Steve Thomas

Conan O’Brien says he turned down millions from Fox because all he wanted was The Tonight Show. “Fox came to me with a huge offer. It was something like $28 million.” “NBC basically said, ‘We can’t match that, but when Jay retires, The Tonight Show is yours.’” “So I stayed.” “I never made career decisions based on money.” “All I ever wanted was a body of work.” “The idea of leaving NBC and losing access to 16 years of work I was proud of was crushing to me.” “When everything with The Tonight Show fell apart, I made a decision not to complain about it.” “Any time I talked about it, people would say, ‘Conan just can’t let it go.’” “But if a guest asks you about it on live TV, what are you supposed to do?” “I don’t regret trying.” “I don’t regret taking the shot.” “A lot of life is about how you play the cards you’re dealt.” “I’ve been incredibly lucky, but I’ve also had moments where the cards weren’t great.” “And I’m proud of how I played them.”