NBC made the widely believed risky gamble to hire Conan Christopher O’Brien to take over The Tonight Show in 2010, propelling him into the television spotlight. After 30 years of late-night television, TBS aired the final episode of “Conan” on June 24.
In his final episode, Conan summarized the style of his show.
“I’ve devoted all of my adult life to pursuing this strange phantom intersection between smart and stupid,” O’Brien said.
“There’s a lot of people who believe the two cannot coexist, but God I will tell you, it is something I believe religiously, I think when smart and stupid come together… I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.”
Just as O’Brien described, his television programs, whether The Tonight Show, Late Night or Conan, sat at the junction of intelligent and stupid, but in the best way possible.
The premise of a late talk show is not to comment on the news, as many hosts do now. After a long day of work, people want to come home, switch on their televisions and let hilarity melt away their fatigue. Conan O’Brien and his sidekick, Andy Richter, fulfilled that need.
Whether it be a cooking cactus that plays Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t start the Fire” on a flute or Triumph the Insult Comic Dog insulting Star Wars fans, O’Brien smartly delivered content that never failed to invoke laughter with its ridiculousness.
He carried this style into interviews as well. For instance, when actor Paul Rudd first came on his show in 2004, O’Brien and the audience roared with laughter as instead of a clip from his upcoming movie, Rudd gave producers a clip from “Mac and Me.”
The scene shows a girl chasing a boy in a wheelchair, Barry, as he rolls down a hill toward a cliff. The brake on the wheelchair breaks, and Barry dives into the sea. An alien creature then looks at the camera and says, “Oh.” It sounds like it would be funny, maybe the first or second time, but Rudd continued this bit for every one of his performances for fifteen years.
Fittingly in Conan’s second to last show, Rudd crashed the interview with comedian and actor Bill Hader and managed to show the clip one more time, to the audience’s roar of laughter in approval.
When former President Donald Trump took office, many late-night hosts shifted their content to make political jokes about him from Colbert to Kimmel. O’Brien, however, took a more ridiculous approach.
He aired a segment where he put up the “Fox & Friends” logo, which would trick “Trump” into calling into the show. The two would then chat about recent news stories, except Trump would change the subject to something completely unrelated. O’Brien managed to retain relevance, like referencing Paul Manafort being found guilty of tax fraud, while also having the call devolve into a debate of whether Richard Nixon was president or not. Yet again, the viewer would see that balance of political knowledge and stupidity.
Fans of the program also know Conan ventured on “remotes” where he ate soul food with comedian Deon Cole at M&M Soul Food or even trained to be a Mary Kay consultant. His talent is evident in pieces like this because the concepts sound simple, but O’Brian managed to bring humor to every situation. Whether it be demanding that all of his food be “fried and smothered” at a restaurant or putting on excessive lipstick and creeping up to a window, he was not ashamed to do whatever was necessary to get a laugh.
The beauty of 30 years of television is that O’Brien’s relationships with his coworkers also developed. For instance, producer and production manager Jordan Schlansky first made his appearance on the show in 2008. His stoic personality, combined with his explanation of protein shakes and wine tasting, made for an odd yet compatible relationship with the more extroverted O’Brien.
“So Jordan, I’m going to relentlessly mock you from now on. How do you feel about that,” O’Brien had said. “I have various emotions right now, ”Schlansky replied without showing any facial expressions.
That conversation branched out into numerous appearances from Schlansky, from O’Brien’s The Jordan Schlansky Generator, to sketches evaluating employees to even a trip to Italy.
Conan’s assistant, Sona Movsesian, also became a fan favorite. Her inclination to not do work became a running joke, but just as Schlansky brought humor with his stoic persona, Movesesian brought her quips and charm that rivaled O’Brien’s own. At one point, Movesesian was a fill-in guest from actor Kumail Nanjiani, much to the audience’s excitement. While other shows look to celebrities for entertainment, O’Brien’s relationship with his staff showed he viewed them as celebrities in their own right.
In his sketches, interviews, remotes, and introducing his staff to the world, O’Brien maintained a thread of candor in his humor.
No moment felt scripted, and if a joke didn’t make sense, O’Brien was unafraid to break the fourth wall and point out the absurdity.
That’s where the beauty of the show comes in. Not only did O’Brien set out to make the world laugh, but he also was not opposed to laughing at himself or his own show. Considering the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic and how many people have died, many comedians have shied away from making jokes, believing it to be in poor taste. In comedian and director Bo Burnham’s recent Netflix special, “INSIDE,” he includes a song questioning whether it is okay to be funny right now.
O’Brien, ever the acrobat, again successfully balanced that line and avoided not crossing into the realm of being disrespectful. He made jokes pandering to his cardboard cutout audience and noted how the theater where he taped his shows, the Largo At The Coronet Theater, had a truck loading alley right outside.
In a time where people found themselves at home and unknowing of the future, O’Brien provided a show every night that promised a laugh and delivered.
He did not root his jokes in tone-deaf optimism or flaunt his celebrity status. Instead, by never straying from his usual format of self-deprecation and topical jokes, he gave fans a sense of comfort that was enough to get through each day. True to the intent of late-night shows, O’Brien still gave a refuge to unwind and momentarily distance oneself from the trials of life.
Throughout his career, O’Brien dealt with issue after issue, from a publicized fight with Jay Leno to the writer’s strike in 2008 to his show being whittled down to 30 minutes from an hour. Yet, in every circumstance, he kept the comedy going. The end of his late-night career is another event that leaves questions. Still, just like every other time when uncertainty loomed, O’Brien will be back.
“The plan is to re-emerge on HBO Max sometime in the near future with I think what will be my fourth iteration of the program,” he told viewers in May. “Imagine a cooking show with puppets, and you’ll have the wrong idea.”
Regardless of whether he is on HBO Max or continuing his podcast, “Conan Needs a Friend,” there is one guarantee for fans of O’Brien: a laugh from a familiar friend.