Conan Trashes NBC on Way to $30M Payout

Conan O'Brien kept the NBC insults flowing last night, even as agents and lawyers were said to be putting finishing touches on a $30 million payday from the network for his giving up the Tonight Show to Jay Leno. "By the time you see this," he joked to the audience, "I’ll be halfway to Rio in a stolen NBC traffic copter." He noted that NBC has been criticizing him in the press. "In fact, they think I’m such an idiot they now want me to run the network."

The dollar figure comes from Sharon Waxman at the Wrap, where she adds that Universal COO Ron Meyer, a former agent, was brought in to broker a deal when negotiations broke down Tuesday.
(More Conan O'Brien stories.)