CONAN O'BRIEN'S COMMENTS ON JAY LENO'S STAYING AT NBC

Transcript from "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" December 9, 2008

NEW YORK, NY - December 9, 2008 -- Below are comments made by Conan O'Brien on the recent announcement that Jay Leno will stay at NBC.

After the monologue, Conan teased," When we come back, we're going to talk about something in the news that affects me personally."

After returning from the first commercial break, O'Brien said: "I have to talk about something that's happening in my life. I woke up this morning and I saw something on the front page of the paper that absolutely shocked me. I was stunned and I have to say I didn't see this coming and I just had to share it with you for a second. Check it out ladies and gentlemen - today's New York Post (he holds up the paper and the camera zooms in past the NY Post's front-page Jay Leno headline to the weather). It says here showers and 51 degrees. 51 degrees in December?!? It was 20 degrees yesterday, that's crazy! Check this out -- Daily News (again the camera zooms in past the Leno headline to the weather) 49 degrees? Well which is it? 49 or 51? Let's get our stories straight here, people! This is insanity!"

"Let's talk about this on a serious note for just one moment, I've had many people calling me today saying, "What is all this? "What's happening?" Jay Leno is going to be going in at 10:00 on NBC. I wanted to make something very clear here on the show this evening. I've known about this for a while. I've talked a lot about this with Jay. I am thrilled. I am absolutely thrilled that Jay is staying at NBC. He has been my lead-in on this program for 16 seasons. He is a fantastic lead-in. He is a huge part of my success. I am indebted to Jay Leno. And I love the idea that that relationship is going to continue. He is going to be my lead-in continuing, I hope, for a long, long time. So congratulations to Jay Leno. (APPLAUSE) This is a happy ending. It's very nice. We're thrilled for him and we're thrilled for everybody at the Tonight Show. Also I've talked it over with my producer and that means I can keep doing my Jay Leno impression."

"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" is from Universal Media Studio in association with Conaco and Broadway Video. Lorne Michaels and Jeff Ross are the executive producers. Allan Kartun directs. Mike Sweeney is head writer.