Nikki Finke hasn’t reported that that NBC Universal honcho Jeff Zucker has gone into In The Loop lubricated horse cock Peter Capaldi-as-Malcolm mode in negotiations with Conan O’Brien‘s reps, but it sounds like this might be happening anyway.

It seems, in other words, as if Zucker is snarling and clawing and spitting wads of saliva as far and ferociously as he can in order to discourage anyone at GE or anywhere else from thinking “wow, this guy is such a destructive asshole…let’s figure out how to get rid of him!” Zucker is lurching and flicking his tongue and snapping and slamming his alligator tail against the office furniture.

Finke reports that Zucker has taken “a super tough threatening position” with O’Brien’s reps, who are saying that Zucker “wants to jettison Conan altogether and put Jay [Leno] back at The Tonight Show at its usual starting time.” Zucker, they say, is threatening to “ice Conan” and threatening to keep him “off the air for 3 1/2 years.’