Conan O'Brien '60 Minutes' Interview: Coco Makes First TV Appearance Since Leaving NBC (VIDEO)

Deposed "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien has been banned from TV until ... now.

To the delight of Team Coco, Conan did an interview with Steve Kroft on "60 Minutes." The former NBC host appeared on the CBS program to share his perspective on Leno, his former employer, and his future on cable network TBS.

WATCH:

CBS also released some bonus footage ...

More on how Conan feels about Jay Leno:

Why Conan went to TBS:

Something to laugh about? Conan wonders how Leno feels he got screwed:

Conan takes Kroft for a ride in his Ford Taurus:

Conan explains why he could never work on "60 Minutes":

How the hair is, uh, constructed:

Highlights from the comedy tour:

Conan's wish came true, after all:

About that whole Twitter thing:

Comments

[am10]

08:44 AM on 05/05/2010

It almost seems as if this is his first time getting screwed at work. Most of us experienced it in our early twenties. He's obviously far from over this, but hopefully he'll realize that most of us don't get let go for as much money as he received and that not being center state isn't the end of the world. I'm rooting for him.

[JanaVivica]

02:55 PM on 05/05/2010

"am10" wrote,

"It almost seems as if this is his first time getting screwed at work. Most of us experienced it in our early twenties."

Right. After months of this, he is starting to sound like a spoiled brat who can't grasp that you need to "roll with the punches," and it's best to "take it like a man" and "act like a team player" -- or at least walk away with some dignity, instead of lashing out with smear tactics.

[racerx577]

10:36 PM on 05/04/2010

who the hell cares,,,32 million....boohoo....I never liked his show,,he was so immature,,his show was stupid,,,lenos show isn't so great either,,,,these decisions were made by nbc what did leno have to do with it....

[LDM123]

01:44 PM on 05/04/2010

Frankly I lost respect for both of them after all of the whining they each did on their respective shows. The country was trying to pull itself out of a recession, and all you heard on late night TV was comedic insults aimed at each other, "woe is me", "it wasn't me", etc by a couple of spoiled, childish MULTI MULTI millionaires. Entertain us with jokes about celebrities, current events and politicians. We don't want to hear you moaning about who gets the best time slot.

[ghudson68]

11:53 AM on 05/04/2010

Does anyone think this interview was a teensy premature? The look in his eyes made it seem like it was too soon: http://bit.ly/dqUDmW

[samoisdead]

10:11 AM on 05/04/2010

Conan, Conan, Conan and your silly red beard. Played out electric blue dress shirt, and infantile perspective on life, you really need a reality check. There are people out there with REAL effing problems.

I actually can't stand him anymore. I use to watch him occasionally depending on the guest and though he was okay, but this is a side of him nobody wants to see. I'll never watch him again.

As broke as everybody is right now, who has time to sympathize with a bitter multi millionaire? The man is 47 years old and he's worth over $200 million dollars, but what does he say? "All I have is a beard and an inflatable bat." How about I have more than anyone would even wish for? A $200 million dollar fortune, an $11 million dollar estate, a beautiful family, a harvard education, a deal just signed with another network, and most importantly, his health. Can you believe this guy?

[twhiting9275]

02:44 PM on 05/04/2010

I love the whining going on here about him being a multimillionaire. Maybe you should do some research before you whine about the man's money, mkay?
Firstly, the man moved from NY to CA to do this show. He didn't just move HIMSELF, though, he moved all his employees, staff, etc. That's not something that's done cheaply.

Next, the man paid his own staff out of his "millions". This was in addition to the $13.x million that individuals were supposed to get.

Next, he keeps his staff employed. Writers, agents, band members, everyone, he keeps them employed.

And then, of course, we have a sold out nationwide tour that SOMEONE'S gotta finance. Yeah, that aint cheap either, and the revenue isn't exactly the best in the world.

Take your whining about Conan's "millions" and stick it. You have no right to complain here as you don't know the individual.

