NBC execs felt his show was a flop — but Conan’s got more than 32 million reasons to feel like a winner.
The Peacock Network has agreed in principle to fork over $32.5 million to Conan O’Brien to leave as “The Tonight Show” host and give Jay Leno the chance to reclaim his mantle as the king of late-night talk shows, sources said yester day.
The deal also reportedly provides severance pack ages totaling $7.5 million for the show’s loyal staffers, many of whom packed up with their families and moved across the country to work for O’Brien, whose previous show taped in the Big Apple.
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But O’Brien is demanding still additional millions more for those closest to him, including sidekick Andy Richter, executive producer Jeff Ross and band leader drummer Max Weinberg, sources said.
The proposed pact comes as Leno prepares to forget his disastrous 10 p.m. “Jay Leno Show” and move back to 11:35 p.m.
The decision to let O’Brien walk apparently came down to who was cheaper to let go.
Leno has an ironclad, “brilliantly written” agreement that guarantees his production company a staggering $150 million if NBC Universal axes his flailing primetime show, an insider said.
That deal was news to O’Brien until Monday night, when Leno referred to it in his monologue.
O’Brien’s last show could be Friday, and until any pact with NBC is signed, he’s free to keep insulting the network on the air.
Last night, he couldn’t resist, saying the network “is headed downhill faster than a fat guy chasing a runaway cheese wheel.”
But his criticism of Leno is likely to be kept more under wraps, although behind the scenes he’s made no bones about being angry at Leno’s on-air remarks Monday defending himself as someone following company orders.
Under the terms of O’Brien’s buyout, NBC Universal could deduct the amount of any new deal he strikes with another network from the $32.5 million.
Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett