my best friends dressed like letterman every day, he was fervent watching him each night
 
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