[Secularist]

04:17 PM on 05/04/2010

Relax, Cocopuff. He shared 10 mil with his staff, so they're not hurting (and it's not like they were hurting before). They get a nice bonus and a break before they go back to work on his new show. And Jay has a staff too, you know.

[socialiq]

07:40 PM on 05/04/2010

Just because Coco is supremely arrogant and makes highly self-destructive and idiotic decisions....like:

1. Refusing to work with NBC when he still ran the "Tonight Show" and...

2. Thinking he was irreplaceable and ......

3. Attempting an ineffective "smear" campaign against Jay on Ebay and "60 Minutes" which only backfired and......

4. Choosing to risk his staff's future livelihood and pensions so he could feel important and......

5. Growing that disgusting beard and...

6. Thinking he was relevant to the NBC business machine or the existing "Tonight Show" audience and......

7. Letting his core-audience and demographic down by leaving "Late Night" and...

8. Failing to provide enough entertainment and comedy to maintain Jay's ratings and.....

9. Desperately clinging to the fantasy that he was "scr*wed....

...does not make us sensible people out in the real world "whiners". lol

5. Growing that disgusting beard and

[JanaVivica]

03:40 AM on 05/05/2010

"samoisdead" wrote about Conan:

"I actually can't stand him anymore."

Same here -- and that's sad, and surprising, because I actually DID used to like Conan. I DID think he was funny. Even sometimes during his Tonight Show run. So it's weird to realize that I now actually dislike him (because of his hypocritical remarks and smear tactics). As another commenter wrote, "Conan opened the door to being disliked, and he keeps walking through it."

Conan's egotistical tantrum has turned off so many people and burned so many bridges. He said that he has no regrets about the way he handled things, but he ought to.

[samoisdead]

07:36 AM on 05/05/2010

100%! I did like him and watch him too JanaVivica, but everything lies in the way he's handled himself during this fall out. I think we've seen his true character, and it's pretty hard to stomach.

[roch20]

08:02 AM on 05/04/2010

Conan looks great with a beard, but his eyes, you can see the depression, for sure, he can not work unless you have a TV show that bears his name! He was born to be on the television screen; i feel bad for him, but still, if you take a look at his life, his home, his family; you can say that he has it all, then, enough of complaining...!

[twhiting9275]

02:45 PM on 05/04/2010

meh, personally I don't like the beard, but hey.
He really doesn't have it all though, I mean, having it all would mean that you have the job that you moved cross-country for to begin with, and didn't have to spend your own money to keep your staff employed

[roch20]

03:56 PM on 05/04/2010

Hmmm; who knows, it may be possible his entire entourage was covered, too! Otherwise, you'd have to think that he's nothing but a selfish son of a blip! And i don't think so...

[samoisdead]

07:40 AM on 05/05/2010

I've never seen such a sycophantic display in my life twhiting9275, I mean really.

[socialiq]

07:42 PM on 05/04/2010

Thank you!

[Vicendithas]

02:47 AM on 05/04/2010

Here is a fun Carson montage of some of the first time comedians he had on his show. Dave and Leno are in there, though I think Steve Martin is the best ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfUVxIUkmA0

[samoisdead]

07:48 AM on 05/05/2010

thanks for that terrific footage.

[Thad Mull]

09:38 PM on 05/03/2010

Everyone keeps saying "I f I had a job and did poorly I'd be fired" except that doesn't explain how Leno got the tonight show back. His show was an unquestionable disaster, more so then Conan's Tonight Show, the Leno show was so bad it was pulling down the ratings of other shows. So why didn't he get fired?

[Jaskoen]

10:32 PM on 05/03/2010

Like they said, it would have cost $150 million to buy out Leno's contract. They bought out Conan's for $30 million. All about the money. God Bless America.

[puhleeze24]

11:26 PM on 05/03/2010

Joy Behar questioned the $150 million figure on her show tonight. She's doubting Jay would make more money than Simon Cowell.

