I just finished watching Conan O'Brien's last "The Tonight Show" (which, incidentally, is probably the last time I'll watch that show myself) and man, I totally heart that guy.
I was at Abbey's house ridiculously late one night this week because of weird house title/deed stuff we had to get done, and as luck would have it our internet was knocked out by the storms we've been having in Phoenix. (Four inches of rain equalling is a storm is a little pathetic, but what are you gonna do? Us desert dwellers can't handle it.) I had her turn on Conan since Joel McHale was on- and I think we've pretty well documented what fans we HACKs are of McHale.
We started talking about what was going on with NBC deciding to essentially just blow up their late night programming schedule, and I was telling her about this clip that Conan showed when the whole debacle started going down. (Yes, I'm excited that I've finally learned how to embed videos! Welcome to technology that was available about 2 decades ago, Kara!) This sums it up pretty nicely, I think:
So basically, NBC is the heartless pimp (although is there any other kind?) out for profit, which is interesting because they're not really making any right now anyway, can we say 4th place network? And Conan is the nice ho who's getting screwed.
I've always been a big fan of Conan, I started watching Late Night with Conan O'Brien when I was old enough (ie when I went to college and could stay up as late as I wanted) and have loved him ever since. I don't think he was as funny at the 10:35 time slot yet as he was a little later (lets face it, not all jokes play well at that time slot and you have to kind of tone it down- or go to cable- speaking of, might I propose some sort of Comedy Central venture with a Conan/Stewart/Colbert lineup?) But he was still hilarious. I watched Leno's 9pm show about twice and its not funny. I didn't think he was particularly funny when he was on "The Tonight Show" and never really watched then- so I guess the fact that I will probably never watch the show again isn't really going to hurt NBC's numbers too much, given I've only been watching for the past 7 months. Eh. I don't think Letterman is funny, he's always struck me as sort of a dirty old man (which apparently is true, if his recent tabloid struggles are any indication) and I find Paul Schaefer grating. Jimmy Kimmel is funny, he's better at taped gags or pre-recorded stuff than a monologue though, but since he comes on after Nightline and I'm not a huge fan of our local ABC news station, I'm never watching that channel and usually only see his stuff online. I recently was told I would like Craig Ferguson, so I checked out his show after Letterman and I do indeed think he's pretty funny. I also would've guessed he was drunk, except apparently he doesn't do that anymore. But his show conflicts with my viewing of "The Daily Show" & "The Colbert Report," which are my late night priorities, and the reason why I never watched all of Conan when he was on so late.
So, all that to say, I was thrilled when he got "The Tonight Show" gag because it really filled in that hour of television-less time in my late night schedule. Goodness knows I have nothing else to do with that time period, and Conan is a great way to end your day. Right before Stewart and Colbert, if I can stay awake that long. If not, its great online naptime viewing! Cory and Heidi are big fans of making top ten lists, and I'm not sure if I'll get all the way to ten, but over the past few weeks I've been thinking of all the ways I love Senor Conando, so here's a list:
1. He's smart. Like, ridiculously smart. Dude went to Harvard, wrote for SNL, The Simpsons, then got the Late Night gig when Letterman got hosed out of "The Tonight Show" (by Jay Leno too, hmm, pattern?) and had a terrible early run, but found his stride somewhere through the second season and rocked it for 16 years. He knows historical and pop culture references and uses them with ease, which also makes him cool (well, in my book, and I hold a Ph.D. in history, so we all know how cool I am.)
2. He's self-depricating. I guess maybe you have to be, with hair like that, but I'm finding that the older I get in life, I just can't deal with people who can't be self-depricating. They're annoying. They take themselves too seriously and that makes them irritating, and often exhausting, to be around. Leno's humor is actually kind of pompous (things like "Jaywalking," while admittedly funny, are designed to put himself in a superior light to the poor saps he accosts on the street.) Conan doesn't do that. He does gross (Masturbating Bear- or Self-Pleasuring Grizzly, as Robin Williams suggested he rename the bear when he goes to another network because NBC claims to "own" all of his "intellectual property.") He does weird physical comedy (string dance, funny spin and jump thing he opens his shows with, sometimes he just hops around the cameras.) This annoys some people, who find him juvenile, but its actually brilliant because he is perfectly comfortable being the butt of the joke himself. Everyone watching can just be entertained, and nobody needs to feel belittled. Well, except for NBC lately, but some people just deserve it.
3. He supports new artists. I've seen a lot of new musical groups and bands on his Late Night show, and he continued the pattern with "The Tonight Show," making sure he booked up and coming guests as well as established, crowd pleasing names. Neil Young said as much after he played "Long May You Run" on Conan's last show.
4. He invites guests just for the fun of it. Yes, late night guests are plugging new projects, and we all know that when we watch, but it can get annoying. Conan does it too, he has to, but he also brings on friends who are just funny to watch him interact with. I don't know when the last time I saw Norm McDonald doing anything was, but he was on Conan's show about 3 times and was hilarious each time.
5. He has fun. When he signed off on "Late Night," he said a lot of people have done better shows than he has, but no one has had more fun doing it. And I think that's obvious when you watch his show. He's so happy doing his job, and that he can be as goofy and ridiculous as he wants to be, and that life has worked out so well for him, that its a pleasure to watch. The only other late night host I see the same enthusiasm from is Craig Ferguson, which is maybe why I enjoyed his show.
6. He's kind. On his last show, he said nobody gets what they think they're going to get from life, but if you work hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. Right now, I'd say that it seems like if you're kind, you're gonna get screwed, but Conan would rather do the right thing to his own detriment than be unkind to others. Leno is getting his old time slot back because his show was a huge, unfunny failure at 9 pm. The network's first brilliant idea was to move Leno to a half hour show at 10:35, then have Conan air at 11:05, followed by Fallon and then I guess Carson Daly, although I have no idea what on earth he does at 1:30 in the morning or whenever he's on. Conan felt like this would fail (he was right, his show would seem repetitive after half an hour of Leno, and what on earth would Leno do with a half hour comedy show?) and rather than ruin the franchise, and probably muscle Jimmy Fallon out of a job too, he stepped aside. Because he's kind like that. I've heard people defending Jay Leno, saying he's such a good guy, but there's been two big late night wars, and he's been at the center of each of them. I'm kind of inclined to agree with Letterman and say, "This is vintage Jay."
Conan's getting over $30 million from his severance package (and paying his staff over $12 million personally- he did the same when the writer's strike aired, paid everyone who couldn't work out of his own pocket) and its not like he's going to be hurting financially ever, so I don't feel sorry for him in that sense. But money isn't everything, and watching his dream die and seeing him lose his dream job for such odd reasons is still kind of heartbreaking- even though he can laugh all the way to the bank.