During the heart of the bitter jousting over the fate of "The Tonight Show," soon-to-be-ousted host Conan O'Brien delivered perhaps the best joke of the whole affair:
"Hosting 'The Tonight Show' has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. And I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Yeah." O'Brien paused. "Unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too."
The joke, back in January, stung because it played right into the narrative of O'Brien's supporters: Leno, the former "Tonight Show" host, wasn't willing, after all, to cede the job he had given to O'Brien.