Axed talk show host Conan O’Brien announced Thursday he is kicking off a comeback with a 30-city tour of the U.S. and Canada.
“I’m headed to your town on a half-assed comedy & music tour,” O’Brien wrote in a Twitter message. “I repeat: It’s half-assed.”
The tour begins April 12 in Eugene, Oregon and is currently scheduled to end June 14 in Atlanta.
The sarcastic red-haired comic famously flamed out of his short-lived gig as host of “The Tonight Show” earlier this year, done in by weak ratings that he blamed on predecessor Jay Leno’s new, unpopular show airing 90 minutes earlier. Leno, the former host of “The Tonight Show,” returned to the show last week.
Network NBC reportedly paid tens of millions of dollars to buy out O’Brien’s contract, and he is reportedly forbidden from appearing on other networks or insulting NBC until at least September.
“It was either a massive 30-city tour or start helping out around the house,” O’Brien said in a statement provided to entertainment Web site TheWrap by his publicist.
Tickets and tour dates are available at http://www.teamcoco.com.