NO JOKE: Jeff Zucker Had Conan Arrested

[Bucky]

...so it's an old feud

NO JOKE: Jeff Zucker Had Conan Arrested http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/no-joke-jeff-zucker-had-conan-arrested/

It's just been brought to my attention that, while they were Harvard undergraduates, Jeff Zucker '86 called the cops on Conan O'Brien '85. (I never saw previous reports about this.) According to articles in both the Harvard Crimson and Yale Daily News, Zucker, then president of the university's Harvard Crimson daily newspaper, dispatched the police to the Harvard Lampoon office after O'Brien, who was president of the campus humor magazine, organized a prank on his college rival -- stealing an entire print run of the Crimson before it could be distributed.

"He only forgave me when I gave him The Tonight Show," Zucker told a Yale gathering back in 2005. The Harvard Crimson described the incident this way in a 2004 article about Conan landing The Tonight Show courtesy of Zucker: "O’Brien cut his teeth in comedy as president of The Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine.

In fact, O’Brien first met Zucker, his current boss, one day when O’Brien and the Lampoon editors stole all the copies of that morning’s Crimson. Zucker, then Crimson President, called the police and met O’Brien face to face while he was being arrested." In 2001, Conan told The New Yorker this about the incident: "College pranks are supposed to be clever, but our rivalry with the Crimson had degenerated into us stealing something, Jeff calling the police, and the police making us haul it back," said O'Brien. (Other Lampoon pranks on Zucker included "a fake phone-sex ad with Zucker’s dorm-room phone number. Zucker did not find any of this particularly hilarious.")

So what's to glean from this Harvard history lesson? Yes, Jeff Zucker was a thin-skinned prick who didn't understand comedy or know how to handle creatives even back then.

So I'm guessing there's more to this hardball stance of Zucker's than just "keep the monkeys in Talent in line."

[onehandle]

1. Zucker is an ass who has done irreversible damage to NBC. nt

[rurallib]

2. Zucker seems to be the epitome of today's republican

rich,white, bald, controlling, fuck-up without apology, buy your way out (eta) using somebody else's money, leave the wreckage for somebody else to clean up.
I am guessing he will get a bonus for this just like the banksters - talent like his is hard to find.

[liberalmuse]

3. NBC, Zucker and Leno are not looking good.

I love Conan and think he's funny as hell. A man of his professionalism, who has given so many good years to NBC does not deserve this shit. NBC have truly fucked themselves this time. And Leno needs to retire already. What is wrong with this guy? If he had class, he'd tell NBC to go fuck themselves and step aside. All you have to do is hear how people in the industry speak of Conan and Leno. Leno is not well-liked by his peers, who are overwhelmingly supporting Conan. Zucker can go to hell. What a typical, corporate ass.

[FourScore]

4. Zucker has allowed this whole NBC fiasco to go out of control.

He needs to be fired now.

NBC screwed up when they changed the format of programming that has worked for decades. Zucker wants a scapegoat for his own failings.

You can't blame them for trying something new. They do need to take the RESPONSIBILITY, though, if it doesn't work out. Lord knows he'd be taking the credit if it had worked.

He wants a scapegoat. The drama around this increases their ratings. But in the end, he should be fired.

I miss Johnny.

Heeeere's Johnny (a classic) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue3Gcp_5ESs

[Bucky]

5. But let's apply that same logic to Conan's performance.

I agree with everything you say, but I'm just not seeing the Conan as victim dynamic that most DUers are taking away from this. Zucker was in charge of programming. Conan was in charge of producing late night comedy. They each tried something innovative which, in the same time frame, failed to produce desired results. Now the quote:

You can't blame them for trying something new. They do need to take the RESPONSIBILITY, though, if it doesn't work out. Lord knows he'd be taking the credit if it had worked.

He wants a scapegoat. The drama around this increases their ratings. But in the end, he should be fired.

Thanks for the Carson flashback, by the by. Dean Martin and George Gobel were hilarious. Johnny had the benefit of working in a smaller industry in a time when celebrities mostly behaved themselves (even Deano) and had cops around who could be bribed when they didn't (not that Johnny ever needed to bribe a cop). In his day, he ruled so much that the two other networks didn't even bother trying to compete with him. ABC ran movies and later Nightline; CBS just told their affiliates to buy their own reruns.

[AndyA]

6. NBC then and now.

THEN: NBC must see TV

NOW: NBC must avoid TV

I can't believe anyone would cancel good shows like My Name Is Earl, Medium, or Southland to make room for Jay Leno!

If NBC is going to get rid of anyone, it should be the idiot that thought this was a good idea.