O’BRIEN PAID $1 MILLION FOR AMERICAN EXPRESS COMMERCIAL

American Express Co. has paid Conan O’Brien $1 million to appear in a commercial that begins airing tonight (Monday), the same day that he launches his new television show on TBS, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The ad, in which O’Brien spoofs his own reputation for overseeing the smallest details of his shows, plants the comedian in India where he is selecting curtains for the new shows, weaving them himself, stomping on flower petals for the dye, and gossiping with local women as he dyes the curtain fabric. O’Brien said that he rarely appears in commercials but that he agreed to do the spot because he through it was funny and because, he quipped, “They are giving me extra charges on my AmEx card.” American Express was unable to buy time on O’Brien’s debut show to air the spot because it was sold out, the Journal reported, but it said that it will air elsewhere on TBS’s schedule tonight and be included on the talk show later in the week.