Andy Richter Ripped NBC And Jay Leno Yesterday

CONAN O'BRIEN'S sidekick ANDY RICHTER was filling in for REGIS PHILBIN on "Live with Regis and Kelly" yesterday . . . and he took the opportunity to address the NBC Late-Night Mess, which he's obviously very familiar with.


--This was the first time he'd spoken out on the situation, and he didn't pull any punches . . . even though KELLY RIPA gave him an out when she brought it up.


--She asked, quote, "Do you have any ill feelings toward NBC and JAY [LENO] . . . not that you're going to be honest, but go ahead. Go for it."


--And somewhat surprisingly, Andy opened up . . . and RIPPED both NBC and Jay.


--He said, quote, "Um . . . yes. Yes, I do. Why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't I? I mean, my God, I'd be some sort of self-hater . . . I mean, NBC definitely . . . everybody said they were gonna do something, and then they didn't.


--"They all said years ago, 'We're gonna do something,' and then they didn't. There was all kinds of talk about our ratings not being very good, but they were pretty good all summer. And then our lead-in changed and then they weren't so good anymore."


--That new lead-in . . . of course . . . was "The Jay Leno Show".


--Throughout all this chaos, we've been constantly pointing out that flaw in the ratings argument:


--That Conan couldn't have been expected to maintain Jay's "Tonight Show" audience, while Jay was still hosting another "Tonight Show" . . . just before Conan's "Tonight Show". It's silly.


--You know, why would Jay's viewers give Conan a fair shot . . . when they could still watch Jay? How many "Tonight Shows" are they expected to watch in one night???


--Well . . . Kelly seized on this point, and asked Andy, quote, "It's very hard, I would think, to have a lead-in for a nighttime talk show that is a nighttime talk show." (--Exactly!)


--Andy answered, quote, "Yes. It was very difficult."


--And that's when he turned his attention to Jay. He said, quote, "It's very frustrating when somebody says . . . and especially when they're on videotape saying, 'I'm gonna take this Number One show and hand it over and hope that the next guy makes it a Number One show.' And then doesn't.


--"And says things like, 'Well, I didn't have any choice. They wouldn't let me out of my contract.'"


--"Which . . . you know how multimillionaires are always being forced to do things they don't want to do. It's frustrating. It's very frustrating."


--But he didn't stop there. Andy also slammed reports that NBC's buyout showered Conan with money.


(--NBC bought out the remaining years on Conan's contract for $32.5 million . . . and chucked in another $12 million for the salaries of other people on his staff. Plus, the salary of Conan's next job can cut down the amount of NBC's buyout.)


--Andy said, quote, "It's not like that at all. In fact, Conan is putting a lot of his own money out there. He formed a little corporation just to pay people to keep them, because all these people moved from New York to California to work on this show."


--Finally, Andy kind of confirmed that Conan is trying to put together a comedy tour, since he can't return to TV until this fall at the earliest. Andy said, quote, "Yes, it's a possibility. It's a distinct possibility. It would be fun."


--If the video of Andy from "Live with Regis and Kelly" didn't play above, click here. The part about the NBC buyout begins at the 1:05 mark . . . and the part about the Late-Night Mess begins at the 4:50 mark.