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'll have to open with a simple statement, Conan is the King of Late Night. This is a man who's been on the air for more than two decades, with a career spanning from writing for The Simpsons to hosting the Emmys, twice. The show follows of course the historical talk show format, but that's about the only conventional thing about it.

On TBS I feel Conan's much more free to experiment and to express himself, not always to critical acclaim, but certainly to great amusement, showcasing ridiculous gags and segments that often involve cheap costumes, fake infomercials, and props.

Guests are varied, and unlike The Tonight Show, it's not the usual A-listers with boring stories about their dog or diet. While Conan's historical reputation still attracts movie stars to TBS, guests are usually the more interesting middle tier of actors with stronger followings but less popularity.

While on most talk shows people tune in for the guest, Conan is one of the few programs where I tune in for the host. Many times I won't even know who the person being interviewed is, but Conan's effortless humor makes it worth my while to stick around.

His signature style is foolish and self deprecating, but no part of it is dumb. Conan is silly comedy for non silly people, fighting the American standard of Roasts and fake laughter (Cough, Jimmy) with original, heartfelt jokes that aren't shy of hitting back at the jokester.

One overarching reason I'd give to watch this show, beyond the host's intelligence and humor, is that Conan is a class act. Throughout the years I've seen him pay tribute and homage to many comedians, actors and celebrities, and every single time I believed him. If he mourned the death of a colleague, it was because he cared about it, not because it would bring ratings to the network, and that's especially clear in many instances where he paid tribute to comedy greats who the major talk show hosts couldn't care less about like Sid Caesar or Garry Shandling. When Letterman played his last show, Conan told his viewers to switch to his channel and record his slot for later. He's a man of character, which is very hard to come by in Hollywood.

If I could boil down three reasons to watch this show they'd be its wit, its humor and the lovable Andy Richter.

"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.

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!

For 25 Years Conan has been unstoppable And always true to his own comedy never a sellout.