[Secularist]

12:00 AM on 05/04/2010

I don't get why Jay would need to be bought out? His contract was almost up anyway. Canceling his 10 p.m. show was not a violation of his contract.

[JimR]

07:12 AM on 05/04/2010

The 10 p.m. show was a disaster. But when Jay was on at 11:35, he was #1 in the ratings. And he is again!

[twhiting9275]

02:47 PM on 05/04/2010

So was Conan, so that point is moot.
Leno, however just can't seem to beat Conan's ratings when you put them side by side, for the first X # of weeks.

[monkeymuggs]

07:31 PM on 05/03/2010

Some of you obviously didn't watch the interview.
The guy didn't whine about his life. But do any of you really think having 4 years to tell a staff of over 50 people to uproot their entire lives from the East Coast to the West coast was easy and have NBC not stand by their decision for 6 months? BullSh_t, Nobody forced Jay Leno to give up the TS like they did Carson, which is why he made an appearance on Letterman's show and not Jays. But the lucky public, Gee more headlines and 12 yr old Clinton sex jokes, wow what an audience to cater to. Definitely a business decision.

[Jinxykb]

08:23 PM on 05/03/2010

I watched the clips, does that count?

I wish Conan all the best, but found the interview to be troubling. He seems really, extraordinarily bitter, and bitter people eventually repel people. Here's to hoping he moves past it.

[RACVC]

09:35 PM on 05/03/2010

Agree and I watched the interview.
Well stated.

[JimR]

07:14 AM on 05/04/2010

" But do any of you really think having 4 years to tell a staff of over 50 people to uproot their entire lives from the East Coast to the West coast was easy and have NBC not stand by their decision for 6 months?"

He cared so much about his staff, he couldn't be bothered to move the show a half hour.

" Nobody forced Jay Leno to give up the TS like they did Carson,"

Carson was the most powerful man in show business. NOBODY told him what to do. As for Leno, NBC told him when his contract was up, he wasn't coming back to the Tonight Show because they were giving it to Conan. If you don't like "forced" to describe that, how about... jettisoned? Dumped? Sh*tcanned? What word works better for you?

[Tom Sutpen]

09:13 AM on 05/04/2010

And anyway, who told Conan O'Brien he had to uproot his serfs and hie off to the West? He could have stood on principle, if he had any, and demanded to do the show from New York, dammit!

[twhiting9275]

02:49 PM on 05/04/2010

" NBC told him when his contract was up, he wasn't coming back to the Tonight Show"
such misinformation. I'd suggest you actually research next time.
NBC went to Leno with what Conan wanted
NBC said what do you think
Leno said "sure"

NBC did NOT force Leno out

[TRUTH2POW3R]

06:45 PM on 05/03/2010

Ughhh... I no longer care. I can't seem to get any Jay supporter to admit that he had a hand in this fiasco, and it seems as if defending Conan makes me some sort of Coco-nut-job. For the record, I don't find either of them very funny. For my money, I'd rather watch Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Letterman (depending on the guests), and Craig Ferguson. I think Jay is humorless and a bit phony, and I think Conan's reach far exceeds (exceeded) his grasp. In a perfect world, Conan at TTS would have worked, and Leno would be happy to move on (as he agreed to after signing a contract). Alas, it isn't a perfect world, so I can no longer waste the time/concern with this subject any more.

[thebirdstheword]

08:28 PM on 05/03/2010

the thing is, i don't even think most of the things against "team coco" are even really coming from leno fans. comedy-wise, i prefer conan to leno, although you are right that stewart/colbert/ferguson are all much better. i'm just sick of the martyr act. and the fact that tv shows get rescheduled and canceled all the time and this one somehow became a social cause?

[JanaVivica]

07:53 AM on 05/05/2010

So well said!

