Former 'The Tonight Show' host Conan O'Brien to return 14 years after messy departure
Fox News
Conan O'Brien will appear as a guest on "The Tonight Show," hosted by Jimmy Fallon, following his contentious exit as host of the show 14 years ago when Jay Leno returned as host.
After more than 15 years of hosting "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on NBC, O'Brien was promoted to lead the network's flagship late-night show in 2009, after it was announced Leno would be given a new prime-time show, also on NBC.
After seven months of slipping "Tonight Show" ratings and and pressure from affiliates who said "The Jay Leno Show" wasn't a strong enough lead-in to their nightly newscasts, NBC made a plan to shorten Leno's show to a half-hour and give it a 11:35 p.m. timeslot, which would have bumped "The Tonight Show" to 12:05 a.m.
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