Conan

After the debacle at The Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien gets a new late night show on basic cable TBS. He gets to return more towards his irreverent show of the past and travel around the globe. In Tonight Show, he was restrained to appeal to middle America. It's not until the last few months when Conan vs Leno turns it into must-see TV. I most appreciate about his new show is a return to happy childishness. There is no need for the false dignity and reverence for the Tonight Show. The new show never got to the level of must-see or social importance but it is still good work. After 11 years, the TV landscape has changed significantly and it's the end of another chapter.

I have been a huge Conan fan going on ten years now. Ever since I was in high school and I started watching Late Night. He pretty much had me in stitches every night. The only time I'd check out the competition was if Conan was a repeat, yet I never felt the others really matched up to him.

When Leno announced that he would be giving the Tonight Show to Conan to avoid any confusion as to who was going to succeed Leno, I had a lot of respect for him doing that. (and I could never stand Leno) So then Conan gets the Tonight show and Leno precedes him with a poorly thought out prime time show. We all know what happened next so I won't bore you with the details. I like most people, completely sided with Conan and felt awful that my favourite TV personality was getting a raw deal.

But now Conan is back and it has been close to a year since his new show started airing. I have to admit the first two weeks seemed a bit shaky. Almost like all that was going through Conan's mind was "I don't feel like I should be back on the air. What's going to happen this time?" and I'd say a good chunk of the monologue jokes for the first two weeks were taking jabs at NBC and so on. It was expected of course but it got very tedious and sounded much more like bitterness and complaining and by the end of the first week I was getting sick of hearing it. I kept watching however, remaining hopeful and sure enough, once they got over the initial jitters things started improving greatly, Conan seemed comfortable in his new digs and was back to his old self, almost with a new found confidence that he doesn't have to worry about pleasing anybody but without the arrogance that would lead to laziness. Andy is also much funnier too. I have to admit that I didn't really like him on The Tonight Show (I started watching Conan after Andy had been gone for a while) so my only impressions of him were from Tonight Show and he wasn't really allowed to do much except pipe in with a stupid joke from his podium. Just seemed forced and annoying. Yet now that he's back to his co-hosting duties, I can see why Conan and him are best friends. They have great chemistry and Andy is just as funny as Conan.

While it sucks that Conan had to get screwed over, and that the two-faced, giant-jawed Leno is still allowed to keep the Tonight Show; I must say I like Conan's new show much better than the Tonight Show. While Conan vowed he would not change his style of gags and skits on Tonight show, it was clear he was forced to tone it down and now on TBS Conan seems to have free reign to do the show how he wants and I will continue to watch!

What is a guy from Argentina doing, reviewing this red haired freak talk show? Good question. I got to know Conan in 1996, thanks to an overseas life I was living, somewhere in Europe. I didn't speak that land's language but I did understand somehow a little English. So, I had no option. Gotta watch cable. MTV, NBC... Then one night I saw this weird guy (it came right after the funny looking guy with the big chin). I think his hair hypnotized me. I spent one year living there, and, seriously, I didn't have the best of times, I was only 17, far away from my family and culture, without the ability to speak or understand well, but every night Conan got me laughing. And every night it worked. Conan was actually important for me and when I came back to Argentina I missed the show. Internet wasn't such a useful tool those days (almost 15 years ago). Years later, a cable channel here started to show some Late Night with Conan O Brien and I was the happiest man on earth but then, like just one or two months after it started, BAM, Late Night was over because Conan was going to replace Leno. What the! I was so angry. Late Night was perfect and I didn't think Conan needed to do that. He is different to the other "important" talk show hosts and that is what we all like about him. I lost track of his new show and a couple of weeks ago I saw this funny image of Conan and an Owl and the TBS logo... Now, thanks to the internet, I'm watching his new show. I'm aware of what happened and I think it's sad that NBC did what it did and I have to say Leno I don't like your chin anymore and I'm so glad Conan's hair is still red and moves like a salsa dancer. I also watched his goodbye speech on youtube and I think Conan was a gentleman and I loved that. I've seen all the shows, with the moving moon and Tom Hanks getting wet and stuff and it all makes me feel so good, like when I was 17 (I'm 31 now) and I needed company and a good laugh. Thanks Conan. I'm also amazed with the quality of guests he's having. TBS, take care of him (and off course of his sidekick Andy... and the band... and I do miss Max Weinberg). Please excuse my poor English... no wonder, I learned it with TV and CoCo.

EDIT: I just want to add that's been 2 years since I did this review. I watch now the show every day on my Ipod, while doing a 1 hour bus ride to work... And I get there smiling. Thanks again Conan!

"Conan" has been on the air now for almost nine months and 100+ shows, so I think a relatively accurate picture can be painted of the future of Conan O'Brien's new venture. As a fan, that picture is regrettably not the masterpiece I was hoping for.

When it was announced that he would be moving to TBS, I had hopes that Conan would do something radically different; re-invent the genre as it were. I was, therefore, sadly disappointed when the first few episodes felt not just like retreads of his "Tonight Show" (which I felt had been lackluster), but lacked the freshness and spontaneity one might expect from being freed of the shackles of broadcast TV. I watched fairly religiously as time progressed, in large part because any Conan is better than no Conan at all. But after a while my viewing tapered off and now I watch it irregularly.

The fundamental problem is that the once wholly original beast of Conan has become the well-oiled machine of Conan. While creativity is still apparent, the surreal nature of his early years where guests would perform in regular skits and odd, strange things happened throughout the entire show have been replaced by "sanctioned" times of zaniness. The show follows such a rigid structure that it feels like a conveyor belt of hilarity where pieces are assembled according to order and design.

And that design is what, in my opinion, inhibits this show from reaching the heights of genius that the old "Late Night" program had. There is a lack of energy and commitment to the sketches that are detrimental to the fun. Add to that that the sketches and characters have become half-baked retreads of old gems (Minty the Candy-cane and Ted Turner excluded) and a seeming desire NOT to break new ground and what you have is a third-generation copy of a once great show.

The technical elements are decent but obviously cheaper. The new theme is catchy but unremarkable. Honestly, the two best ideas have been to make Andy more active and put the desk in the center of the stage. Aside from that, this Conan fan is disappointed. It's not a train wreck of network mandated mainstream mush like his "Tonight Show" was, but it simply cannot reach the heights of it's original predecessor.

The sad reality is that after almost 20 years of this, I doubt Conan would want to change his well-oiled (but less original) machine. And given that he's now on TBS and capable of doing basically whatever he wants, the desire not to embrace change is the most disappointing fact of his new show.

I've been watching Conan O'Brien for a very long time. I've seen his Late Night show on NBC and even seen a bit of his tenure on The Tonight Show. However, it's his show on TBS where the bulk of my fandom comes from. Conan, even after all these years and during quarantine, still continues to bring the laughs, the heart, and the energy that Late Night should have. At first, I was skeptical when the show moved to a half hour, but it really works.

Conan has that special spark that very few Late Night show hosts have. James Cordon isn't really my thing, Jimmy Fallon is fine, Stephen Colbert is entertaining enough, and I adore John Oliver and Seth Meyers. But it's Conan who keeps me entertained for hours on end. Even in small snippets on YouTube, it's always a guaranteed good time. When it comes to famous talk show hosts, Conan sits comfortably next to David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Johnny Carson, and Regis Philbin as one of the all time greats.

If you haven't seen his show, go to the Team Coco YouTube Channel and check it out next time you flip through the channels.

All hail Conan O'Brien, the king of Late Night.