On Pat’s shoulders

Pat O’Brien will be flying solo as the lone anchor/host of “The Insider” – but that’s fine with him.

“It’s all on my shoulders, which I like,” says O’Brien, the former “Access Hollywood” co-host who jumped to “The Insider,” launching this fall (7 p.m./Ch. 2) as a newsier complement to “Entertainment Tonight,” which will follow at 7:30 (they’re both produced by Paramount).

“This is a huge move for me and it’s exciting,” O’Brien says. ” ‘ET’ and ‘AH’ will continue to do great work in covering the red carpet, the glitter and the sunglasses – we’re going to try to go behind-the-scenes in Hollywood.

“Obviously we’ll be doing the big stories,” he says, “but we won’t have the responsibility of reporting the box -office [figures] and all of that.”

O’Brien also likes the fact that “The Insider” will feed directly into “ET.”

“This is big news for TV and for syndication,” he says. “It’s groundbreaking. I used to go nuts watching ‘Extra’ and them having the same stuff as us [on ‘Access Holly wood’].

“This will be a complete hour, a news show as entertainment, and I’ll throw it right to [‘ET’ hosts] Mary Hart and Bob Goen. It’ll be a seamless hour of entertainment.”

O’Brien says he might also deliver an on-air editorial, maybe every other day or so, on the state of Hollywood.

“I really think people are so fascinated by stars and by Hollywood – and we’re ready to have a show that’s a little smarter and maybe a little slower-paced,” he says.

“It’ll be more like a ‘Date line’ at 7 p.m.”

Last, but not least:

* Dave Chappelle has inked a new deal to remain with Comedy Central for two more seasons. According to published reports, Chappelle will make a salary on par with that of Jon Stewart (“The Daily Show”).

* Sukanya Krishnan, Stephanie Lydecker, John Sencio and Egypt will co-host “Home Delivery,” premiering Sept. 13 on Ch. 11.

* CNN’s Soledad O’Brien will be off the air now until mid-October as she needs to be off her feet (her twins are due at the end of August). Heidi Collins will sub for the next few months.