Cory Booker and Conan O'Brien

The feud between Conan O'Brien and Newark Mayor Cory Booker ended on Friday night.

By far, Booker was the winner.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker got a ton of free publicity, a trip to Los Angeles and a sizable donation to his favorite charity as a result of his weeks-long comic feud with "Tonight Show" host Conan O’Brien.

"You played this thing beautifully!" O’Brien joked mid-way through Booker’s Friday appearance on "Tonight."

The "feud" started last month, when Conan joked in his monologue that "The mayor of Newark, New Jersey wants to set up a city-wide program to improve residents’ health. The health care program would consist of a bus ticket out of Newark."

Booker responded quickly with a rebuttal on YouTube banning Conan from Newark Liberty International Airport, and the two went back and forth for several weeks until Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked both men to get together and make their peace.

When Conan asked why Booker chose to go after him, out of all the comedians who have ever told jokes about Newark, Booker joked his political director had taught him, "When a herd is coming at you, you have to go after the weakest gazelle." He then admitted that he’s a big Conan fan, and that it hurt to hear one of his favorite comedians making fun of his city.

Attempting to make peace, Conan introduced an oversized Newark Joke Jar, in which he can insert $500 whenever he makes a joke about Newark.

"You can rest assured that the money’s safe because the jar isn’t in Newark!" he cracked, before immediately going to dump cash in the oversized Jar.

After the commercial break, things got more serious, as Booker got a chance to discuss many of his crime reduction initiatives in Newark, and Conan concluded by donating, with the help of NBC, $100,000 to Booker’s Newark Now charity.

Half of that $100,000 donation came from O'Brien and his wife. NBC matched their $50,000 gift.

When it became clear that O'Brien was about to say that he would be making a donation to Booker's charity, I never expected him to name the dollar figure. He seemed somewhat uncomfortable saying that he was personally giving $50,000.

It's an enormous sum. Perhaps he didn't want to appear like he was seeking to benefit by exhibiting the degree of his generosity. I don't know. Maybe O'Brien doesn't want to become the Oprah of late night TV.

In any case, the feud is over. Booker and the citizens of Newark won.

Video.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker pt.1 (10/16/09)



Newark Mayor Cory Booker pt.2 (10/16/09)