Andy Richter filled in for Regis Philbin on ABC’s Live with Regis & Kelly on Tuesday – and he wasn’t shy about sharing his feelings on the the late-night debacle at NBC.
Conan O’Brien’s sidekick is frustrated with NBC and Jay Leno over the way the network handled the Leno vs. O’Brien battle for The Tonight Show. After nine months as host of The Tonight Show, O’Brien left the network in January, after NBC officials decided to revamp its struggling primetime and late-night lineup and move Leno back to 11:30 PM.
Richter says he was frustrated that Leno was allowed to reclaim the host chair after O’Brien had inherited that plum assignment.
“NBC, definitely, everybody said they were going to do something and they didn’t…It’s very frustrating, when somebody says — and especially when they’re on videotape — and say, I’m going to take this No. 1 show and hand it over and hope the next guy makes it the No. 1 show, and then doesn’t,” Richter told Live’s Kelly Ripa Tuesday.