ANDY RICHTER BLASTS NBC

Wednesday, March 10 2010 08:41

Conan O'Brien's former sidekick Andy Richter is blasting NBC and Jay Leno for how the Tonight show hand-off went down. Filling in for Regis Philbin on Live! Tuesday (March 9th) morning, he told Kelly Ripa at the start of the show, "I actually can be on TV. Conan can't -- in fact, I'm not even sure I can say his name. I may be getting him in trouble for even saying his name."

Since Richter broached the subject, Kelly delved into the late night mess: "(Kelly) Do you have any ill feelings toward NBC and Jay? Not that you're going to be honest, but go for it. (Andy) Yes! (Laughter) Yes I do. (Applause) Why wouldn't I, why wouldn't I, I mean my God I'd be like, I'd be like some sort of self hater."

He explained: "Now, I mean NBC definitely, uh, everybody said they were going to do something and then they didn't (right.) Ya know, they all said years ago "We're gonna do something" and then they didn't and there was all kinds of talk about our ratings not being very good, but they were pretty good all summer (sure.) And then our lead-in changed (right) and they didn't, they weren't so good anymore. Kelly: It's very hard, I would think, to have a lead-in for a nighttime talk show that is a nighttime talk show. Andy: Yes, it was very difficult."

Andy also said that he's frustrated that it looks as though Conan walked out of NBC with a great deal and tons of money. He said, "It's not like that at all. In fact, Conan is putting a lot of his own money out there. He formed a little corporation just to pay people to keep them, because all these people moved from New York to California to work on this show."

As for rumors that he and Conan will tour together this year, Andy commented, "I can't say. Yes, it's a possibility. It's a distinct possibility. It would be fun. It would get me out of the house. My entire family would love that."

AUDIO: ANDY RICHTER EXPLAINS FEELINGS FOR NBC
AUDIO: ANDY RICHTER HAS HARD FEELINGS

Posted: 2010-03-09 22:00:00