From TMZ:

Conan O’Brien and NBC worked out their final conflict hours ago and have reached a $45 million settlement … and we’ve learned it’s a sweeter deal for Conan than anyone thought.

Network sources tell TMZ the “mitigation” clause was taken off the table. Translation — Conan will get a severance of $32.5 million, regardless of whether he gets another hosting gig. Not bad for seven months work.

As we first reported, NBC will pay $7.5 million to Conan’s “Tonight Show” staff — and our sources believe the network added several thousand more to the pot at the last minute.

In addition, NBC will pay a whopping $4.5 million to the executive producer.

Conan’s last show is Friday. We’re told NBC hasn’t decided who will replace Conan for the period between Monday and the Winter Olympics.

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Tom Hanks definitely has chosen sides in the NBC late night TV showdown between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. The A-list actor turned to his Twitter page to reveal how he felt about Team Coco.

Tom’s Tweet inplies that he will hang in with Conan until the very end, making an appearance on the his grand exit show, rumored to be this Friday. Will Ferrell may also be stopping by the Tonight Show set to say goodbye.

Conan — who is in the final stages of his exit deal with NBC — continues to take stabs at the peacock network. Each night this week, which is rumored to be his last, he has been looking back at his favorite Tonight Show memories, celebrating what he calls the show’s “.6 anniversary.”

The red-headed host featured the famous Tom Hanks meteor clip during one of his monologues this week, flagging it out as one of this favorite guest moments.

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Rosie O’Donnell is definitely not on Team Leno — and she has elaborate comparisons to explain why.

At Tuesday’s Manhattan screening of A Family is a Family is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration, O’Donnell tore into Jay Leno, whose low-rated prime time show is poised to take over Conan O’Brien’s 11:35 a.m. time slot (thus leading to O’Brien’s departure).

“It was a really crappy move on Leno’s part,” O’Donnell told UsMagazine.com. “It was kind of career defining.”

O’Donnell, once a talk-show host herself, continued, “he tried to ‘Nancy Kerrigan.’ He tried to take a bat,” she said, referring to infamous 1994 incident in which Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan was bashed in the knees with a lead pipe in an attack orchestrated by her rival Tonya Harding and Harding’s husband, Jeff Gillooly. “At least Jeff Gillooly took a pipe and [admitted] he did it.”

“He didn’t do it and go (imitating Jay Leno’s voice) ‘I don’t know who hit her.’ Gee, it was you, you’re the one who hit her right in the knee, you know?”

O’Donnell contends that Leno should claim responsibility for pushing O’Brien from his new Tonight Show post. “I think in the old days of show biz you can claim ignorance,” she says. “But today with the internet, no way. There”s no way people are going to buy the crap anymore.”

“Conan moved his family across the country and his entire staff to get a shot at what he worked 17 years for only to get it taken away by the bully on the playground who doesn’t want to let go.”

Added the comic: “I’m glad that I’m not on late night. They throw everyone to the wolves, including their own.”

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As Conan O’Brien tapes his final episode of The Tonight Show on Friday, and some predict an official announcement on Wednesday regarding his future, the embattled late-night host is biding his time with jokes and jabs at NBC.

“Hi, I’m Conan O’Brien, and I’m just three days away from the biggest drinking binge in history,” he said during Tuesday’s monologue. “I spent the afternoon at Universal Studios’ amusement park, enjoying their brand-new ride, the ‘Tunnel of Litigation.’”

Noting reports that he is legally prohibited from bad-mouthing the network behind the mess (Jay Leno is taking over O’Brien’s time slot after his prime time show was axed), O’Brien joked in his monologue Tuesday “Nobody said anything about speaking in Spanish.”

He then rails off an insult in Spanish which translates to: “NBC is run by brainless sons of goats who eat money and crap trouble.”

The redheaded comic then shares what he’ll do with his free time — and his plans include a Jersey Shore cast member! “Introduce myself to my children…Finally make good on my plan to backpack through India with ‘The Situation.’…Make a big move to Fox. Megan Fox.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

From TMZ:

Conan O’Brien is losing “The Tonight Show” but he’ll be getting a $32.5 million consolation prize courtesy of NBC … sources tell TMZ.

In return, we’ve learned Conan has agreed to sit on the bench until September. Translation — he can’t host another show until the fall.

In addition to the $32.5 mil, we’ve learned NBC is also paying severance to Conan’s “Tonight Show” employees. In all, we’re told NBC’s payout is around $40 million.

But Conan probably won’t see close to the $32.5 mil. Under the deal, any money Conan makes during the remaining contract period with NBC will offset the network’s obligation. So, if Fox were to make a deal with Conan and pay him $25 mil during the NBC contract period, Conan would only score $7.5 mil from NBC.

One well-placed NBC source told us something surprising — looks like NBC may keep its intellectual property rights. So Conan can’t take his creations — such as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and the Masturbating Bear — to his next gig.

We’re told the Conan/NBC deal still isn’t completely done, but it’s very close.