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CONAN PRICE TAG WORTH IT TO HELP CITY REBOUND By Bill Brioux -- The Toronto Sun -- February 12, 2004 -- Section: NEWS; Pg. 30 Premier Dalton McGuinty says he and late-night talk-show host Conan O'Brien have a lot in common. Both have Irish roots, both are fairly tall and "both get laughs on late-night TV. Sadly, mine come on the nightly news." McGuinty was saluting the NBC star at a press conference following last night's Late Night With Conan O'Brien show at the Elgin Theatre. O'Brien's third Toronto show airs tonight at 12:35 a.m. on The New VR and NBC. The province put up $500,000 to help lure O'Brien's production north of the border. Toronto 03, a collective aimed at turning around the city's SARS-scarred tourism economy, stakes another $400,000, with Labatts adding another $100,000. Complimentary hotel accommodations and airline tickets also helped defray the estimated $1 million US price tag to bring the New York-based late-night show here for one week. McGuinty said he learned of the $500,000 provincial price tag when Tourism Minister Jim Bradley came to him with the O'Brien pitch. "Five hundred grand?" McGuinty said. "Think we can get Leno?" The premier sees it as money well spent. On Tuesday night, an estimated 2.5 to 3 million Americans saw Toronto go wild for O'Brien, with guest Mike Myers bragging about his hometown. "This is a rebound year for us," McGuinty said. Tourism officials say Toronto hotel occupancy is up year to year. They estimate that Toronto took a $600-million hit in the three months following the outbreak of SARS last summer. HUGE RESPONSE Whoever came up with the idea of bringing his show here to save Toronto "is an idiot, quite frankly," O'Brien joked. "A Masturbating Bear on the show every night? Good job, a real brain trust." O'Brien said he has been overwhelmed by the attention he's received here, beyond anything he's ever experienced in the States. After this week, "I know what it's like to be J.Lo and Ben," he said, "and I think I'm a hell of a lot more attractive." O'Brien said his guest lineup while here, featuring such Canadian-born stars as Myers, Michael J. Fox, Jim Carrey, Eric McCormack, Nickelback and The Barenaked Ladies, would beat anything Leno or Letterman could come up with this week. He said he's been amazed at how enthusiastic, how over the top, Canadian audiences are about his show, yet are still polite, careful listeners. "They're polite, yet they laugh their asses off. You can't get that in New York. Usually they just shoot at us." GRAPHIC: photo by Ernest Doroszuk; PREMIER Dalton McGuinty appears to enjoy what Conan O'Brien is saying at an after-taping party last night at the Elgin Theatre. The province chipped in $500,000 to bring the U.S. talk show to town this week. Copyright 2004 Sun Media Corporation |