Conan says he's doing 'great'

LOS ANGELES, April 30 (UPI) -- U.S. comedian Conan O'Brien says he is "doing great" after being ousted as host of "The Tonight Show" in January.

NBC booted Jay Leno as host of "Tonight" at the end of last season and gave the position to O'Brien -- then the host of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" -- to keep O'Brien from moving to another network. NBC then offered Leno a nightly, hourlong 10 p.m. series.

But when the prime time "Jay Leno Show" failed to be a strong lead-in for local news broadcasts, NBC announced it would push Leno's show back to 11:35 p.m., shorten it to 30 minutes and air "Tonight" at 12:05 a.m. However, O'Brien said he would not remain on "Tonight" if it was bumped to 12:05 a.m. and left the network, paving the way for Leno's return as "Tonight" host.

O'Brien recently announced plans to star in a new late-night chat show on TBS next fall.

"I'm fine; I'm doing great," The New York Times quoted O'Brien as telling CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview to air Sunday.

The interview is O'Brien's first since leaving "Tonight" and the air date is in keeping with the comedian's exit deal with NBC, which forbade him to appear on TV in any form until after May 1.

The Times said O'Brien suggested in the interview that he wouldn't have done what Leno did if he was in Leno's position.

"If I had surrendered 'The Tonight Show' and handed it over to somebody publicly and wished them well and then ... six months later ...," O'Brien said.

"But that's me, you know... Everyone's got their own, you know, way of doing things," O'Brien said. "He went and took that show back and I think in a similar situation, if roles had been reversed, I know -- I know me, I wouldn't have done that."

O'Brien also acknowledged to "60 Minutes" that he had signed an agreement preventing him from making disparaging remarks about NBC or Leno to the media, The Times said.