HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Conan O'Brien took the gloves off Wednesday night in his battle against NBC and Jay Leno specifically.
O'Brien, who has slammed NBC's plan to move his Tonight Show back a half hour to accommodate Leno's return to late night, took aim at his fellow network counterpart during his monologue Wednesday night.
"Hosting the Tonight Show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me," O'Brien told the studio audience. "I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it too."
The 46-year-old host also continued his bashing of NBC by referencing the network that is likely his biggest suitor.
"The new season of American Idol started on the Fox Network and it was watched by an audience of 30 million people," O'Brien said. "When they heard that, NBC executives said, 'That's not true, there's no such thing as an audience of 30 million people.' "
Leno, whose primetime show will end next month, punched his own jabs at the network Wednesday night.
"Nobody knows what is going on," he said during his monologue. "Conan O'Brien, understandable, is very upset. He had a statement in the paper yesterday. Conan said NBC has only given him seven months to make his show work. When I heard that — seven months! How did he get that deal? We only got four."
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