[socialiq]

03:44 PM on 05/05/2010

Not a social cause--but when someone portrays themselves publicly as a "victim", people get drawn in by the human inclination to play judge and jury.

Some people want to see the "right" person vindicated, whoever they feel is "right".

Other people are just bored and like to put in their two-cents.

And still others are just mean-spirited, petty individuals who get off on watching other people air their dirty laundry out in the media free-for-all.

Whether you choose a side or not, world peace and global warming will still be unresolved, and on the front burner.

[Secularist]

12:07 AM on 05/04/2010

Team Coco needs to take a chill pill. This is not about who the better comedian is, but whether Leno deserves to be the target of all this anger, which many of feel is unwarrented.

[Vicendithas]

01:31 AM on 05/04/2010

are you speaking directly to the CEO of Team Coco?

[twhiting9275]

02:54 PM on 05/04/2010

"whether Leno deserves to be the target of all this anger"
Without a doubt, yes he does

Nobody forced Leno to agree to leave the show last year. Options were presented, he said "that's fine".
Nobody forced Leno to take the 10pm show, knowing full well it would tank (he himself said he knew it would)..
Nobody forced Leno to take the Tonight Show back, but he did anyway.
Nobody forced Leno to spend the better part of the fall crying about how he wants his show and slot back, but he did anyway.

No, Leno has as much fault as NBC in this debacle. Conan? He's not blameless, but he's certainly not the one responsible for poor ratings. I mean, even Leno can't keep things going right now in the ratings department.

[TheGripester]

06:02 PM on 05/03/2010

I have a theory about this. Leno viewers simply did not like Conan, and Conan's humor was too similar to Letterman's: more intellectual, quirky and offbeat. Leno's shtick is the mundane, the obvious, and the lowbrow. With the choice between two quirksters, people would watch Letterman, or not watch at all. So in terms of money and ratings, NBC was better off with Leno going back to 11:30, though of course it was completely dishonorable.

[writer10027]

06:25 PM on 05/03/2010

NBC was dishonorbale when they indulged the younger guy when he went after Leno's job in 2004. Instead of cutting a deal wherein he got Leno's job in 5 years, they should have stipulated a certain level in ratings and market shares Leno had to maintain on average each season in order to keep his positin as TS host. Booting Leno out when he had maintained top spot was dishonorable.

Your characterization of Leno's humor shows you don't like him, naturally. I could argue "Conan's goto schtick the low brow one-liners" but then we'd be arguing a subjective perception and that doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Vicendithas]

01:37 AM on 05/04/2010

" they should have stipulated a certain level in ratings and market shares Leno had to maintain on average each season in order to keep his positin as TS host."

That was Leno and his agent's duty to make stipulations in the contract. You can't simultaneously say Leno got screwed on his contract 5 years ago, and then say he is blameless because he is a company man.

[JanaVivica]

08:15 AM on 05/05/2010

Smart comment from "Writer10027":

"NBC was dishonorable when they indulged the younger guy when he went after Leno's job in 2004. Instead of cutting a deal wherein he got Leno's job in 5 years, they should have stipulated a certain level in ratings and market shares Leno had to maintain on average each season in order to keep his position as TS host. Booting Leno out when he had maintained top spot was dishonorable."

Exactly -- that was what was actually dishonorable. That's what triggered this mess.

[puhleeze24]

07:07 PM on 05/03/2010

I can see how the Master****** Bear is intellectual.

Triumph was comic gold. I love my my TV Funhouse DVD.

[thebirdstheword]

08:30 PM on 05/03/2010

but isn't triumph really robert smigel?

[socialiq]

08:23 PM on 05/05/2010

You've just validated my point about Conan's demographic better than I could possibly have ever dreamed or imagined doing myself. Thank you.

[skippy20008]

05:42 PM on 05/03/2010

Coco-nuts, answer honestly...how many of you LIKED his version of The Tonight Show?

