Tonight Show

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" is suffering some major setbacks -- 20 staffers were just canned from the show and even the big man himself had to take a pay cut ... this according to reports.

The firing of staff members was a decision made by Comcast -- the company that owns NBC -- while they try to assess the value of their investment, says The Hollywood Reporter.

In light of the firings, it was reported that even Leno himself took a huge pay cut from his reported $30 million salary to try and save as many jobs as possible. Leno has said for years he banks his salary from NBC and lives off the money he makes from his busy personal appearance schedule.

Lindsay got a standing ovation shortly before admitting no one but herself is to blame for the predicament that triggered a 120 day jail sentence.

Someone allegedly stole thousands of dollars of wardrobe at an office facility for the show. We're told the clothes were for the band. We're told band members were supposed to go to the facility -- in Hollywood -- for a fitting, but before they arrived someone noticed lots of stuff was missing.

A "Tonight Show" insider told us the threads were for the new band, fronted by Rickey Minor.

TMZ has learned ... one of the key players who made "American ldol" a success was so pissed last night after the show, he chewed out "A.I." producers backstage.

Rickey Minor -- who has been the bandleader for 6 seasons -- is leaving A.I. to head up Jay Leno's band on "The Tonight Show."

Minor was fit to be tied after no one thanked him or wished him well -- hell, they didn't even acknowledge him during last night's finale.

Our "A.I." spies tell us ... when the show was over Minor went off on producers, angrily telling them how insulted he was by their silent dis.

Minor refused to go backstage for the champagne afterparty. But producers pleaded with him and then got Randy Jackson to try and smooth it over with an unprepared speech.

Minor then said a few words but we're told, "You could cut the bitterness with a knife."

Simon Cowell wasn't the only one who bid sayonara to "American Idol" last night.

Dorian Holley -- the Vocal Coach and Associate Musical Director -- said farewell last night as well, and he's heading for "The Tonight Show."

Holley was also the Vocal Director for Michael Jackson and was a key player in the London tour that never happened. He was with Jackson hours before he died.

Holley will become the lead singer in "The Tonight Show" band. And he's not the only "A.I." musical guru who's jumping ship -- Rickey Minor will take over Jay's band.

During the gag, Leno created a fake Facebook page for Faisal Shahzad -- on which he claims the perp was a member of several online groups, including Al Qaeda, the Pakistan Frequent Flyers Club ... and Team Coco.

Though it appears NBC tried to edit around the Conan O'Brien support symbol, a few shots of the pin still managed to make air.

No word if Jay even noticed.

During an interview with Jimmy Baron from 92.9 Dave-FM Atlanta this weekend, Garlin -- a long time friend and former roommate of Conan O'Brien -- claims NBC was "stupid" to replace Leno with Conan in the first place ... but says Leno derailed Conan's chances for success by doing the 10 o'clock show.

A Conan O'Brien fan posed for a photo with Jay Leno last night with the letters "Coco FTW" written on his hand -- which means "for the win."

Leno got the "Tonight Show" back and Conan got $32.5 million from NBC -- they're both winners.

Conan O'Brien isn't making a single cent off his upcoming 30 city comedy tour -- sources tell TMZ that Coco is doing the whole thing so he can employ his former "Tonight Show" staff.

We're told roughly 40 people have been hired to work on the production -- many of whom are "Tonight Show" alums.

The move is no sweat off Conan's back -- dude scored a $32.5 million severance deal from NBC before they kicked him to the curb.

And more good news for the crew -- tickets to "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour" are selling out so fast, more shows have already been added.

Will made the comments on the Todd N Tyler Radio Empire morning show in Omaha yesterday.

During the interview, they asked Will if he thinks Leno would still have him on the show since he's such a Team Coco kind of guy ... and he said, "I don't know. My vote's with Conan."

Conan O'Brien is shelling out his own cash to some ex-staffers who didn't get jack from that $7.5 million separation deal from NBC.

According to sources close to production, Conan's stagehands from "The Tonight Show" were not covered by the NBC severance plan. But we're told Conan is stepping up -- promising to pay his nearly 50 person crew at least six weeks severance out of his own pocket.

Conan's people had no comment.

The union for his former crew -- IATSE Local 33 -- says all the members who worked with Conan are "very happy" with the way he handled the whole mess.

Conan O'Brien is losing "The Tonight Show" but he'll be getting a $32.5 million consolation prize courtesy of NBC ... sources tell TMZ.

In return, we've learned Conan has agreed to sit on the bench until September. Translation -- he can't host another show until the fall.

In addition to the $32.5 mil, we've learned NBC is also paying severance to Conan's "Tonight Show" employees. In all, we're told NBC's payout is around $40 million.

But Conan probably won't see close to the $32.5 mil. Under the deal, any money Conan makes during the remaining contract period with NBC will offset the network's obligation. So, if Fox were to make a deal with Conan and pay him $25 mil during the NBC contract period, Conan would only score $7.5 mil from NBC.

One well-placed NBC source told us something surprising -- looks like NBC may keep its intellectual property rights. So Conan can't take his creations -- such as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and the Masturbating Bear -- to his next gig.

We're told the Conan/NBC deal still isn't completely done, but it's very close.

The protest -- which gained a lot of support on Facebook -- was set to start at 12 PM PT, but a bunch of Conan's brave, raincoat-clad faithful have been hanging around near the "The Tonight Show" studio for hours.

Jeff Zucker was not one of those people -- but Andy Richter, Masturbating Bear and La Bamba all addressed the crowd.

We're told "The Tonight Show" has handed out doughnuts and coffee to the supporters.

Former TV exec Fred Silverman was quoted this weekend saying the "Tonight Show" shakeup was "a corporate embarrassment" and that moving Leno back to 11:35 PM was a "Mickey Mouse scheme."

But TMZ has obtained an email sent by Silverman in 2008 to two top NBC execs in which Fred seemingly concocts the entire plan of moving Jay to 10:00 PM. He pitches the idea as, "Here's a way to solve your Jay Leno problem, improve your primetime ratings, save untold development costs and make a gazillion dollars at the same time." Did any of those things actually happen?

For all you TV newbies -- Fred Silverman is the only person to have ever been in charge of programming at three different networks. He was a legend at CBS and ABC ... but, ironically enough, failed miserably at NBC with such memorable disasters as "Supertrain" and "Hello, Larry."

It's one thing to play Monday Morning Quarterback, but it's a whole other thing when you called the plays.