'I had a show.
Now I have a Twitter account.'
And with that, Conan O'Brien is back
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Feb 25, 2010
Conan O'Brien is back, at least as "back" as he can be in accordance with the terms of his buyout from NBC.
Like much of the free world, O'Brien has joined Twitter, posting his first tweet yesterday in familiarly deadpan fashion.
"Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to commercial. Somebody help me," he writes.
It's the first substantial communication between O'Brien and his fans since he exited NBC at the end of last month, after refusing to acquiesce to the network's request that he move "The Tonight Show" back to 12:05 a.m. to make way for "The Jay Leno Show" at 11:35 p.m.
As part of the messy divorce settlement, O'Brien is barred from making television appearances or doing interviews for several months. The earliest he could return with his own show is September, and several networks are rumored to have approached him already, including Fox.
For now, however, O'Brien is keeping his funny bone sharp through his Twitter account.
Under the bio section, he writes, "I had a show. Then I had a different show. Now I have a Twitter account."
Word of his reappearance spread quickly yesterday around the web. As of this morning, O'Brien boasted 234,214 followers, which, media observers were quick to note, is roughly seven times the number that Leno has.
And in case you're curious, Twitter has verified that the account does indeed belong to O'Brien.
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