Conan O'Brien Joined David Letterman to Make Jay Leno Jokes

With the exception of a 60 Minutes interview and the few jokes he made on his Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour, Conan O'Brien has avoided talking about his Jay Leno/The Tonight Show as much as he can. O'Brien's public opinion of the situation has basically been "let's move on, I'm happy on TBS." Which is understandable, because O'Brien did take the Tonight Show experience pretty hard. Read Bill Carter's The War for Late Night or watch the Conan O'Brien Can't Stop documentary — O'Brien, despite his show of public strength, was crushed when he lost The Tonight Show.

On Thursday night, O'Brien returned to The Late Show for the first time in 13 years. The Late Show host David Letterman and O'Brien have a long history together. O'Brien came up idolizing Letterman, and then replaced him on NBC's Late Night. Years later, O'Brien's had The Tonight Show stolen from him by Leno, just as Letterman had once lost The Tonight Show to Leno after Johnny Carson retired.



Despite joking about not wanting to talk about Leno, O'Brien knew exactly what he and Letterman would be discussing. Both of the late-night hosts did their Leno impressions, with O'Brien pointing out to Letterman that he was missing the head bobble. Letterman was much more open with his feelings toward Leno, remarking. "Oh, yes, this is the Jay I know," when recollecting his thoughts on the 2010 Tonight Show scandal.

Someday, after both Letterman and O'Brien have retired, you have to wonder if the two will openly share their true feelings about Leno and The Tonight Show. It's one thing to joke about it on The Late Show, but it would be completely different for the two hosts to do a tell-all.



It'll also be interesting to see what the future holds for Letterman, O'Brien and The Late Show. Letterman has a deal to stay on The Late Show through 2014, and, like O'Brien, he owns his show. There's no chance CBS will ever force Letterman out. As someone who once had The Tonight Show, you'd have to think that O'Brien won't stay on basic cable forever. When Letterman retires, it wouldn't be shocking to see O'Brien take his place again (although, Craig Ferguson might have something to say about that).

I'm not surprised that Conan is reluctant to make jokes about the Tonight Show situation, or that he's preferred to move on and enjoy what he's doing at TBS with Conan.  Remember his final words on The Tonight Show?

All I ask is one thing ... and this is ... I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch. Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality. It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. Amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. It's just true.

While we may enjoy the Leno jokes, Conan has the right to move on. The guy deserves to be happy.