Conan O'Brien, a man who received a royal public screwing from NBC, on cynicism

[Amerigo Vespucci]

My little gift to the "Obama has failed to give me everything I wanted in the first year of his presidency" crowd.

:grouphug:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/conan-obriens-heartfelt-f_n_433954.html"Before we end this rodeo, a few things need to be said. There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can't say about NBC. To set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at Saturday Night Live, The Late Night Show, and my brief run here on The Tonight Show, I have worked with NBC for over twenty years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we're going to go our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.

Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it, and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium. But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I've had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-11 parking lot, we'll find a way to make it fun.

And finally, I have to say something to our fans. The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational.

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere.

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

[fishwax]

1. well, he did walk away with 45 million

;)

[Skittles]

2. I'll take a royal screwin' for 45 million

I mean, WTF

[underpants]

5. .

:hi:

[jgraz]

26. Hey, we're gettin one for free!

What's up with that?

[Enrique]

6. good to see he's not bitter

;-)

[onehandle]

12. 33 million. The rest was for his staff which he fought hard for.

It's my understanding that he got more for them and it works out better tax-wise for them.
___________________________

Conan O'Brien Takes Care of His Own

According to the Associated Press, Conan O'Brien has reached a $45 million settlement for his exit from The Tonight Show. NBC was trying to grant separate severance deals to members of Conan's staff, but he had another idea. Instead, Conan decided to keep close to $33 million and distribute the remaining money to his staff - out of his own pocket. O'Brien has put the word out: he takes care of his own.

snip...

As famous Chinese General Sun Tzu (The Art of War) counseled his generals to treat their rank and file soldiers "as their own beloved sons," so too has O'Brien. Regardless of where Conan ends up, his act of decency and generosity towards his hard-working staff is sure to be long remembered. NBC could learn a thing or two about how to be a class act from the guy they kicked to the curb.

http://technorati.com/entertainment/tv/article/conan-obrien-takes-care-of-his/

[TxRider]

28. I'd bend over for 33 mil

No problem, and recover on a nice beach somewhere...

[JamesA1102]

17. No only around 30 Million

The rest was for his staff.

[rug]

3. Lemme see . . . . $45,000,000 versus no health care and an expanded war. . . .

I'll have to get back to you.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. IF...and this is a big IF...

...if at the end of 2010, what we have to show for a second year of the Obama presidency is "no health care and an expanded war" (and don't forget the Wall Street / banks bullshit as well)...

...if that's really the full list of accomplishments...

...I will publicly post here that I wash my hands of the man (in a manner that won't get me tombstoned, of course).

I think the "first year shortcomings" message has been delivered to Obama. We'll know if he intends to do anything about it soon enough. When people say "We elected him to end the war," I'm one of those people. I never imagined the war(s) would take the course they've taken in his first year. I didn't imagine that the government would hand banks obscene fistfuls of cash and that they, in turn, would raise interest rates on their customers and generally drag them into a dark alley and pull down their pants.

I didn't imagine a lot of things. And President Obama either took it for granted that the people who voted for him would go along with his decisions, or he didn't take that into consideration when making them.

If we get four years of what we got in year one, he won't get my vote for a second term (assuming that if we went through three more years identical to the first he'd actually be the candidate).

[truedelphi]

11. Amerigo, the problem is that the money is gone.

It has vanished into the Giant Maws of Wall Street. The amounts depleted by the Geithner/Bernanke partnership for their Goldman Sachs buddies rival, in terms of GNP anyway, anything this nation has done since back in the days of WWII. And at least the WWII programs put almost everyone able to hold down a job back to work. While right now, 10 to 17% of us are jobless.

And of course, another one hundred and sixty eight billion is required by the expanding war in Afghanistan and the removing of our forces in Iraq. (That amount of money was voted on and approved by Congress almost on their last day in December 09. And strangely or not so strangely, that amount is only two billion more than the amount that would be raised by penalties on average people if they screw up in regards to Health Insurance Mandates.)

So for the President to accomplish anything in 2010, like even re-decorating a single day care center in Toldeo, Ohio, he would have to raise money somewhere somehow how first.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

16. That's true...

...I hate to admit it, but it's true.

I really don't have the answers...one (of probably at least a few) why I'm not, and will never be, president.

I'd just hate to see a scenario like we saw with George W. Bush, where he steadfastly refused to admit any mistakes for eight years, then, very shortly after leaving office, sheepishly admitted that things like "Osama - Dead or Alive" might not have been the best thing for a president to say.

I'm lucky to have some of the best friends in the world...all of them smart, tough, and of impeccable character. When I fuck up...and I know it may be hard for DU to believe, but that does happen on occasion... :eyes: ...their immediate and consistent response is "What are you going to do about it right now?"

They don't give me room to continue going down the same road...they don't give me room to take a time-out for a "pity party"...they don;t give me time to make excuses.

I went to lunch with my attorney on Friday (he paid) and he gave me some advice for a short-term challenge in my business that was direct, pragmatic, and challenged me.

I don't see anyone pulling the president aside and saying "Guess what? You fucked UP." I don't see the boot-licking lackeys of the Bush-Cheney era, but I do see a president leading an angry nation, and maybe he's not 100% in touch with the source of that anger.

If Geithner and Bernanke stick around, we'll get more of what they gave us in 2009.

