Conan On Whether He'll Ever Talk to Jay Again: "I don't think so"

Yesterday, TV critics got a tour of the “Conan” set. EW.com reports that after hearing Michael Wright, head of programming at TBS, say that Conan can do the show as long as he wants to, Conan O’Brien himself responded by saying:

“My goal is not to do this forever I just want to do this really well for a period of time until I have nothing left to say and then go away.”
EW.com’s James Hibberd also reports some other interesting stuff Conan had to say about Letterman, Leno and NBC…

On his holiday phone call from David Letterman: “It was just a quick call. We hadn’t spoken in a long time. He said, ‘I haven’t checked in on you and want to make sure we’re good.’ I said, ‘We’ve always been good.’ I said he didn’t owe me a call, but I appreciate it.”

On whether he’ll ever talk to Jay Leno again: “I — no — I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s — there’s nothing to be figured out. We all know the story. Life is short. I have kids and family and life to live. I don’t think about it too much. And I’m sure he’s busy.”

On what he misses about NBC: “I was with that company for a long time and had a lot of amazing experience with them and felt like I was part of that family. It meant a lot to me and there are times when I still feel that loss. There’s a whole body of work I’m now detached from and I know I will not go into that world again.”

On whether his audience chanting “Conan! Conan!” is getting old: “We can’t seem to stop it. It will play itself over time. It’s been a crazy journey of discovery — this show could become a game show in a year. [The chanting] has a Stalin-esque feel about it. It’s fun to be Mussolini for five minutes. We certainly don’t take it seriously or encourage it.”

On the best thing about his show today: “There’s nothing like walking away from ‘The Tonight Show’ to really appreciate being on TV. The feeling here is a very different feeling. There’s like a pirate ship feeling to this show. That’s the biggest comment I get, anywhere I go: ‘You look like you’re having a blast.’”

Photo Credit: Art Streiber/TBS