I never watched it, nor do I watch Jay, but I find it hard to believe that lead-in shows were the cause of his demise. I watch Ferguson every night, but never watch Dave, my local CBS news, or whatever CBS is showing at 10:00 PM. The argument that Coco failed because of Leno and the local news is, as Tedi Bruschi, er, Cenk Ugher of The Young Turks would say, weak sauce.

[twhiting9275]

08:27 PM on 05/03/2010

I'm no "nut", but it's already been explined why his version of the show wasn't liked by many.

NBC retains full scripting and performance rights. That means that they tell Conan what to do, where to do it, and how much he can do it. If you compare the Tonight Show, say, earlier in the year (with him hosting it) to the Tonight Show of the last couple weeks with him hosting it, you see a big difference. Why? Because NBC didn't LET him host the show. They watered him down incredibly.

The last two weeks of him doing the show were done untethered. Really, what was NBC going to do with him at that point, fire him for saying something they didn't like? It wasn't about attacking NBC either, it was all about letting himself go, which you could clearly see if you watched them.

I didn't watch much of his stuff, even Late Night, because I wasn't a huge fan, but when I did, it was allright. The Tonight Show hosted by him wasn't anything like he COULD have done, because the network didn't LET him.

[JimR]

08:30 AM on 05/04/2010

Ridiculous. While NBC certainly has final say over content, they didn't write the show for him. Conan and his writers made a conscious effort to broaden their audience, and yes, that meant watering down the humor. But it was their choice to do that. They knew what they had to do to bring in a bigger audience at 11:35.

I know it's tempting to make NBC the evil bogey man in all things that went wrong, but you can't blame them for that, sorry.

[socialiq]

08:56 PM on 05/05/2010

Weak sauce--is that anything like:

Excuses?
Rationalizations?
Alibis?
Spins?
Delusions?
Nonsense?
Fantasies?
Fabrications?
Twisting of Facts?
Inaccuracies?
Completely Out of the Realm of Reality?
Lies?

Then yes--I agree; the argument that Coco failed because of Leno and the local news is "weak sauce". Thanks for clarifying that for me. lol

[JanaVivica]

10:01 PM on 05/05/2010

You go girl!

[Denni]

05:20 PM on 05/03/2010

I hate comments about 'looks', but geez that facial hair is working for him. NICE!

[CharlieQ]

05:17 PM on 05/03/2010

America is sick of these whining self-absorbed, egocentric comedians who take themselves so seriously. They are 50 & 60 years old! Little baby toddlers aren't as bratty as these barf producing personalites.

[Cyke101]

01:27 AM on 05/04/2010

Did you even watch the video? Where was the whining and the brattiness? Conan expressed disappointment, but he didn't vent or complain either. He kept making self-depricating jokes and wished Leno and Zucker well -- what kind of self-absorbed brat would do that?

[Tom Sutpen]

09:17 AM on 05/04/2010

It's called 'Subtext', and it was all over every second of that interview. He rivals O.J. Simpson in the self-pity department.

[Rockerbabe]

05:02 PM on 05/03/2010

You and I should get paid $32 million dollars for failing to get the desired ratings! We fail at our jobs and its the unemployment line for us; no golden parachutes for the average worker.

Conan, stop being such a crybaby and start "manning up" to the next challenge. Jay Leno is jsut a more valuable "property" than you are. . .so go get a life and prove all of them wrong.

[commentator72]

11:54 PM on 05/03/2010

Manning a comedy tour across the United States of America would seem to more than qualify as "manning up." No idea what you're talking about. He's found a job for himself and for much of his staff and the guy is IN MOTION. He's proving them wrong right now. He's allowed to talk about it. And he's the first one to say "I didn't get screwed."

[twhiting9275]

03:02 PM on 05/04/2010

And don't forget to mention keeping your staff paid for months with no job in sight.
People really need to get perspective and stop whining about the $32m settlement. That's not even CLOSE to what he would have gotten had NBC done the right thing and given HIM the same chance they gave Leno