Jay Leno interviews Conan O'Brien during Leno's final taping as host of The Tonight Show back in May 2009.Jay Leno interviews Conan O'Brien during Leno's final taping as host of The Tonight Show back in May 2009. (Paul Drinkwater/Associated Press)

An exit strategy is close to completion that would see The Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien leave to allow Jay Leno a return to the talk show he hosted for 17 years, according to several reports.

Entertainment trade paper Variety reports O'Brien — who only took over the reins in June 2009 — will be leaving NBC with an estimated package worth $30 to $40 million US.

Other reports say the tentative deal would permit the 46-year-old comedian to start a new show this fall. There is talk O'Brien is headed to rival network Fox, which doesn't have a late-night chat show of its own.

New dramas take prime-time slots

In fact, Fox executives have been bold in saying they'd welcome O'Brien after NBC officials revealed Jan. 7 they were considering shifting the 10 p.m. Jay Leno Show to 11:35 p.m. and pushing Conan's Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m.

On Jan. 10, NBC Universal Television Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin confirmed Leno's nightly prime-time show will end with the beginning of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 12.

This week, the network announced some NBC dramas and a comedy produced by Jerry Seinfeld would take over most of the prime-time space soon to be vacated by Jay Leno.

The network said Thursday that the freshman drama Parenthood and the relocated Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will fill three slots. Another will go to the comedy series The Marriage Ref from Seinfeld. Dateline NBC will fill another 10 p.m. ET slot.

The Jay Leno Show, on air since the fall, has been plagued by mediocre reviews and plummeting audience numbers.

NBC affiliates complained to the network the show was a poor lead-in into their local nightly news.

Hosts still joking about situation

NBC's quagmire has resulted in sharp quips by all the late night hosts.

Despite being in negotiations with his bosses, O'Brien was still taking jabs at NBC on Friday night.

"In the press this week, NBC has been calling me every name in the book. In fact, they think I'm such an idiot they now want me to run the network," O'Brien said Friday.

Leno himself has been the focus of many pointed remarks from other late night comedians, including his rival David Letterman, who had vied for the Tonight gig back in the early nineties when Johnny Carson retired.

Leno fired back on Friday, too

"Even Dave Letterman is taking shots at me, which surprised me. Usually he's just taking shots at the interns," Leno said, referring to the CBS host's admission last year that he had affairs with women who worked for him.

With files from The Associated Press