I agree with SuperDave. Let's not make this a generational thing. Humor is subjective and the comedian who delivers it may be hated or loved depending on your taste (not necessarily your age). Personally, I'll miss Triumph, The Insult Dog and "In The Year 3000" and hope Conan along with Andy, Max, and LaBamba can find a new home.

Also, I was happy to hear Conan take the high road and admit that what he does on Late Night is "just a show," and all the attention by the media is kind of silly considering what's happening in the REAL world. Gotta go watch the finale.

Outside of both boomer and X generations, the traditionalists had some great comedy. George Burns, Alfred Hawthorne, Lucille Desiree Ball are some examples I can readily think of. Nothing uptight about it. Nothing high-brow cerebral; just plain funny and entertaining. Did that mean they were somehow less than the rest of us because their generation liked this stuff? Get real. Who wants their comedy to be like reading The Wall Street Journal. Comedy is supposed to make you relax. Conan did that easily. He will be back. We haven't seen the last of him.
Loved Adam Sandler on there, btw. Pretty much told it like it was.

Conan's the best. And I'm a boomer. So I don't know where you got the idea that this is a generational thing(?).

i love the bugati mouse

All you people who "don't get" Conan must realize you dont have a sense of humor. I'm sure people have already told you that before though. This whole thing is shady. All my respect for Jay is gone.

Leno is predictable and a yawn, I had watched him occassionally, but more as a necessity to get to Conan at 11:35 - Conan had me ROLLING with laughter last night and I am looking forward to tonight - C'mon, he has the Self Pleasuring Bear!

Team Conan all the way. Jay is alright, some of his stuff is funny but I like Conan much better.

"Conan was by far better the problem was that they couldn't just let jay go." And you criticized my spelling typo?! Now that's humor!

I like Conan, but I never imagined his humor would work at 10:35 (CT). Still, unlike Leno, and like Carson, he truly respected comedy and other comedians.

Sorry let me rewrite. I heard on the radio 32 mil or so for Conan and 12 mil for staff . So that would be over 40 mil.

joeschmo- plus 12 million for the staff. How will he ever live on 40 million? Get another job like the rest of us have to.

the money is for him and staff members that total that amount.

I pick Letterman over both. I don't mind Jay, but I never got Conan. I don't agree with all of this flap. It is not Leno's fault. It is NBC's fault. They have now lost more money than they ever could have saved. They should have kept Jay on until Sept., then done something. Conan should not have been kicked off the air. It is NBC's fault, not his!
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As usual, poor management results in problems for other people.

It says on the front page there's light rain in Janesville. Is that true?

Conan moved his entire staff and all of their families across the freaking country for this job. I think they deserve the severence pay since they are all now out of a job. Is that 40 mil just for Conan or everyone on his staff to share?

I've watched Conan ever since he started at NBC when I was in Jr High. I work 2nd shift, so when he moved to the earlier Tonight Show I couldn't watch. I love Conan and hope he comes out with another show soon- I will miss him!

ps- I think it is really crappy for Jay Leno to not step down like he said he would 6 years ago when Conan was promised the job. Conan is being the bigger person by stepping down so the Tonight Show and Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon can keep their time slots.

I have to agree with this article. Gen-X humor is darker, more cynical and sarcastic than boomer humor. It's quicker with less spoon fed information, and more inside jokes. NVgrf stated that boomer humor is more cerebral. So movies like Airplane, Caddy Shack, Porky's, etc. are considered cerebral?

I don't get local channels and could never stay up that late to see it. I guess they picked the less freaky looking one. I said LESS. I may have listened to Conan once and cannot stand to listen or look at the guy. Gen X here. I still remember Leno doing the Doritos commercials I think it was Doritos.
Why would you feel sorry for the guy. Let go and 32 million to boot??!!!! WHY?

Conan is definitely funnier. Jay Leno is boring. The only thing that makes me stop on his show is if he's doing the headlines bit. Conan makes me laugh out loud! It would have been nice if Conan could have had more time to prove himself. I didn't like Leno before, but now I kind of despise him.

It was Letterman till Conan took over the Tonight Show. Then, my teenager and I were Conan all the way.

The Rodeo Road bit and the one with the gift shop guy who fences and serves as the self-defense "attacker" had us laughing loudly.

I hear so many people saying they don't get Conan's humor. I just don't get that comment.

As a member of GEN OLD I still would prefer somebody like Johnny Carson or Steve Allen. I can't relate to any of these younger comedians and feel that they are greatly overpaid for what they do. Maybe they should move to Wall Street, at least we'd have a few laughs in return for a disastrous performance.

From a career standpoint I feel bad for Conan (NOT from a financial standpoint). Conan never got a good lead in as Leno's show tanked and NBC news isn't what it used to be. I didn't care for Conan during his later show, but I thought he was fairly good when he moved to the Tonight show. Leno's humor is so incredibly predictable I could tell the jokes myself. Neither can hold a candle to the late Johnny Carson.

Neither one is funny. It doesn't matter what your age is or if one or the other is more cerebral than the other. Their bits are stupid, over done, and they just aren't funny. From a gen-x-er who has always prefered Letterman.

Jay does the same bits over and over. what makes that CEREBRAL? by the way if you can't spell cerebral, than Jay can't be!

Conan was by far better the problem was that they couldn't just let jay go. Does anyone think if Johnny Carson stayed on the air at an earlier time slot, that Jay would have gotten the viewership? No, but he retired, like he said. Jay lied! He didn't retire and the whole thing was a joke by him and NBC.

On a side note, David Letterman is way funnier and creative like Conan. Different bits all the time. He should crush Jay, like he should have been all the time. People that follow Jay just follow the masses and do not think for themselves. They are told he is funnier, just like you are told that you need something from an infomercial and you believe it.

Conan will rise from the ashes, and hopefully NBC won't.

I think Jay Leno is funnier, the only thing funny about Conan is his hair. lol

I never thought Conan O'Brien was very funny. He should benefit from NBC claiming his standard routines are their intellectual property, because it gives him a chance to drop them and perhaps come up with funny ones. I do think Jay Leno slipped when he moved to prime time, although I always preferred Leno to Letterman.

I agree, i dont see how people can watch such a stupid program. And he makes millions at your expense.

As a Boomer, I find Conan quite unfunny. He seems a bit of a standup throwback to slapstick. Maybe that's why Gen Xers find him funny....in your face and does not take much thinking. Leno, although not Carson, is a bit more ceberal. I can see why Gen Xers would have a bit of a problem with that. It's sort of the same reason Gen Xers would tend to prefer Avitar over Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.