The TV Zone

We in the media have tended to make some noise outta the fact that Jay will hypothetically have better access to guests than Conan, insofar as he's earlier in the night and - ipso facto - Conan will be in BIIIG trouble when he takes over "Tonight" next Monday.

But lo and behold, Co thinks the whole darn thing is "overblown." Said so in a conference call not too long ago, and he said a bunch of other things too.

- Guests? "There are so many people out there and I think the thing has been over-blown...I got terrific guests on 'Late Night' and I was farther down the totem pole than I am now. I'm not worried about the guest situation. To me it's not about who gets the guest first but what you do with the guests and how my chemistry might be different than with other people..."

- How will the advent of Jay at 10 affect the advent of Co at 11:35? Good question! And Co said so too..."It's a good question and nobody has the answer. This move is kind of unprecedented in television, but what I keep going back to is at the end of the day nothing has changed for me. I'm host June 1, 2009. I'm hostin ghte Tonight Show. 'Don't worry about what anybody else is doing...I have to do my thing and to the best of my ability and hope good things will come from that..."

- That biz about middle America and how Co may be too New York or too Boston (whatever that may be) for people who live near cornfields? "I try not to put that in the forefront of my mind. My best stuff that I've done over the years is just funny and I don't think there's anything hard to get. At my best, the show has always just been silly and should work for all kinds of people. But I don't put that in the front of my brain ever night. I do think the audience is smart and know when you pander to them."