Conan O'Brien may not have had any fans in the NBC Universal boardroom, but there was perhaps no stronger congregation of Coco supporters than on Twitter. 
 
 The social network quickly rushed to a profile page for @ConanOBrien that began tweeting on Wednesday. 
 
 Twitter spokesman Sean Garrett confirms that the account does indeed belong to O'Brien, and the page has since been updated with the company's "verified" stamp of approval. 
 
 However, even while doubts about the account's legitimacy lingered, O'Brien snowballed, picking up tens of thousands of followers in an hour. Barely one hour after his first tweet, he surpassed "The Jay Leno Show's" official Twitter profile, which has been around since April 2009. In just a couple of hours, he doubled Leno's 30,000 or so followers. 
 
 [Updated at 6 p.m. "Conan O'Brien" is now on Twitter's list of worldwide trending topics, a barometer of the hottest terms in tweets.] 
 
 Of course, a big contingent of Twitter followers does not equal ratings -- a reality that Justin Halpern's "Stuff My Dad Says" will have to test with his CBS pilot. 
 
 O'Brien's first tweet embodies his polarizing, quirky humor: 
 
 Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to commercial. Somebody help me. 
 
 -- Mark Milian 
 
 twitter.com/markmilian 

 Conan O’Brien seems like he’s in purgatory right now, but not exactly. 
 
 I am told that the Fox deal for a late-night show is moving forward with “everyone talking.” Among the obstacles, as I reported here first when the whole NBC debacle began: clearing Fox stations for an 11:30 p.m. show. The Fox network signs off every night at 10 p.m. 
 
 At the same time, Conan is in discussions for taking his show live to theaters across the country. And what a PR bonanza that would be! Imagine O’Brien moving his show into Radio City Music Hall, then taking it on the road. It’s a sure sellout, and the cachet involved would only make him more desirable to Fox. O’Brien could certainly sell out mid range venues in most big cities like New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C. and maybe even Atlanta. It’s certainly something to consider. 
 
 So hold on for more Conan, and don’t be surprised if an announcement comes just in time to upstage Jay Leno’s return to the Tonight Show.
– Jay Leno may have the Tonight Show but Conan O'Brien has captured the Twitter crown. O'Brien set up his now authenticated Twitter account yesterday and nabbed 200,000 followers within hours, dwarfing Leno's following of around 30,000, the Los Angeles Times reports. "Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to a commercial," Conan wrote in his first tweet. "Somebody help me." The funnyman may have nowhere but Twitter to crack jokes at the moment, but that's likely to be changing soon, according to Showbiz411. Conan is in talks to take his show live to theaters across the nation, and a Fox deal for a late-night show is said to be moving along swiftly. Clearing Fox stations for an 11:30 pm time slot is proving to be an obstacle but an announcement could be out just in time to upstage Leno's Tonight Show return.