Hit The Road Jack....er...Conan

I have to say, if I were Conan O'Brien, right now I'd be doing cartwheels: The man who looked like he was getting the short end of the stick over the Jay Leno Experiment / Tonight Show debacle is certainly coming out on top. The events following the early termination from his post as the face of The Tonight Show have proven a financial boon and shown O'Brien to be a class act.

Back in January, MSNBC along with other news outlets reported that O'Brien's exit deal summed to $45 million, approximately $12 million of which he distributed to his displaced staff. For the last months, rumors have grown ever-stronger that the late night host will find a new home on Fox (the LA Times revealed that Fox Cheif Rupert Murdoch hopes to confirm a deal by the May fall line-up announcements, although O'Brien and Co. are carefully weighing their options, including a possible move to a cable network).

Now, O'Brien's 30-city "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour" is proving to be one of the hottest tickets of the year.

Hitting the road is O'Brien's clever work-around to his NBC exit agreement, which blocks him from appearing on television until September. And word is wide-spread across the internet that the monies earned from the dates will be pocketed not by O'Brien, but by his hard-working staff.

Tickets have been selling so fast that second shows have quickly been added to several major stops.

That revenue should nicely pad more than a few severance packages.

According to O'Brien, his tour preparations are already underway: "First step: Groupie auditions at Randy's Donuts off the 405 fwy. Knock twice on the white minivan." (via Twitter)

I wonder how many donuts Randy sold that day?...