Conan O'Brien kicked off his tour last night in Oregon just hours after announcing his return to late night. His new show will begin airing in November at 11 p.m. on TBS, and his arrival will push George Lopez's show to the midnight slot. But Conan wasn't pulling a Leno—word is that he originally told the cable channel, "You guys already have an 11 p.m. show. We’re not putting ourselves in the position of shoving somebody out of his show."
Lopez was on board, however—according to the NY Times, he was the one who sold Conan on the idea, with a personal call to the host. And with that, even though the talks only began a week and a half ago, the deal was done as of yesterday. Reportedly O'Brien's production company will own the rights to the show. On top of that, he'll likely get more creative freedom than he has in the past, "an ample budget and the opportunity of ownership.”
TBS has also promised to deliver “the biggest marketing campaign in the history of cable,” with promos airing as early as next Monday. And Lopez is already celebrating (his new co-worker will undoubtedly bring his show more attention); last night he discussed the news with Chris Rock, who told him: "So you're gonna move for the white man, huh? I hope he appreciates this."
As for his stage show, OregonLive reports on opening night, which included Andy Richter, LaBamba and the band (but not Max Weinberg!), the masturbating bear, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Jack McBrayer, and the band Spoon. He'll be at Radio City in June.
