PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT Interview With Conan O'Brien-part 3
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Forgive me for making this all about me but that's kind of what I do. O'BRIEN: It's your show. LETTERMAN: I was delighted by everything that happened. Except you losing your job. I --
O'BRIEN: I will tell you, I will tell you, and this is honest, the only consolation I took during that period was that you were happy. LETTERMAN: You know, I refer to that period as the golden age of television, really.
O'BRIEN: The period when I lost the "Tonight Show." LETTERMAN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: That brief week and a half period for you was the golden age of broadcasting. LETTERMAN: Yes, that's right. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Conan O'Brien on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman." All laughing around then, but it's no secret that -- well, let's go to the moment you got "the Tonight Show." That moment is the holy grail of comedy in America. When you got it, is that how you felt? I mean, given all that had happened to you before, did you feel, this is it, I've got my 20 year plan now worked out for me? O'BRIEN: Probably on some level, you think this is going to be fantastic. Then there's another level where they announced it. You know, it was this strange now clearly absurd plan that was announced, you know, five years ahead of time. Like one of Stalin's -- MORGAN: Yeah, quite extraordinary.
O'BRIEN: Stalin's grain production plans for the Soviet Union. Like, this will happen and, you know, that's just not how television works. In retrospect now, you realize it's a very -- it's a strange thing to have this weird handover -- MORGAN: As it crept nearer, that cutoff point.
O'BRIEN: Right. MORGAN: And you can see that Leno's ratings were still pretty good and he's still number one, did you start to think, this is going to be tricky? Whatever happens, this is going to be an odd psychological thing? Because the guy leaving isn't leaving as a failure. O'BRIEN: Right. MORGAN: He's leaving because he has to contractually. O'BRIEN: Well, the thing I'd say there, is no "Tonight Show" host has left. That was not the reason for any of them going. You know, Johnny -- I think the concept was at the network -- no one was expecting that to change. I certainly wasn't expecting that to change for Jay. I don't think that was necessarily the motivation. It was, you know, let's move on to the next generation. MORGAN: So was that the greatest moment of your career, landing "the Tonight Show"? O'BRIEN: Well, no, I don't think so. No, because I think obviously, in retrospect, there was this announcement and then it never, you know -- it never feel like it really did happen.
MORGAN: It took five years.
O'BRIEN: It took five years, and then was there for a few months. Then there was a plan to maybe shift this later and have him come back. It all seemed so silly. I'm honestly happier now, you know. I'm honestly -- this feels to me, now like a greater achievement for me, anyway, because I'm doing exactly the show I want to do. I'm doing it with people that I love. And we get to do it our way. And we're with these amazing partners at Turner. So for me this actually feel feels like more of an achievement.
MORGAN: Also, this is where I guess all the catastrophes you had to endure in your earlier career, you could put it in some perspective. But actually you had always bounced back to something better.
O'BRIEN: Right. MORGAN: Throughout your -- the pattern has always been something's gone wrong and then boom. O'BRIEN: Yes. I think, you know, someone said to me -- I think it was my dad. Said if you read any biography -- my dad and I both love history. If you read any biography of a great figure, or a great historical figure, there's always -- if you cut to the middle of the book, there's always a lot of trouble. Like Churchill, there's lots of disappointment. Not that I'm a great figure, whatever, would be. But there should be -- in a good career, there should be a lot of challenges. And so I wouldn't -- I would honestly not really change anything that happened. It's been fascinating. It brought me to where I am now, which I love.
MORGAN: What did your parents say to you when it ended?
O'BRIEN: They don't follow the news. They think I'm still hosting "the Tonight Show." They think I'm doing a lovely job. They're very confused. MORGAN: Do you feel more free, more liberated?
O'BRIEN: Yeah, definitely. MORGAN: It seems to me --
O'BRIEN: They let me do whatever they want. MORGAN: You have a lot of autonomy, don't you? O'BRIEN: Yeah, you know, we -- we are partnered with Turner on this. And it's a fantastic opportunity to -- first of all, they encourage us to travel the show constantly. We've already been to New York and Chicago. We've traveled twice in one year, which is unheard of for these shows. They've also really -- they've been amazing partners in helping us build what I think is a new kind of talk show, where we have an incredible social network presence and we're also able to have this show that's very -- I think a very funny show, but also a show that is having a dialogue with our audience. We're actually talking to our audience. They can talk back to us through the social network. They can sometimes affect what happens on the show. In that way, I think it's been really thrilling creatively for the last two years. MORGAN: Let's take another break. I want to come back and talk about some your greatest hits as a talk show host. It's going to be an unrelentingly positive segment. No more humiliations, no more failures, no more rising from the ashes. Pure glory.
O'BRIEN: Wow, let's get to that. That will be nice. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
