Source : Hollywood Reporter

TORONTO -- Conan O'Brien is mobilizing north of the border to help Toronto shake off its Typhoid Mary image.

NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" is set to air from Toronto on Feb. 10-13 -- with an army of homegrown Canadian talent in the guest chair -- in hopes of boosting local tourism, which has taken a hit because of last year's SARS outbreak.

"With a large number of Canadian celebrities living and working around the world, the thought was some of them might help Toronto if asked to do so," said Peter Soumalias, co-founder of the Canadian Walk of Fame and an organizer of "Late Night's" four-night stand.

Canadian performers Mike Myers, Michael J. Fox and Eric McCormack have been enlisted as guests for the Toronto shows. Also set to appear are Adam Sandler, Canadian comic Ron James and homegrown music acts Nickelback and Barenaked Ladies, NBC said Tuesday.

Further guest announcements are expected in the coming days.

O'Brien's visit to Toronto was prompted by the image of Canada's largest city as a clean and safe tourist destination being shattered last winter by the flulike SARS health scare.

The alarm has long since been switched off. But to ensure that U.S. tourists return this summer, local burghers have contributed $750,000 to relocate the cast and crew of "Late Night" from New York to Toronto's historic Elgin Theater.

"I want to announce now that if this week goes well in Toronto, we are moving the show permanently to Winnipeg," O'Brien said at a December news conference in Toronto.

O'Brien said he decided against having Toronto stand in as New York, as happens with many U.S. runaway movie shoots here.

"There was an initial idea that maybe, like everybody else, we should shoot our show in Toronto but say it's New York," he joked.

The idea of using a U.S. late-night talk show to show that Toronto is a safe place to visit came to Soumalias during a meeting with Myers in New York last summer.

Myers, who had just donned a Maple Leafs team jersey to tout Toronto on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," approached "Saturday Night Live's" Lorne Michaels, a native of Toronto and an executive producer of O'Brien's talk show.

Both Michaels and co-executive producer Jeff Ross, who produced the "Kids in the Hall" sketch comedy series in Toronto during the 1980s, instantly liked the idea and canvassed Canadian star talent to gauge their interest in participating.

"No one said this is a stupid idea," Soumalias recalled, even NBC brass in Burbank, which greenlighted the plan.

The only prominent naysayer has been the National Post newspaper, owned and operated by Canadian broadcaster CanWest Global Communications, which in a front-page editorial asked why taxpayer money was subsidizing O'Brien and his show.

"At the Post, we are opposed to government subsidies, particularly when they apply to indefensibly whimsical or ludicrous projects such as luring American talk-show hosts to Toronto," the editorial said.

But Ontario and federal politicians quickly defended the expenditure as necessary to promote Toronto.

Soumalias said a deal was struck with NBC that would see the network pay the production costs for "Late Night" as if it were being shot in New York, while all relocation costs would be covered by taxpayer funds and sponsorships.

"We can't invite someone and ask them to pay for the expense," Soumalias insisted.

Using star power to battle Toronto's SARS image has been done before. The Rolling Stones and other high-profile music acts performed at an outdoor concert in Toronto last summer, again to show the world that Toronto was safe and back on its feet after being decimated by the SARS crisis.

O'Brien's decamping to Toronto also marks the first time that a U.S. late-night talk show has been produced in Canada. CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" relocated to London in 1995.

In return for allowing homegrown stars to tub-thump for Toronto, Soumalias said he fully expects O'Brien and his comedy writers to make jolly fun of Canada and its largest city.

"We have a terrific sense of humor in this country," he said. "We like to give and take. And we're ready to take it."

© Hollywood Reporter