Having said all of that, I hate to be a cynic. It's foolish for me to go overboard and give President Obama...a man I do not know personally and have never met..."full" benefit of the doubt. 100% of what happened in 2009 may have been the result of his deliberate actions. OR, he may have simply selected a piss-poor team and trusted them.

I don't know.

I don't want to be a cynic. That was the purpose of the post.

[truedelphi]

29. I have to say it -

if you have an attorney and you got him to buy YOU lunch - you must be doing something right!

And avoiding cynicism is not my strong suit, but I admire people who manage to do so.

[underpants]

4. good Conan

I like that a lot

[tammywammy]

7. His last show was great. n/t

[katandmoon]

8. Playing my tiniest violin. Never watched his show, couldn't care less about this issue.

Just find it very unseemly and really beyond pathetic, a true commentary on our empty celebrity-obsessed times that an air time placement battle between two talk show gazillionaires and their network led so many news cycles.

Find it even more pathetic than anyone would use this obscenely rich talk show host's swan song in relation to Obama.

[eShirl]

18. playing my tiniest violin for you

[Guilded Lilly]

10. He's human, seems like a very good guy...

he's made me laugh when I watch him...and he will continue to make a lot of people laugh in the future.
Leaving a show he has dreamed about his entire adult life has to be very emotional.

He is also leaving the show extremely wealthy. I don't think that has slipped his mind either.

I wish him very well. He will be more than fine :)

[Initech]

13. That was a classy way to end the show. His bizarre rendition of Freebird with Will Ferrell...

on the other hand... :rofl:

[pokerfan]

14. Coco can rock the ax!

[inna]

15. huh?... i haven't even made it through the first sentence. -1, lame, fail.

[Marr]

19. Pardon me, but I think you've got your head up your ass.

You're seriously pointing at an optimistic man with $45 million dollars as an argument against cynicism? Are you kidding me?

And by the way, Obama's critics aren't concerned that they "didn't get everything they wanted in the first year". They're pissed because he's running the wrong direction. I don't know how many times that has to be stated.

[Garbo 2004]

20. O'Brien's a multi-millionaire who chose to walk away from a job & got millions to do so.

He wasn't laid off or fired, doesn't have to worry about losing his home, affording decent health care, feeding his family, etc.

[Forkboy]

21. LOL. Cynicism is vastly underrated.

And it's damned easy for him not to be so.

[Fuzz]

22. Regardless of what Conan says, I will continue to be cynical.

[lib_wit_it]

23. Conan seems like a cool, kind guy. Nice anti-cynicism farewell speech, HOWEVER. at the risk of being...

cynical, I must say that it really bugs every time I hear the many and various solemn iterations of this bit: "if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

My problem is with the word "will." Change it to "might" and I'm much closer to OK with it. Millions of people are kind and work really, really hard and yet things more accurately described as unfair, cruel, dreadful, hellish, horrific, and even lethal happen to them instead.

If it's cynical to find delusions annoying and counter-productive, then I guess I'm a cynic.

[amborin]

25. yeah, but speaking of cynical...did Conan indirectly get bailout $$ as his severance?

"Conan O’Brien and his production team are expected to receive about $40 million to leave NBC, the media unit of General Electric, itself among the largest recipients of taxpayer help. While it would be a stretch to compare the late-night talk show host to a Goldman Sachs or Citigroup banker, Mr. O’Brien is arguably only a few steps removed.

Though the conglomerate was not a recipient of direct equity aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, G.E. availed itself of another bailout facility, the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program overseen by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Participants in that program were able to issue debt with a government guarantee, receiving explicit taxpayer backing in the event of default. G.E. was just one of 88 companies with outstanding debt backed by Uncle Sam as of Oct. 31, but its $60 billion of issuance accounted for nearly a fifth of the total.

snip

But without the F.D.I.C.’s largess, the group’s financial arm, GE Capital, would have struggled to support its $650 billion balance sheet. That could have forced its parent to liquidate assets, starting with NBC. In a truly worst case, G.E. might have even had to seek protection from its creditors.

Had G.E. been forced to dump NBC in a fire sale, new owners could have demanded changes to contracts like Mr. O’Brien’s. That’s not the same as a Citi banker fighting for a bonus after a government rescue. But it’s only a few steps removed. So a bit of thanks to taxpayers from Mr. O’Brien might be in order.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/business/20views.html?scp=1&sq=%22conan%20o'brien%22%20GE&st=cse

[lib_wit_it]

30. Hmmmmmm...I wonder if Conan would call us cynical if we pointed that out to him?

A great, info-rich, and very interesting reply. Thanks. :)

[G_j]

24. unrec., not for Conan

but for your opening comment.

[bigwillq]

32. That's the same reason I unrec'ed.

No need to add that little piece of snark. :thumbsdown:

[jgraz]

27. BREAKING: Multi-millionaire generally happy, optimistic.

:eyes:

[The Gunslinger]

31. 30+ mil will make anyone less cynical

His show wasn't that good and people didn't watch...I have nothing against him, but I don't know why he is being made into such a hero. Magic Johnson and Stephanie Miller and many other had shows that had bud ratings and lost their shows. It happens.

[ibegurpard]

33. boo hoo

seriously, people are RALLYING for this multi-millionaire.
If that doesn't encapsulate everything that's wrong in this country then I don't know what does