Adios, Conan!

It’s the end of a much-too-short era for Conan O’Brien (thanks, Jay Leno): The Tonight Show host is leaving NBC.

I’m sad to see him go (after only seven months), but glad to see him leave, with a reported cool $45 million, about $12 million of which will go to his staff of 200 in severance packages, no less.

Suck it, Peacock!

His last show is set for Jan. 22, with guests Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell.

“In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket,” said Gavin Polone, O’Brien’s manager. “Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible.”

At least all this drama has given Coco lots of material – like a hilarious up-yours $1.5 million 60-second comedy bit last night – and allowed for the grand return of the Masturbating Bear:



Isn’t it ironic that all of this has provided so much of the funny, and turned viewers onto the ratings-challenged show?

O’Brien won’t be back on the air (perhaps on Fox, if the blogosphere is right) until, at least, next September per the parting agreement between him and the fourth-place network that has treated him so poorly.

Update: Ha! And on Jan. 21, Coco outdid himself with the crazy-expensive suck-it-NBC comedy bits:

This one cost more than $4.5 million.

It was funny, alright, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Coco couldn’t have come up with a more charitable way to make NBC pay and squirm, like pledging a beyond-generous donation to Haiti.