Real Talk

Conan: NBC Was "Toxic"

Says he wouldn't have done what Leno did.

In an interview that will air on 60 Minutes on Sunday, Conan O’Brien said that he “wouldn’t have done” what Jay Leno did when he reclaimed The Tonight Show in March. In his first on-air appearance since he left NBC, O’Brien said of Leno: “He went and took that show back, and I think in a similar situation, if roles had been reversed, I know—I know me, I wouldn’t have done that.” O'Brien said that if he had “surrendered and handed over [the show] to somebody publicly, and wished them well,” he wouldn't have taken it back. Instead, he would have “done something else, go someplace else.” He told Steve Kroft how his relationship with NBC soured: “I think this relationship is going to be toxic and maybe we just need to go our separate ways,” he said. “That’s really how it felt to me… and I started to feel that I’m not sure these people even really want me here… I can’t do it [anymore].”