Conan O'Brien Jabs Oprah Winfrey And Ted Turner At Turner Broadcasting Upfront

The late-night comic didn’t bring his best material this year. Conan O’Brien told advertisers that if the upfront event were held on Skype, then “we wouldn’t have to wear pants.” He also zinged Turner Broadcasting for the relatively low-key affair, a contrast to the big networks’ lavish upfront spending from their heyday. “In 1993 it was ice sculptures and caviar.” he said. “Now we’re sending interns over to Dunkin’ Donuts to buy day-old Munchkins.” Jumping on the company’s emphasis on digital expansion, O’Brien says he has 5.5M followers on Twitter “and a pedophile on MySpace.”

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He saved his best lines for a version of a feature on his show: Audience Craigslist Ads. He showed Oprah Winfrey with an ad saying “For Sale: Controlling interest in OWN. $10 or best offer.” Company founder Ted Turner wanted to sell his remote control: “I keep turning to TBS for (Atlanta) Braves games…Where are the goddamn Braves?” And a picture of Turner Broadcasting sales president David Levy showed him selling a book of advice on how to succeed when you look like “an adult version of Turtle from Entourage.” Earlier, one of O’Brien’s writers and performers, Deon Cole, gave his take on a show he’s preparing for TBS called Deon Cole’s Black Box. It’s “a clip show from a unique perspective,” he said. “And when I say ‘unique perspective’, I mean a black perspective.”