Happy 50th Conan!

Conan O'Brien turns 50 today.  The fifth host of The Tonight Show (sandwiched between the Grover Cleveland-like fourth and sixth hosts, Jay Leno) and current host of Conan has been on television for twenty years.   Late Night along with The West Wing were the only shows I watched with any regularity for four years of college.

Late Night with Conan O'Brien debuted in 1993 when a little known Simpsons and Saturday Night Live writer followed David Letterman as host, and he's been on television since, save for a few brief interludes such as being legally prohibited from being funny on telelevision. 

Conan's absurd, surreal humor still works with young viewers, despite hitting the half century mark today.  If you like Conan you've probably said things to the effect of "I don't know why it's funny, but it is."  Like any sketch comedy or variety show, the gags sound strange and borderline disturbing when you explain them in a vacuum.  ("It's the masturbating bear!")  They may "appeal to young men who watch a lot of pornography" * as one Leno viewer said.  But when watched in the context of the show night after night in a college dorm, it's plain to you why you keep watching, well, night after night.

* The link is fine, folks.  It's a clip of Conan, undercover and in character, leading a focus group to critique his own show

Maybe he will be better known for the raw deal on The Tonight Show and the outpouring of support, mainly from comedians (basically, everyone but Seinfeld) and young viewers on social media than he ever will be as the face of TBS.  There's no point in rehashing Team Coco and all that goes with it.  That can be found in a plethora of places, mainly The War for Late Night by Bill Carter.  In short, Conan was effectively Indian giver-ed Tonight due to NBC's fear of paying and competing against Leno, on the paper thin basis of a ratings failure despite a completely failed lead-in (by Leno).  The baseball equivalent would be cutting your star for not producing RBI** even though no one is ever on base.

** Like Nielsens, an antiquated statistic

So, a few things to enjoy about Conan:

As an interviewer
Of the current late night hosts, Conan's interviews are only rivaled by Stephen Colbert*** .  He's able to take on more seriously fun interviews as well.  Just recently, Conan led a discussion with his fellow Simpsons writers, as well a panel of the Breaking Bad cast showing he can deviate from the longtime talk show format on different topics.  His web site dedicates a whole section called Serious Jibber Jabber for longer interviews.

*** Deserves its own post

Taped pieces
Conan's at his best when he's out with people, riffing on whatever situation, sometimes incredibly uncomfortable, he happens to be in.  He does it with a self deprecating and good natured attitude, essentially the polar opposite of Daily Show correspondents.  A couple favorites include Conan selling his 1992 Ford Taurus, Conan visiting Ireland, and Conan's current Clueless Gamer bit.

Conan's also an incredibly sincere person.  Conan's settlement with NBC ranged in the tens of millions of dollars, but no one can say he's there for the money or to weirdly collect cars that require a crank to start.  In his relatively early days at NBC, looking to compensate Conan for reaching a particular milestone, they asked what they could give him as a bonus...a Porsche? A boat?  All Conan wanted was a vintage NBC microphone which they managed to dig out of basement storage.  He still has that microphone and I think that says a lot about his own values and career goals and probably explains a lot about how and why The Tonight Show fiasco went the way it did.

When he signed off from Tonight he left with these words which everyone should read and take to heart:

And all I ask is one thing...and this is...I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch...please do not be cynical.  I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality.  It doesn't lead anywhere.  Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get.  


But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.  I'm telling you.  Amazing things will happen.  I'm telling you.  It's just true.