LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- NBC's late-night foibles dominated the first nine days of the TCA Winter Press Tour so it only made sense the final day would conclude on a similar note.
Comedian Louis C.K. gave reporters his amusing perspective during the day's final panel for his upcoming FX series "Louie": "I worked for Conan, I was on his first writing staff, so he's a friend of mine and he's always been a huge [supporter]. I love Conan and I think he'll be fine. He's really a hardworking guy and he's a very creative, he's a very funny person so I think he'll be okay. I never saw it, 'The Tonight Show,' [the way he does].
When I was a kid that was Johnny Carson's show and it was kind of what old people watched you know? People my age watched Letterman. And to me that was the thing: it was Letterman and 'The Tonight Show.' And when Letterman really wanted 'The Tonight Show' I didn't understand it because he has his own show called 'Letterman.' And when they rejected him he went and got 'Letterman' again. He's doing great.
Conan had 'Conan.' Nobody really called it 'Late Night' that's how much he had made it his. That was 'Conan.' And I don't know why he'd want to give that up to host 'The Tonight Show,' [which] is just this old, shitty thing. Let Jay have it. So I think it will all turn out [well]. It's been a traumatic thing for them to all go through, I've felt for everybody, except for that guy Jed Jizz-Fucker whatever his name is. Zucker, sorry. He's just a great villain. I don't know, he's probably a great guy... [he just] has that face [and does] all these crazy things.
And Jay, Jay is a driven American guy. He's a working class [guy]. He's from Andover, Massachusetts which is close to where I grew up. He's a Boston comic which is what I am. And he's like, 'It's my show! I'm fucking holding onto that show!' He's not kidding around. So I don't blame him either, he's just holding on. And he won. It's pretty impressive what he pulled off.
And Conan will be fine. He was born in Brookline, Mass. He's two blocks from Kennedy's compound, you know house... he's a rich, Harvard educated, well yielded, milk and honey fed fellow. So he'll be okay. And he'll be the first one to tell you that he's okay. He gave me my first job. To me that's a sacred thing.
Conan went out and took a shot with me before I could prove I could do anything. And he's always let me on the show to promote and I love the guy and I think he'll end up somewhere else. And he'll go back to doing 'Conan.' It's hurting him inside because he wants to be the host of 'The Tonight Show.' And it's a little presumptuous of me to tell Conan that his dreams are misguided... but they are."
"Louie" premieres in early April on FX.
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